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New Lake Elmo Elementary School & Oak-Land Middle School August 1, 2024 Transportation Study Page 12 During school arrivals, parents start arriving at the school around 7:05 a.m. and buses begin to arrive around 7:25 a.m., with the school starting at 7:50 a.m. Internal queueing was observed to extend onto Manning Avenue for approximately ten (10) minutes, however, the queues were maintained with the turn lane storage, and were not observed to affect mainline traffic. The school area was generally clear by 7:50 a.m. During afternoon pick-ups, travel patterns were generally the same as the morning drop-off. Students were released at 2:20 p.m., and most students were picked up and the school area was cleared within 15 minutes. Parents were observed to arrive at the school early, with some parents arriving as early as 1:45 p.m. Internal queueing was observed to extend onto Manning Avenue starting at 2:10 p.m., and queues nearly maxed out the turn lane storage at the intersection. Despite guidance from staff, some students were observed to cut across the parking lot to get picked up from their parents. In general, the overall operations during the school arrival and departure periods were observed to be safe and efficient. The only safety issues observed were when students would walk across the pick-up queue and parking lot to get to their parents’ vehicle. Despite signage, parents often would not pull up past the main school entrance, leaving potential on-site queueing storage underutilized. While internal queues that extended onto Manning Avenue were observed to be maintained within the turn lane storage, there may be occurrences throughout the year where these queues extend beyond the turn lanes, causing friction and additional conflict points along Manning Avenue. Intersection Capacity Analysis An existing intersection capacity analysis was completed using Synchro/SimTraffic software to establish a baseline condition to which future traffic operations can be compared. The capacity analysis was completed for the weekday a.m., school departure, and p.m. peak hour of the adjacent roadway network. Capacity analysis results identify a Level of Service (LOS) which indicates how well an intersection is operating. Intersections are graded from LOS A through LOS F. The LOS results are based on average delay per vehicle results from SimTraffic, which correspond to the delay threshold values shown in Table 3. LOS A indicates the best traffic operation and LOS F indicates an intersection where demand exceeds capacity. Overall intersection LOS A through D is generally considered acceptable by drivers in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. Table 3. Level of Service Criteria for Signalized and Unsignalized Intersections LOS Designation Signalized Intersection Average Delay/Vehicle (seconds) Unsignalized Intersection Average Delay/Vehicle (seconds) A ≤ 10 ≤ 10 B > 10 - 20 > 10 - 15 C > 20 - 35 > 15 - 25 D > 35 - 55 > 25 - 35 E > 55 - 80 > 35 - 50 F > 80 > 50