Park Ave. (SH 9) Corridor
Town of Breckenridge, CO
See the grand opening ceremony here.
OVERVIEW
The Park Avenue (SH 9) corridor in the heart of Breckenridge, CO, experiences substantial traffic during peak tourist seasons resulting in congestion and pedestrian safety issues. Park Avenue is an existing two-lane roadway and widening was found to be cost prohibitive. The town sought an innovative solution to improve safety, operations, and transit circulation without widening the roadway.
SUMMARY
Working with partner firms McDowell Engineering, JVA, and Omni-Means, the project team employed several analysis methods and developed concept designs to determine the feasibility of roundabouts and/or signals to solve these problems. The multi-phased analysis included both deterministic and microsimulation models to ensure accuracy and sound decision making.
The modeling showed that key operational deficiencies occurring along the corridor would be alleviated with a phased installation of single and flared two-lane entry roundabouts at all intersections.
Heavy pedestrian movements between Village Road and Main Street was a critical analysis component. A mid-block signalized pedestrian crossing was evaluated to find the optimum performance between vehicular and pedestrians LOS.
The analysis found that the greatest benefit was achieved by prioritizing roundabout construction at critical intersections along the corridor, including access control and transit recirculation to improve transit operations.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Network planning included deterministic and microsimulation
- Determined feasibility and prioritization of a corridor of 6 single-lane and 3 flared two-lane entry roundabouts
- Highly constrained
- Multimodal focused
- Capacity expansion achieved without roadway widening
