Transportation Existing Traffic Counts Vehicles per day (vpd) 10 year average A.RiversAve.-MelbourneAve. toI-526=20,100vpd B.SpruillAve.-E.Montagueto McMillanAve.=10,800vpd C.CosgroveAve.-SpruillAve. toRiversAve.=7,100vpd D.VirginiaAve.-BuistAve.to I-526=5,150vpd E.N.Rhett-ParkCircleto BerkeleyCountyline= 25,640vpd F.S.Rhett-ParkCircleto RiversAve.=2,200vpd G.DurantAve.-ParkCircleto RiversAve.=8,700vpd H.E.MontagueAve.-Virginia Ave.toParkCircle=4,380 vpd I.MontagueAve.-ParkCircleto RiversAve.=6,500vpd
N. Rhett- Park Circle to Berkeley Co. line = 25,640 VPD
Virginia Ave.- Buist Ave. to I-526 = 5,150 VPD
E. Montague Ave.Virginia Ave. to Park Circle = 4,380 VPD Montague Ave.Park Circle to Rivers Ave. = 6,500 VPD
Rivers Ave. Melbourne Ave. to I-526 = 20,100 VPD
Durant Ave.- Park Circle to Rivers Ave. = 8,700 VPD
S. Rhett- Park Circle to Rivers Ave. = 2,200 VPD
Spruill Ave.- E. Montague to McMillan Ave. = 10,800 VPD
4-lanes serve 25,000 to 40,000 vpd Equals 6,250 vpd per lane (see Arterial Streets)
Primary Arterial - I-26, I-526 Secondary Arterial - Rivers Ave. Neighborhood Connectors Access Streets Pedestrian Rail Transit Bike Lane/Trail Pedshed-5 minute walking radius Pedshed-10 minute walking radius
Cosgrove Ave. Spruill Ave. to Rivers Ave. = 7,100 VPD
Street hierarchy diagram, showing existing traffic counts at Neighborhood Connectors, justifying design changes on these streets. Pedsheds show locations of neighborhood centers and future light rail stops.
Components of the New Integrated Plan The goal of sustainable community planning and urban design is to achieve a balance of social values, environmental health, and economic viability in the public realm. Understanding the value of neighborhood resources like public streets can help us regain the respect they require to become assets to the community.
The limits of this redevelopment area can be loosely defined by the original North Charleston area founded in 1972 bounded by I-526 to the north, I-26 to the west, the Cooper River to the east, and Cosgrove to the south. The goal is to create connectivity, amenities and integration to achieve safe, efficient and attractive street networks.
Access Roads and Streets
The smallest component of the street system, Access Roads, binds neighborhoods together internally. In these areas, local activity is more dominant and movement by automobiles must be geared to low volume, slow speed, with primary rightof-way for pedestrian and bicycle traffic, as these roads do not have sidewalks, nor are they needed.
Example of bike lane on street
4.14
Restoring the Connections
Access Streets are the next step up, providing sidewalks for safety. These streets should occur at areas of higher traffic volumes and located closer to neighborhood centers, schools and where land use is more intense and higher densities exist, or where potential for future development of higher density may occur. They should also be used for simple and direct linkage to Neighborhood Connectors, the next step up in the system.
Neighborhood Connectors
Neighborhood Connectors provide relatively direct, convenient connections between Neighborhood Centers. They also become gateways to neighborhoods, and as described in Chapter 5, have a civic dimension (see page 5.3). Because of their role in transporting people and goods between neighborhoods, Neighborhood Connectors operate at slower speeds (35mph) and carry less traffic (up to 12,500 vpd) than Arterial Streets. These are dual functioning streets because they also provide direct access to fronting properties.
Arterial Streets
There are two categories of arterial streets: primary and secondary. The diagram above shows the street hierarchy of Arterial Streets. The highest capacity of arterials streets are obviously I-526 and I-26, which can be designated as Primary Arterial Streets. This plan will however, focus more on the Secondary Arterial Streets, like Rivers Avenue (US 52) and Montague Avenue west of Rivers Avenue. Corridors like Rivers Avenue are vital links to commercial, light industrial land uses and residential neighborhoods. These corridors in which many people shop,
work and live can be improved by threading different land uses together, rather than segregating and creating barriers between them. This plan suggests extending the grass median at Rivers Avenue and adjusting the lane widths to a more appropriate capacity. A moderate count for determining number of lanes needed for a four (4) lane Arterial Street is 25,000 vehicles per day (vpd). This translates to 6,250 vpd per lane. Some cities use counts as high as 40,000 vpd. Existing traffic counts along Rivers Avenue and Montague Avenue support the reduced lane widths proposed in this plan. Additionally, to promote an interconnected system of streets to disperse traffic loads, access management on the arterial system is important to safety and efficiency. Consequently, intersection frequency should not be any greater than is necessary to serve local access needs.
Intermodal Hubs
Intermodal hubs will help passengers to easily transition from one mode of transportation to another, and are positioned in strategic neighborhood centers to promote pedestrian activity. They will vary in size and capacity depending on their location and