Riley Consulting Pty Ltd

PO Box Z5578

Perth WA 6831

0413 607 779 Mobile

Issued on 1 September 2015 Amendment Date

Version V2 V2 – Text edits 1-9-15

Reference 725

MCDONALD’S

PROPOSED RESTAURANT

ALBATROSS CRESCENT, EATON

TRAFFIC AND PARKING ASSESSMENT

September 2015

McDonald’s Eaton

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  ConsultantsCONTENTS

1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2.0 THE SITE AND SURROUNDING ROAD NETWORK

3.0 TRAFFIC GENERATION AND DISTRIBUTION

4.0 TRAFFIC IMPACT

5.0 ACCESS

6.0 PARKING

7.0 PEDESTRIANS, CYCLISTS AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT

McDonald’s Eaton

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  Consultants1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Riley Consulting has been commissioned by McDonald’s to consider the traffic and transport

impacts of a proposed restaurant adjacent to Eaton Fair shopping centre at Eaton, Shire of

Dardanup. The analysis undertaken in this report indicates the following:

• The site is located within the Eaton Fair shopping precinct and can be expected to

capture a significant level of customers from adjacent land uses.

• Assessment of the surrounding road network based on WAPC traffic impact

guidelines indicates that the proposed McDonald’s restaurant can be expected to

have no material impact.

• Assessment of affected intersections indicates ample capacity with minimal impact to

forecast Levels of Service. The assessment is cognisant of the shopping centre

expansion and forecast traffic changes to the surrounding road network.

• Appropriate servicing is provided for the proposed McDonald’s restaurant.

• Car parking in accordance with the Shire of Dardanup’s Town Planning Scheme

(TPS) is provided. Reciprocal use of the tavern car park is shown to operate without

impact to the tavern. Ample parking is provided for the tavern and proposed

McDonald’s store.

• It is proposed that additional access to Eaton Drive will be sought through a future

application. This report considers the impacts of such access.

McDonald’s Eaton

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  Consultants2.0 THE SITE AND SURROUNDING ROAD NETWORK

The site is adjacent to the Eaton Fair shopping centre and will benefit from cross-visitation

between the local commercial and retail land uses. The proposed restaurant will be located

mid block between Recreation Drive and Blue Wren Drive with access from Albatross

Crescent. Figure 1 indicatively shows the site location. Roads of importance are discussed

below.

Figure 1 Site Location

Eaton Drive

Eaton Drive is classified as a local distributor road, linking the suburb of Eaton to Forrest

Highway and Bunbury. It is constructed as a four lane divided carriageway road and has a

volume of 13,882 vehicles per day (vpd) to the south of Blue Wren Drive. Reference to

Appendix A indicates the current Level of Service would be A. By approximately 2017, Eaton

Drive will be extended to cross the Collie River creating a north-south connection to

Treendale. Future traffic forecasts suggest a flow of about 28,000vpd to the south of the

Blue Wren Drive and about 19,330vpd north of Recreation Drive.

Recreation Drive

Recreation Drive is classified as a local access road and provides access to the Eaton Fair

shopping centre. It is constructed as a four lane divided road between Eaton Drive and

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  ConsultantsCouncil Drive. Traffic data provided by the Shire of Dardanup shows 2,872vpd east of Eaton

Drive. Reference to Appendix A indicates the current Level of Service would be A.

The expansion of the Eaton Fair shopping centre will take primary access to Recreation

Drive and future traffic forecasts suggest 15,020vpd east of Eaton Drive reducing to 11,770

east of Albatross Crescent.

Albatross Crescent

Albatross Crescent is a local access road running between Recreation Drive and Blue Wren

Drive. It is constructed as a boulevard style street with a 9.5 metre wide pavement and

indented parking bays. No traffic data is available, but the local land uses suggest a daily

demand of about 1,000vpd. To the north of the subject site there is a tavern and drive

through bottle shop with access to Albatross Crescent. To the south of the subject site there

is vacant land and a medical centre. Reference to Appendix A indicates that the derived

traffic demands result in Level of Service A.

Future traffic forecasts contained in the Uloth report for the Eaton Fair shopping centre

indicate 3,230vpd. This forecast has been used for the purpose of traffic impacts assessed

in this report.

Cassowary Bend

Cassowary Bend is a local access street accessed from Albatross Crescent and Blue Wren

Drive. It is constructed as a boulevard style street with a 9.5 metre wide pavement and

indented parking bays. It provides access to local commercial premises and office type uses.

No traffic data is available, but based on the land uses, a daily demand of about 300

vehicles would be expected to take access to Albatross Crescent.

