Item 6A - Lee Engineering Traffic Discussion 12-27-2021
ARIZONA
TEXAS
NEW MEXICO
OKLAHOMA
3030 LBJ Freeway, Suite 1660, Dallas, TX 75234
(972) 248-3006 office (972) 248-3855 fax | www.leeengineering.com Page 1 of 5
December 27, 2021
Sandy Endy, P.E.
Development Engineer
City of Southlake
1400 Main Street, Suite 320
Southlake, Texas 76092
Re: Multi-Sport Training Facility between Dean Way and Crooked Lane
Dear Ms. Endy:
Per your request, we have prepared a letter outlining various traffic considerations related to the proposed
site plan provided by the City. No formal traffic study was available for review, nor were any formal analysis
or counts performed as part of this work effort.
The site is situated between Dean Way and Crooked Lane and has a driveway to Dean Way, a gated drive to
Crooked Lane, and a gated driveway to the Dragon Stadium parking area. Information provided by the
developer indicates that there will be 3-indoor fields and 2 outdoor fields, 2 indoor batting cages, 3 outdoor
batting cages. Hours of operation are Monday-Thursday 2pm-10pm, Friday – 2pm-11pm, Saturday 7am-
11pm, and Sunday 1pm-10pm. Based on the hours of operation, the primary period of concern is likely the
PM peak hour that coincides with evening rush hour.
TRIP GENERATION ESTIMATES
Institute of Transportation Engineers Trip Generation
Typically, the number of trips expected to be generated by a new development is a function of the type and
quantity of land use for the development. Trip generation rates and equations from the Institute of
Transportation Engineers (ITE) are typically utilized to develop estimated trip counts for a development.
However, due to the relatively unique nature of the multi-sports complex that is proposed, ITE Trip
Generation 11th Edition does not currently contain a land use category that is directly comparable, though
other uses may be somewhat similar, such as Land Use 488 Soccer Complex.
Table 1: ITE Trip Generation Estimate
Time Period
Estimated Trips LU 488
Soccer Complex (5 fields)
Total Enter Exit
Weekday (Daily) 356 178 178
Weekday PM Peak Hour 82 54 28
Saturday (Daily) 2024 1012 1012
Saturday Peak Hour 187 90 97
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Local Data: PM Peak Hour of Similar Facilities
A frequent variable used for trip generation purposes for a development is the area of the building in square
feet. Lee Engineering has previously collected trip data for the Weekday PM peak hour of some similar multi-
sport facilities in the metroplex1. These facilities ranged from 14,508 to 144,020 square feet. The average
trip generation rate for these facilities varied from 0.5 trips per 1,000 SF to 1.2 trips per SF with an average
trip rate of 0.8 trips per SF.
Each facility referenced below was counted between the hours of 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM during a weekday.
The entering and exiting vehicles were counted at each of the three data collection facilities. The counts
were analyzed to identify the maximum peak hour trip total for each facility within the observation period.
Using these PM peak hour trip totals, average values were calculated for entering vehicle percentage, exiting
vehicle percentage, and trips per one-thousand building square feet [1,000 SF]. Table 2 shows the maximum
evening peak hour counts and the trip rates.
Table 2: Peak Hour Trip Counts and SF Calculations
Facility
Counted PM Peak Hour Trips
Facility
SF
Total
Trips per
1,000 SF Enter Exit Total Enter % Exit %
Site 1 - Arlington 19 13 32 59% 41% 40,357 0.8
Site 2 - Fort Worth 5 2 7 71% 29% 14,508 0.5
Site 3 - Frisco 136 42 178 76% 24% 144,020 1.2
Average: 69% 31% Average: 0.8
Using the average values in Table 2, peak hour trips for the proposed Multi-sport facility in Southlake were
estimated as shown in Table 3. Because two of the fields and three of the batting cages are located outside
and not within the building square footage, LEE estimated the area assigned to these components and
included them separately in the trip generation estimate.
Table 3: Estimated Trips (PM Peak only using similar site counts)
Facility Size (SF)
Estimated PM Peak Trips
Total Enter (69%) Exit (31%)
Indoor Area 43,960 35 24 11
Outdoor Area ~30,000 24 17 7
Total Combined 73,960 59 41 18
1 Lee Engineering project #T1706.01
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Trip generation Using Local Data: PM Peak Hour and Saturday Peak hour of Single Sport Similar Facilities
Lee Engineering has count data for an indoor single sport facility (~40,000 SF with outdoor sports fields)2 that
indicated the following trip generation characteristics:
Weekday PM Peak Hour
o 17.6 trips per field or 1.47 trips per player
Saturday peak hour
o 29 trips per field or 2.42 trips per player.
The per player trip generation rates result in significantly higher trip estimates than the field estimates. It is
likely that the number of players assumed per field could be lower in many instances than the number shown.
If a single soccer, flag football, lacrosse or field team is practicing on the field, the number will likely be lower.
The number 24 was selected as a conservative assumption based on two teams of 12 players in some form
of competition on a single field. As the number of players per field increases it is likely that the number of
playing fields would decrease.
Table 4: Estimated Trips (Based on local data for similar single sport facility)
Time Period Estimated Trips
Total
Per Field Estimates
Weekday PM Peak Hour (5 fields) 88
Saturday Peak Hour (5 fields) 145
Per Player Estimates
Weekday PM Peak Hour (24 players per field) 176
Saturday Peak Hour (24 players per field) 290
GENERAL TRAFFIC RELATED OBSERVATIONS
Parking
Based on informal observations of similar sites in the DFW metroplex, the primary issue associated with
developments of this type is an undersupply of parking during tournament operations. While the facility may
have five fields in use during the tournament (10 teams actively playing), numerous other teams may be at
the facility waiting to play in future games. A need for overflow parking is often observed at similar facilities.
