TRAFFIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT

FOR THE PROPOSED

PANORAMA BUSINESS PARK
PIETERMARITZBURG
Revision 2
NOVEMBER 2011

PREPARED FOR: PREPARED BY:

ASG Properties
Pietermaritzburg

Report No R2011/17/P0099
 (i)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page No.

1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 1

2. THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT ................................................................................................ 1

3. EXISTING AND FUTURE TRAFFIC SITUATION........................................................................... 1

4. TRIP GENERATION AND DISTRIBUTION ................................................................................... 3

5. TRAFFIC IMPACT ....................................................................................................................... 4

6. SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................................... 6

7. CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................... 6

R2011_17_P0099 Panorama Business Park TIA_Rev2.doc

 1

1. INTRODUCTION

David McFarlane and Associates cc were requested by ASG Properties to prepare a traffic
impact assessment report for the proposed Panorama Business Park in Pietermaritzburg. This
report documents the findings of this assessment.

2. THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT

The proposed is situated on Portion of the Rem of ERF 783 Panorama Gardens in
Pietermaritzburg with access off Birmingham Road, as shown in Figure 1. The property is some
11.8 Ha in size. The proposed layout and zonal controls are as shown on Figure 2.

The largest single site on the property is general/commercial and is seen as being low impact
retail. The majority of the site is to be zoned as General. This allows for a wide range of
possible types of land uses. The best estimate at this time is likely to be 50% industrial, 25%
offices and 25% low impact retail.

3. EXISTING AND FUTURE TRAFFIC SITUATION

The existing peak hour traffic volumes in the vicinity of the site are as shown on Figures 3 and 4
for the AM and PM peaks respectively. These are made up from recent counts along New
Greytown Road (September 2011) and older counts from 2007 [prior to construction of the N3
Church St/Greytown interchange commencing] along Old Greytown road between Masukwana
Street and Otto’s Bluff Road. This option was taken as it was felt that counting traffic while
under construction is difficult and traffic patterns are likely to be distorted.

To interpret the current traffic patterns and likely future traffic patterns, one needs to consider
the history of this area and the road infrastructure currently under construction.

Historically, the N3 Church St/Greytown interchange was highly congested during commuter
peaks. The main movements in the AM peak are from the east along Old Greytown road to both
the west [Pietermaritzburg CBD] and the north on the N3, with the reverse in the PM peak. The
traffic demand far exceeded the capacity of the interchange, and hence major distortions of the
traffic patterns have occurred [as clearly evident in the traffic counts] as expanded on below:
• For a road network with sufficient capacity, one would expect the PM peak traffic patterns
to be close to the inverse of the AM peak, which in this case is not so. The existing patterns
indicate that the AM peak congestion is worse than the PM peak congestion.
• Traffic from the west on Old Greytown road peaks very early the morning, typical when
commuters leave early to avoid congestion.
• There is clear evidence of deviations to avoid congestion [often called “rat running”],
particularly in the AM peak, less so in the PM peak. The largest of these is along Allendale
Drive, right into New Greytown Road then left into Ohrtmann Road, a movement not
reflected as strongly in the PM peak [but does occur to a lesser degree].

R2011_17_P0099 Panorama Business Park TIA_Rev2.doc

 2

Due to this congestion being experienced, SANRAL are currently constructing a major upgrade
to the N3 Church St/Greytown interchange. The main elements of this upgrade include the
following:
• Free flow directional ramps from east to north and west to north.
• Additional through lanes east to west and west to east from Masukwana Street to Otto’s
Bluff Road. This entails new/widened bridges over the N3 and a steam near Masukwana
Street.
• Introduction of a west to south turning lane at the eastern terminal.
• Du Toit Viljoen Road to the east of the eastern terminal to become left-in left-out only.

Once these upgrades are complete, we believe the following changes to the traffic patterns will
occur:
• The current “rat runs” on Allendale/New Greytown/Ohrtmann will use Old Greytown road.
• Less peak spreading east to west along Old Greytown Road [AM peak].
• Latent/induced demand. With major capacity upgrades, additional traffic is normally found
due to elimination of congestion.

The main impacts of these changes to the traffic patterns are felt to be:
• Free up available capacity along New Greytown road, Ohrtmann road and Manning/Larch
road.
• In any road network, there will always be a “weak link” or system capacity constraint. With
the major capacity upgrade along Old Greytown road from Otto’s Bluff road to Masukwana
Street, the system capacity constraint will no longer be in this section of the road network,
and will shift to other locations in the network. For our area of impact, the section of Old
Greytown road from Otto’s Bluff to New Greytown road is of concern as this is not part of
the SANRAL upgrade and could become the system capacity constraint. This is explored
further below.