Blue Wren Drive

Blue Wren Drive is a local access street linking residential areas to the east to Eaton Drive. It

is constructed as a boulevard style street with a 9.5 metre wide pavement and indented

parking bays. Traffic data provided by the Shire of Dardanup shows 3,652 vehicles per day

east of Eaton Drive. Reference to Appendix A indicates the current Level of Service would

be A.

The local road network and site are shown in Figure 2.

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  Consultants

Figure 2 Aerial Imagery (Site area indicative)

Figure 3 Site Layout (refer to Architect)

RECREATION DRIVE

CO

UN

CIL D

RIVE

EATON DRIVE

BLUE WREN DRIVE

ALBATROSS CRESCENT

CASSOWARY BEND

N

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  Consultants3.0 TRAFFIC GENERATION AND DISTRIBUTION

McDonald’s has operated in Australia for many years and during this time has established a

standard store layout and customer profile. Studies of customer attraction to McDonald’s

have been undertaken in Western Australia and it has been found that the peak periods of

customer attraction are:

• Saturday between 12pm and 2pm

• Weekday lunchtimes between 12pm and 1pm

• Friday PM between 5pm and 7pm

Typically a standard McDonald’s restaurant can be expected to generate about 2,000

vehicle movements per day (average). Reference to the ITE Trip Generation document

indicates that fast food restaurants can be expected to attract 40% of trade from traffic

already passing the site. On this basis, the proposed McDonald’s restaurant would be

expected to increase local traffic by about 1,200 vehicle movements per day.

It should be noted that McDonald’s restaurants located within a shopping centre precinct

could attract up to 60% of peak period customers from people visiting the shopping centre. It

is noted that the proposed Eaton McDonald’s is slightly removed from Eaton Fair shopping

centre, but it will still attract significant levels of traffic leaving the shopping centre.

Peak period attraction to McDonald’s stores is shown to equate to approximately 8.1% of the

daily customer attraction during the peak Saturday lunchtime period and 6% of the daily

attraction during the Friday evening peak period (Thursday evening peak is 5.7%). On this

basis, the proposed store can be expected to attract the following:

• Saturday lunchtime peak (2,000 x 8.1%) 162 vehicle movements

• Friday evening peak (2,000 x 6%) 120 vehicle movements

Distribution

Traffic attracted to the proposed restaurant will be locally based with a high level of pass-by

trips during the peak periods. Table 1 considers the expected distribution of traffic

movements based on the location of residential dwellings. During the peak hours the

attraction would be split 50% arrivals and 50% departures. Table 1 shows different arrival

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  Consultantsand departure proportions on some roads to acknowledge people stopping on their way

home.

Table 1 Expected Traffic Distribution – Eaton Restaurant Direction   Friday  PM   Saturday  lunch  

North  (Eaton  Drive)   IN  30%    OUT  60%   IN  30%    OUT  60%  

East  (Recreation  Drive)   IN  20%    OUT  10%   IN  60%    OUT  20%  

South  (Eaton  Drive)   IN  50%  OUT  30%   IN  10%    OUT  20%  

Appendix B shows the expected peak hour traffic movements.

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  Consultants4.0 TRAFFIC IMPACT

The McDonald’s development can be expected to attract traffic off of the surrounding road

network that is currently using other facilities. This attraction is referred to as pass-by trips

and the ITE Trip Generation manual suggests that a fast food restaurant can be expected to

attract 40% of its traffic generation from existing traffic passing the site. The expected

average generation of 2,000 vehicle movements per day would be reduced to reflect 40%

pass-by attraction, resulting in 1,200 new vehicle movements per day1.

Table 2 considers the impact of the proposed development on the surrounding road network.

The road network traffic volumes are taken from the Uloth report for the Eaton Fair shopping

centre expansion and include future traffic forecasts as a result of the Collie Bridge link. The

Level of Service is based on the table attached as Appendix A.

Table 2 Traffic Impacts Based on Forecast Daily Traffic Flows Road   Volume     LoS   McDonald’s   Pass-­‐by     Increase   %   Forecast   LoS  

Albatross  Crescent   3,230   B   1,934*   Nil   1,934   +60%   4,390   C  

Recreation  Drive  

east  11,770   A   200   80   120   1%   11,890   A  

Recreation  Drive  

west  15,020   A   1,734   694   1,040   7%   16,060   A  

Eaton  Drive  north   19,330   A   934   374   560   2.8%   19,380   A  

Eaton  Drive  south   28,860   B   800   320   480   1.6%   29,340   B  

* Traffic demand to the north of the proposed store

Reference to the WAPC Transport Assessment Guidelines for Developments (Volume 4)

states that “where a traffic increase as a result of a proposed development is less than 10%

of current road capacity, it would not normally have a material impact”.

