(a) Commercial: 20,000 square feet or more of new or additional total floor area.
(b) Office: 30,000 square feet or more of new or additional total floor area or any truck terminal.
(c) Institutions: 30,000 square feet or more of new or additional total floor area.
(d) Industrial and/or manufacturing uses: all uses that generally result in greater than 500 trips per day.
(e) Any use or combination of uses that would generally result in greater than 1,000 trips per day.
(2) Timing. Any required traffic study shall be submitted at the same time as or earlier than any preliminary plan, special exception, conditional use or construction permit application, whichever is submitted earliest.
(3) Costs. The full costs of completing the study and the reasonable costs of a review by the Township or Planning Commission Engineer or other Township representative shall be borne by the applicant.
(4) Selection of engineer. The applicant's proposed traffic engineer shall be subject to approval by the Supervisors, based upon the qualifications and credentials of the proposed traffic engineer as submitted to the Supervisors.
(5) Study area. Prior to initiation of the traffic study, the traffic engineer or planner shall meet with the Township Supervisors and/or Engineer to establish the area to be studied. This area shall be limited to streets or intersections within a maximum of one-mile radius of the proposed project egress/ingress, except for a use projected to generate more than 2,000 trips per day, which shall have a maximum study area of three miles from the project egress/ingress.
(6) Joint studies. Joint traffic studies between different applicants are allowed.
(7) Project description. If a development is proposed to occur in stages, each stage shall be described and taken into account in the study.
(8) Existing traffic conditions. The traffic volumes and service levels during the a.m. and p.m. peak hours and holiday weekends shall be presented for all streets and intersections in the study area that can reasonably be expected to be significantly impacted. Traffic volumes shall be based upon actual counts that occurred within the prior two years, and not upon state estimates. The locations of all accidents reportable to the state or local police within the study area during the most recent two-year period shall be noted.
(9) Expected traffic generation. The study shall include an estimate of the number of trips expected to be generated by the use and any future stages during the a.m. and p.m. peak hours and holiday weekends, traffic volumes and levels of service on impacted intersections and streets. Such estimates shall be based upon the latest published estimates of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, or its successor entity, unless the applicant provides the Township with estimates and supporting documentation based upon actual traffic counts of closely similar developments in Pennsylvania.
(10) Levels of service. The study shall estimate and use the description of the levels of service (A, B, C, D, E and F) for streets and highways established by the United States Department of Transportation.
(11) Signal warrants. Heavily traveled intersections at entrances to the development and other major unsignalized intersections in the study area shall be studied to determine whether a traffic signal is warranted by PennDOT criteria. Existing traffic signals that are significantly impacted shall be studied to determine whether they are in need of upgrading.
(12) Needed improvements. The study may take into account traffic improvements which are clearly funded and will occur within the next two years. The study shall include suggestions for how each congested or hazardous intersection in the study area should be improved to reduce the hazard or congestion, and a rough estimate of the cost of that improvement.
(13) Applicant's response. The applicant shall respond to the traffic study with proposals on what traffic improvements, right-of-way dedications or commitments of financing for specific projects the applicant proposes to commit to resolve the negative traffic impacts of the proposed development. Such improvements or financing may be staged in relation to the stages of the development. The applicant may also agree to commit toward the long-term support of a program to reduce peak-hour traffic by private vehicles, through programs such as carpooling, support of mass transit, or staggered work hours, in place of certain structural improvements.
(14) Completion of improvements. Any traffic improvements that are required as a condition of any approval under this chapter or
Chapter 135: Subdivision and Land Development, shall be in place or sufficient funds committed in escrow acceptable to the Township prior to the issuance of any needed occupancy permit, or within a staged process agreed to at the time of approval.