Given the timing of the proposed Panorama Business Park, which will be operational only once
the construction currently in progress has been completed, this assessment has been based on
the predicted change to current traffic patterns rather than that being experienced today. The
road upgrades currently in progress by SANRAL will provide huge additional capacity, designed
to cater for the long term capacity needs in this area, and hence our focus was not on these
new upgraded intersection, rather the impact this will have on changing traffic patterns and the
impact beyond their limit of construction. Based on this logic, the following intersections were
the main focus of this investigation:
• New Greytown/Birmingham
• New Greytown/Ohrtmann
• New Greytown/Old Greytown
• Old Greytown/Otto’s Bluff

R2011_17_P0099 Panorama Business Park TIA_Rev2.doc

 3

Based on the above arguments, the predicted revised traffic patterns through the above
intersections [as used in this assessment] are as shown on Figures 5 and 6 for the AM and PM
peaks respectively. The assumed adjustment to the traffic patterns are as highlighted in blue.

4. TRIP GENERATION AND DISTRIBUTION

The estimated trip generation for the proposed Panorama Business Park are as shown on
Tables 1 and 2 for the AM and PM peak hours respectively.

Based on current traffic patterns, the assumed distribution of trips is as shown below:

From/to Old Greytown Road south = 40%

From/to Old Greytown Road north = 5%
From/to Allendale Road = 20%
From/to New Greytown Road east = 10%
From/to Birmingham Road south = 5%
From/to Ohrtmann Road south = 20%

R2011_17_P0099 Panorama Business Park TIA_Rev2.doc

TABLE 1: AM PEAK TRIP GENERATION

ASSUMED TRIP SPLIT TRIPS

ZONING LAND AREA (m2) LAND USE
FLOOR AREA(m2) RATE IN OUT IN OUT
GENERAL/COMMERCIAL 41,645 12,000 LOW IMPACT RETAIL 2.0/100m2 50% 50% 120 120
15,000 INDUSTRIAL 0.9/100m2 75% 25% 225 75
GENERAL 66,373 7,500 LOW IMPACT RETAIL 2.0/100m2 50% 50% 75 75
7,500 OFFICES 2.3/100m2 85% 15% 128 23
INTERNAL TRIPS 15% -83 -43
TOTAL 465 250

TABLE 2: PM PEAK TRIP GENERATION

ASSUMED TRIP SPLIT TRIPS

ZONING LAND AREA (m2) LAND USE
FLOOR AREA(m2) RATE IN OUT IN OUT
GENERAL/COMMERCIAL 41,645 12,000 LOW IMPACT RETAIL 3.0/100m2 50% 50% 180 180
15,000 INDUSTRIAL 0.9/100m2 25% 75% 75 225
GENERAL 66,373 7,500 LOW IMPACT RETAIL 3.0/100m2 50% 50% 113 113
7,500 OFFICES 2.3/100m2 15% 85% 23 128
INTERNAL TRIPS 15% -61 -96
TOTAL 330 550
 4

5. TRAFFIC IMPACT

Based on the assumed redistribution of trips [as shown in Figures 5 and 6] due to the N3
interchange upgrade currently in progress, the four critical intersections were analysed [using
the SIDRA programme] initially without the additional traffic due to the proposed Panorama
Business Park (PBP) and then with the additional traffic due to the proposed Panorama Business
Park. The results of this analysis are summarised in Table 3 and discussed further below.

TABLE 3: INTERSECTION CAPACITY ANALYSIS

TIME PBP OVERALL I/S WORST MOVEMENTS
INTERSECTION
PERIOD TRAFFIC DELAY LOS V/C DELAY LOS
NO 17.6 B 0.41 33.2 C
AM
New Greytown YES (1) 23.9 C 0.70 39.4 D
/Birmingham NO 17.5 B 0.40 28.9 C
PM
YES (1) 20.9 C 0.58 40.3 D
NO 15.9 B 0.53 30.6 C
AM
New Greytown YES 19.9 B 0.79 41.9 D
/Ohrtmann NO 18.6 B 0.78 48.1 D
PM
YES 27.3 C 0.92 62.2 E
NO (1) 15.1 B 0.80 36.2 D
AM
New Greytown YES (1) 16.4 B 0.80 36.3 D
/Old Greytown NO (1) 12.1 B 0.58 59.9 E
PM
YES (1) 13.6 B 0.62 63.7 E
NO (1) 26.4 C 0.85 77.4 E
AM
Old Greytown YES (1) 27.2 C 0.86 77.4 E
/Otto’s Bluff NO (1) 21.7 C 0.83 93.2 F
PM
YES (1) 22.3 C 0.87 101.4 F

(1) Intersection Modified

New Greytown/Birmingham

The New Greytown/Birmingham intersection will be highly impacted on as most of the traffic
attracted to the proposed Panorama Business Park will pass through this intersection. In order
to accommodate this additional traffic, modifications to both the geometric layout and signal
setting will be required. The suggested geometric improvements is as shown on Figure 7, being
a south to west left turn lane. The signals would also need to provide a right turn green arrow
phase for right turners from west to south (New Greytown from the west turning right into
Birmingham). Provided these improvements are in place, conditions at this intersection are
indicated as acceptable.