It can be seen from Table 2 that the expected increase in traffic demands to the local road

network are well below the 10% threshold of forecast daily traffic volumes, except Albatross

1 In such close proximity to the shopping centre the pass-by attraction is likely to be higher.

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  ConsultantsCrescent. It can be considered therefore that the proposed McDonald’s restaurant will have

no material impact to the expected operation of the surrounding road network.

The increase to Albatross Crescent is shown to be large at an indicated 60%, but the

forecast traffic demands are well within the capacity of Albatross Crescent and provide a

Level of Service C in the longer term.

The proposed McDonald’s would have no negative impacts to the operation of the

local road network

The WAPC guidelines further state that “For ease of assessment, an increase of 100

vehicles per hour for any lane can be considered as equating to around 10% of capacity.

Therefore any section of road where traffic would increase flows by more than 100 vehicles

per hour for any lane should be included in the analysis”.

Appendix B shows that if the expectations of pass-by traffic are ignored and all traffic

associated with the McDonald’s store is assumed new to the road network, the highest

hourly increase is in the order of 79 vehicles. Based on the WAPC guidelines no material

impact would be anticipated and no further analysis would be warranted. However,

additional intersection analysis is provided to demonstrate the minimal impact the proposed

restaurant will have.

Peak Hour Impacts

It is considered that the proposed McDonald’s is unlikely to result in a significant negative

impact based on the forecast daily traffic flows using local streets. However, during peak

periods the traffic flow is more intense and Sidra has been used to assess the peak hour

impacts.

Analysis is undertaken at the intersections of Eaton Drive / Recreation Drive and Recreation

Drive / Albatross Crescent for the Friday PM peak period. Reference to local traffic data

indicates that the Friday PM peak is the most critical period in regard to the surrounding road

network. The traffic demands used in the analysis are derived from traffic data provided in

the Uloth Eaton Fair shopping centre expansion report. The forecasts also include the

expected traffic increases as a result of the proposed bridge to the Collie River.

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  ConsultantsThe Sidra analysis is attached as Appendices C and D respectively for the intersections. For

the purpose of analysis, it is assumed that the traffic generated by McDonald’s is all new to

the local road network and therefore indicates a worst case scenario. Table 3 shows the

summary results.

Table 3 SIDRA Friday PM Peak Analysis Approach   No  McDonald’s   With  McDonald’s  

  V/C   Delay   LoS   V/C   Delay   LoS  

Eaton  Drive  north   0.172   2.2s   A   0.178   2.3s   A  

Recreation  Drive   0.567   19.6s   C   0.740   25.7s   D  

Eaton  Drive  South   0.605   5.6s   A   0.660   6.2s   A  

             

Recreation  Drive  east   0.086   1.2s   A   0.088   1.4s   A  

Albatross  Crescent   0.255   10.9s   A   0.283   11.1s   A  

Recreation  Drive  west   0.101   3.0s   A   0.149   2.7s   A  

Table 3 shows that the access to McDonald’s as shown on the concept plan will operate with

acceptable Levels of Service.

Long Term Impacts

WAPC guidelines expect that analysis of development impact will be undertaken for a 10

year planning horizon. The traffic forecasts used in the analysis include the expansion of the

Eaton Fair shopping centre and the impacts of the proposed bridge to the Collie River.

These proposals will occur within the next 10 years (by 2020). The analysis in this report

reflects the planning horizon.

Access to Eaton Drive

As discussed, it is proposed to pursue an access to Eaton Drive in the future. Due to issues

affecting such access and the time expected to address such issues, this proposal will be

the subject of a further application. Access to Eaton Drive is considered in the next section of

this report. However, it is worth noting that such access will reduce traffic movements

through adjacent affected intersections and thus will reduce the expected impacts.

.

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  Consultants5.0 ACCESS

Access to the site will be taken from Albatross Crescent. The accesses have been located in

the most appropriate locations to maintain safety for users of the store and Albatross

Crescent. Figure 5 shows the access to Albatross Crescent. The location of this access

accords to the principles of AS2890.1.

Figure 5 Access to Albatross Crescent

Based on the forecast traffic demand of 3,230vpd, a peak demand of 320 vehicles is

expected on Albatross Crescent. The proposed McDonald’s store will have a peak demand

accessing Albatross Crescent of 60

vehicles. Reference to Austroads

table 4.1 (reproduced adjacent)

indicates that the expected traffic

demands will result in uninterrupted

flow conditions. Austroads advises

that under such conditions no further

analysis is warranted. Uninterrupted

flow conditions suggest that Level of

Service A will prevail.