According to information in the zoning narrative and provided by city staff, the facility will have a reciprocal
parking agreement allowing the use of Carroll ISD’s Dragon Stadium parking lot for overflow parking during
tournaments.
Lee Engineering would suggest a parking agreement with adjoin development to the west, or steps should
be taken to minimize site traffic parking on the adjacent property given its proximity to the site entrance.
2 Lee Engineering project #T1783.01
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Traffic operations
Formal capacity analysis was not performed because existing turning movement counts are not available at
the intersections of Dean Way and Kimball Ave or Crooked Lane at Kimball Avenue. The westbound Dean
Way is a single lane approach to Kimball Avenue. Based on historical count data from the Citywide counts,
PM peak hour traffic in this area is oriented 55% northbound and 45% southbound. This would indicate a
majority of traffic leaving Dean Way will turn right to travel north.
There were 466 northbound and 388 southbound vehicles in this vicinity as of 2017 (the latest citywide counts
available). Even with growth along Kimball, there should be potential capacity for significant volumes from
Dean Way during the weekday PM peak hour as Kimball volumes are relatively low for a four-lane roadway.
Based on the trip generation data presented, PM traffic to / from the site is likely less 1 car per minute
in the inbound or outbound direction and less than 2 cars per minute total.
Based on the relatively low volumes on Kimball and depending on the ratio of left-turns to right-
turns, it appears that over 200 vehicles per hour can potentially be accommodated from Dean Way
onto Kimball Avenue.
As volumes on Kimball grow, delays to the minor cross-street movements will increase.
Dean Way aligns with a church driveway access point, which minimizes the PM peak conflict from
the cross street compared to a commercial driveway.
As westbound left-turn movements from Dean Way to southbound Kimball grow, delays will
increase. As the left-turn delay increases, motorists are likely to turn right and either U-turn or take
an alternate route.
City staff asked the specific question of does the proposed site adversely affects the level of service onto
Dean Way and or Crooked Lane?
Any traffic added to either Dean Way or Crooked Lane would be expected to increase delays on those
minor street approaches to Kimball Avenue. Without a formal capacity analysis, we are unable to estimate
change in level of service or performance. It is common for minor streets that intersect arterial roadways to
operate at relatively poor levels of service.
Site access
The site plan shows primary access to Dean Way, which then intersects with Kimball Avenue. With a sports
facility there are peaks in traffic associated with game/event start and end times. If all five fields have a game
end within the same 10-15 minute window, and all participants and attendees leave the facility at that time
it is reasonable to expect some congestion both at the exit to Dean Way and at the westbound approach to
Kimball Ave. This would generally be a short-lived peak confined to the transition between games or the end
of an event.
The curvilinear driveway configuration should be reviewed to make sure vehicles can negotiate the turning
alignments when a queue exiting the site is present.
City Staff Requested feed back on three specific options:
1) Main access onto Dean Way with emergency only access onto Crooked
This would be the most restrictive configuration of the site from a traffic perspective. Traffic is
concentrated at the Dean Way and Kimball Avenue intersection under this scenario. This
configuration would minimize the amount of site traffic on Crooked Lane.
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2) Main access onto Dean Way with access opened to Crooked between 4pm and 6pm M-F
This would provide better access for the site. Traffic exiting the site would likely spread between
the two driveways, though anecdotally, turning maneuvers at Crooked and Kimball are possibly
more difficult than at Dean Way due to Crooked being higher volume.
Entry from the north and east may come in from Crooked, and traffic exiting to the northeast
would likely exit to Nolen via Crooked
3) Open access from both Dean Way and Crooked Lane
This would provide the highest level of access for the site and spread traffic to/from the site
compared to access only to Dean Way. Spreading access minimizes the impacts at any one
location. In this instance some traffic would utilize Crooked Lane during weekend events which is
when traffic generated by the site is likely the highest.
In reviewing the site information, the overflow parking seems likely to be necessary during many
tournament activities and thus will likely be open on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Lee Engineering
believes there would be benefit allowing site traffic to exit/enter from the Dragon Stadium shared parking
aisle to Silicon. This should be explored by the City, Developer, and CISD if feasible.
CONCLUSIONS
1) Trip generation for the site is based on the types of teams and number of fields in use. Based on
available data the trip generation for the site likely ranges between 60 and 100 vehicles during the
PM peak hour and 140 and 300 vehicles during the Saturday Peak hour. These are two-way vehicle
counts and represent the sum of inbound and outbound traffic.
2) The existing or predicted operations and level of service at the Kimball Ave intersection with Dean
Way cannot be quantified without formal counts and traffic analysis. Based on the information
available, the site can likely function with access to Dean Way only though it is likely there will be
short periods after games or events where congestion exists. Access to and from the site would be
improved through driveway access to Crooked Lane and/or Silicon (via Dragon Stadium).
3) Concerns regarding overflow parking appear to be addressed through a parking agreement with
Dragon Stadium.
4) The site driveway to Dean Way should be reviewed with autoturn to verify that an inbound vehicle
can satisfactorily negotiate the driveway while an outbound queue of vehicles is present.
If you have any questions, I can be reached at 972-456-9013. We appreciate the opportunity to provide these
services.
Sincerely,
John Denholm III, P.E., PTOE
Senior Project Manager
Lee Engineering
TBPE Firm F-450