R2011_17_P0099 Panorama Business Park TIA_Rev2.doc

 5

New Greytown/Ohrtmann

At the New Greytown/Ohrtmann intersection, conditions will worsen marginally with the
additional traffic due to the Proposed Panorama Business Park. All movements are indicated at
LOS D or better except a minor movement at LOS E, which is considered to be acceptable.

New Greytown/Old Greytown and Old Greytown/Otto’s Bluff

At both the New Greytown/Old Greytown and Old Greytown/Otto’s Bluff intersections, it was
found that if the reassigned traffic demands [as shown on Figures 5 and 6] were analysed on
the existing layouts even without the additional traffic due to the proposed Panorama Business
Park, conditions were indicated as poor. In other words, these intersections are indicated as
becoming a bottleneck in the system once the interchange upgrade currently in progress is
completed.

In discussions with others involved with the interchange upgrade, it was confirmed that this
issue had been recognised and brought to the attention of SANRAL by the local Municipality.
SANRAL, however, are not willing to fund road works beyond the current limits of construction
and considers this to be the responsibility of the local Municipality, with this not as yet fully
resolved.

Within the limitations of this assessment, it was found that if an additional through lane is
added in both directions [3+3 lanes rather than the current 2+2 lanes], conditions become
acceptable, being the outputs as shown in Table 3 above. The very poor LOS shown is for very
minor movements only.

When the additional traffic due to the proposed Panorama Business Park was added, conditions
change only marginally, as shown in Table 3 above. This is because the additional traffic due to
the proposed Panorama Business Park is only a small increase over the existing demand
[approximately 7%] and it only impacts marginally on the critical intersection movements.

Access to the Development off Birmingham Road

Birmingham road in the vicinity of the proposed access to the Panorama Business Park is over
10 metres in width. It is recommended that a right turn refuge lane be provided for the
proposed access by remarking/repainting the road surface. In addition, a left turn slip into the
development from the north is also recommended so as not to delay southbound traffic on
Birmingham road.

For the access road within the property, we recommend one lane in and one lane out be
provided within the development. This needs to be developed in more detail as the planning for
the development progresses.

A priority (stop controlled) access onto Birmingham road will be adequate.

R2011_17_P0099 Panorama Business Park TIA_Rev2.doc

 6

6. SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS

In summary, the following is recommended to mitigate the impact of the proposed Panorama
Business Park:

1. Improvements to the geometrics of the New Greytown/Birmingham intersection as shown

on Figure 7, being a south to west left turn lane. The signals would also need to provide
a right turn green arrow phase for right turners from west to south (New Greytown from
the west turning right into Birmingham).

2. No changes to the New Greytown/Ohrtmann intersection.

3. Indications are that both the New Greytown/Old Greytown and Old Greytown/Otto’s Bluff
intersections will require an additional through lane in both directions [3+3 lanes rather
than the current 2+2 lanes] once the N3 interchange are completed based on the current
demand alone. When the additional traffic due to the proposed Panorama Business Park
is added, conditions change only marginally. This is because the additional traffic due to
the proposed Panorama Business Park is only a small increase over the existing demand
[approximately 7%] and it only impacts marginally on the critical intersection movements.

4. Access to the proposed Panorama Business Park off Birmingham road should be stop
controlled with a right turn refuge lane provided on Birmingham road within the existing
road width and a left turn slip road into the development. For the access road within the
property, we recommend one lane in and one lane out be provided within the
development.

7. CONCLUSIONS

Provided the various recommendations, as listed in section 6 above are implemented, the
proposed Panorama Business Park should be allowed to proceed (from a traffic impact
viewpoint only).

__________________

D G McFarlane Pr Eng

R2011_17_P0099 Panorama Business Park TIA_Rev2.doc

 PANORAMA BUSINESS PARK

FIGURE 1 : LOCALITY PLAN

FIGURE 3 : EXISTING AM PEAK HOUR TRAFFIC
FIGURE 4 : EXISTING PM PEAK HOUR TRAFFIC
FIGURE 5 : REASSIGNED AM PEAK HOUR TRAFFIC
FIGURE 6 : REASSIGNED PM PEAK HOUR TRAFFIC
 EXISTING LAYOUT
S G O

PROPOSED LAYOUT

FIGURE 7 : NEW GREYTOWN/BIRMINGHAM INTERSECTION