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  Consultants

Service Vehicles

Service vehicles will access the site from Albatross Crescent and reverse to the loading

dock. Figure 6 shows the swept path of the expected service vehicle.

Figure 6 Service Vehicle Swept Path

Drive-through Operation

McDonald’s has many years of experience providing fast food drive-through facilities and

design their sites to provide the best efficiency for their business model. Surveys of

McDonald’s stores undertaken by Riley Consulting suggest it is highly unlikely that stacking

of more than 10 vehicles would occur during peak periods of attraction. The site layout

indicates that 14 vehicles can be accommodated approaching the drive-through. Stacking of

an additional 10 vehicles can occur before any impact to Albatross Crescent could

potentially occur. The level of stacking capacity is ample to accommodate the peak periods

of attraction to the drive through.

Access to Eaton Drive

Although not part of this development application, future access is proposed to be sought

from Eaton Drive as indicated in Figure 7 below. The location of access accords to current

planning principles and will reduce traffic movements at the Eaton Drive / Recreation Drive

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  Consultantsintersection. It is proposed that the right turn out of the site would not be permitted. Analysis

of the operation of this future access has been undertaken based on the future forecast

traffic demands on Eaton Drive. Table 4 shows the summary results and Appendix E shows

the Sidra output. It can be seen that the access can be expected to operate with excellent

Levels of Service.

Table 3 SIDRA Friday PM Peak Analysis Approach   With  McDonald’s  

  V/C   Delay   LoS  

Eaton  Drive  north   0.225   0.2s   A  

McDonald’s  Access   0.045   14.9s   B  

Eaton  Drive  South  Right  turn  

0.307  0.058  

0.4s  13.4s  

A  A  

Figure 7 Indicative Future Access to Eaton Drive (subject to future approval)

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  Consultants6.0 PARKING

Reference to the Shire of Dardanup’s TPS indicates the following car parking requirements

for fast food / drive-through outlets.

1 space for every 2.5m2 queuing area with a minimum of 4 spaces plus,

1 space for every 5m2 seating area, plus

4 car queuing spaces for any drive-through facility. The proposed McDonald’s restaurant has a floor area of 617m2 providing 95m2 of seating

area and 16m2 of customer queuing area. Kitchens, toilets, play place, party room and other

facilities occupy the remaining floor area. The TPS parking requirement will therefore be:

• Seating area 95m2 @ 1 per 5m2 = 19 bays

• Waiting area 16m2 @ 1 per 2.5m2 = 6 bays

Overall the TPS requirement for the proposed McDonald’s will be 25 bays plus 4 bays

provided as stacking space to the drive-through.

In total, 59 car bays are provided within the car park and 15 bays are provided to the drive-

through. In total 70 bays are provided on site. It is concluded that sufficient parking is

provided to satisfy the TPS requirement of 29 bays.

Parking in accordance with the requirements of the TPS is provided.

It is noted that an existing car park currently occupies part of the subject site providing 39

bays. To satisfy its TPS parking requirement, it is understood the adjacent tavern provided

this parking. In regard to the TPS, it may be considered that a parking shortfall of 5 bays

occurs for the two land uses. This is derived from the 39 bays currently being used by the

tavern and the requirement of 25 bays to be provided for McDonalds, a total of 64 bays (59

are provided).

A minor shortfall of 5 bays is concluded to be of little significance. However, to provide

robustness to this conclusion, a review of the TPS parking requirements and the parking

demands is provided to determine what impact may occur to the adjacent tavern.

Impact to Tavern Car Parking

It is known that taverns experience peak use during Friday and Saturday nights. However,

McDonald’s will typically experience its peak patronage during Saturday lunchtimes and

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  ConsultantsSunday mornings. Dine-in customer data has been sourced for a similar McDonald’s store at

Warnbro. Table 4 shows the dine-in customer data as a percentage of the peak period of

customer attraction. The proportion of bays required under the TPS parking requirement is

also shown.

