Miscellaneous Traffic Engineering Services
This three-year miscellaneous traffic engineering service contract could include tasks ranging from Plan Development & Geometric Design, Traffic Studies & Analysis, Construction Activities & Inspection to ITS & Utilities.
The Challenge
As part of this contract, McCormick Taylor completed a Work Order to study the intersection of Joel Boulevard and SR 80 to identify short-term and long-term intersection improvements. The signalized intersection is located in Alva, Lee County, Florida, north of Lehigh Acres, and just west of the Lee County/Hendry County line in unincorporated Lee County. The surrounding area consists of mainly rural agricultural land uses, with a few commercial and single-family residential properties. Lehigh Acres is a nearly 100 square mile primarily residential community to the south of SR 80. Joel Boulevard serves as a major connection point for northeast Lehigh Acres, with the only other connection between Lehigh Acres and SR 80 at Buckingham Road, approximately 7.5 miles to the west.
How We Helped
To establish existing conditions, McCormick Taylor completed field views, collected traffic counts and reviewed existing crash data. Field investigations identified operational deficiencies including queuing and cycle failure. Traffic operational analysis was completed utilizing Synchro and substandard Level of Service (LOS) operations were noted for the northbound and westbound left turning movements. A review of the crash data reported that 87 crashes had occurred at the intersection from 2011 to 2021 including two fatalities.
To understand how the intersection would function in the future, traffic forecasts were developed for the years 2025, 2030, and 2045. All scenarios included development of estimated future turning movement volumes. For the 2025 and 2030 scenarios, manual historic growth methods were utilized. Florida Standard Urban Transportation Modeling Structure (FSUTMS) year 2045 projected AADT were provided by Lee County. Analysis of the No-Build condition indicated further degradation in traffic operations with the overall intersection and several of the intersection approaches and movements operating at a LOS in 2045.
Results
To address the safety and operational issues, several mitigation strategies for the Interim and Ultimate Build condition were considered to increase intersection capacity. Interim Build, involved identifying improvements with limited right-of-way impacts and had improvements focused along Joel Boulevard. Ultimate Build improvements involved greater right-of-way impacts and included improvements to SR 80. Both the Interim and Ultimate Build conditions were analyzed in Synchro and operations summarized in an evaluation matrix which provided an order of magnitude comparison of impacts to environmental, cultural resources, drainage, structures, and costs. Conceptual designs were also developed for each alternative and documentation was provided in a Design Concept Evaluation Memo.