Table 4 McDonalds Dine-in Patronage and TPS Parking Requirements Friday   %  of  peak  attraction   Number  of  Bays  Required  4pm  -­‐  5pm   73%   18  5pm  -­‐  6pm   53%   13  6pm-­‐  7pm   63%   16  7pm  -­‐  8pm   45%   11  8pm  -­‐  9pm   43%   11  Saturday      11am  -­‐  12pm   75%   19  12pm  -­‐  1pm   83%   21  1pm  -­‐  2pm   100%2   25  2pm  -­‐  3pm   98%   24  3pm  -­‐  4pm   60%   15  4pm  -­‐  5pm   45%   11  5pm  -­‐  6pm   63%   16  6pm-­‐  7pm   58%   14  7pm  -­‐  8pm   68%   17  8pm  -­‐  9pm   55%   14  

Note that actual customer numbers are not shown for commercial reasons

From Table 4 it can be seen that the shortfall of 5 bays would only impact the tavern parking

supply between 12pm and 3pm on a Saturday. At all other times less than 20 bays would be

required based on the customers attraction ratios applied to the TPS car parking

requirements.

It is unlikely that the tavern will experience a parking demand of 100% during a Saturday

afternoon3 and therefore it would be concluded that reciprocal use of the car park would

provide adequate levels of parking for both land uses.

It is concluded that the proposed McDonald’s store at Eaton would not have a negative

impact to parking opportunity for the adjacent tavern.

2 The Saturday peak parking demand at the Warnbro store was 14 bays, significantly less the City of Rockingham TPS requirement of 20 bays. 3 The AFL grand final may be the only exception.

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  Consultants7.0 PEDESTRIANS, CYCLISTS AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT

The proposed McDonald’s restaurant is located in close proximity to the Eaton Fair shopping

centre and all roads are currently provided with at least one footpath to current standards. It

can be expected that a higher level of walk-in trade will occur to the McDonald’s Eaton

restaurant due to the close proximity of the shopping centre and the attraction at lunchtime

for local workers, who can walk to the store.

Although a defined pedestrian crossing point is provided to Recreation Drive, there is no

footpath to the northern side of Recreation Drive. It is assumed that the expansion of the

shopping centre will provide this connection.

Current planning of the locality has not created much in the way of on-street cycle facilities.

Existing footpaths provide the safest facility for cyclists. Although cyclists may be attracted to

the proposed McDonald’s store, the level would be low and would not warrant the need to

provide dedicated cycle facilities. Cycle racks are proposed at the front of the store.

The subject site is located less than 100 metres from three public transport routes servicing

Bunbury town centre and adjacent suburbs. Figure 8 shows the public transport routes.

Local public transport is available and will allow McDonald’s workers access to the proposed

store. Public transport is unlikely to be used by customers.

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  Consultants

Figure 8 Local Bus Services

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  ConsultantsAPPENDIX A Levels of Service by Road Type

LOS Single Carriageway1

2-Lane Boulevard2 Dual Carriageway

(4-Lanes)3

Dual Carriageway

(4-lane Clearway)3

A 2,400vpd 2,600vpd 24,000vpd 27,000vpd

B 4,800vpd 5,300vpd 28,000vpd 31,500vpd

C 7,900vpd 8,700vpd 32,000vpd 36,000vpd

D 13,500vpd 15,000vpd 36,000vpd 40,500vpd

E 22,900vpd 25,200vpd4 40,000vpd 45,000vpd

F >22,900vpd >25,200vpd4 >40,000vpd >45,000vpd 1 Based on Table 3.9 Austroads - Guide to Traffic Engineering Practice Part 2 2 Based on single carriageway +10% (supported by Table 3.1 Austroads - Guide to Traffic Engineering Practice Part 3) – Boulevard or division by medians. 3 Based on RRR Table 3.5 - mid-block service flow rates (SF.) for urban arterial roads with interrupted flow. Using 60/40 peak split. 4 Note James Street Guildford passes 28,000vpd. For the purposes of planning, the capacity of a road can be taken as the value between Level of Service E and F. However, a Level of Service D is the lowest preferred operational Level of Service.

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  ConsultantsAPPENDIX B McDonald’s Peak Hour Demands

FRIDAY PM PEAK

SATURDAY LUNCHTIME PEAK

30

20

36

18

54

4

50 8

2 58

58

2

Alb

atro

ss C

resc

ent

Recreation Drive

Eat

on D

rive

9 24

47

16

63

16

33 48

2 79

79

2

Alb

atro

ss C

resc

ent

Recreation Drive

Eat

on D

rive

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  ConsultantsAPPENDIX C

SIDRA ANALYSIS EATON DRIVE / RECREATION DRIVE

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  ConsultantsAPPENDIX D

SIDRA ANALYSIS RECREATION DRIVE / ALBATROSS CRESCENT

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T raffic  and  T ransportation  ConsultantsAPPENDIX E

OPERATION OF ACCESS TO EATON DRIVE