Preparer Qualifications 

The TIA must be prepared by a transportation planner/engineer with experience in traffic planning/engineering. The final report is required to be sealed by a registered South Carolina professional engineer with expertise in traffic engineering.

Report Requirements

The TIA must be prepared under the guidance of the Institute of Transportation Engineers' Recommended Practice for Traffic Access and Impact Studies for Site Development, 1991. 

The specific scope will be determined through discussion with City staff. These items are typically necessary for us to be able to evaluate the TIA, and it is helpful when the report follows this format:

Introduction

1. Study Purpose
2. Executive Summary

Proposed Development

1. Site plan that evaluates of the site access and internal circulation
2. Description of proposed land uses
   • If residential, number and type of units
   • If non-residential, square footage, number of employees or students, number of tables and seats, number of drive-thru lanes, etc.
3. Anticipated build-out year for the development
4. Expected traffic conditions one year after the project is expected to be complete

Area Existing Conditions

1. Vicinity map of the study area determined during the scoping discussion.
   • Identify streets by name and route number (if applicable)
   • Show any signalized intersections in close proximity
2. Include information about land uses and zoning districts 
3. Show site accessibility (existing and future roadway system and traffic conditions)

Projected Traffic

1. Site traffic
   • Trip generation
   • Trip distribution
   • Trip assignment 
2. Total traffic
3. Through traffic

Estimates of vehicle trips must be based on either the most recent edition of Trip Generation Manual published by the Institute of Traffic Engineers or locally available data if found by staff to be applicable to the proposed development.

• Include anticipated daily traffic, AM Peak Hour Traffic and PM Peak Hour Traffic
• In some cases, the scoping discussion may determine that Mid-Day Peak Hour Traffic and/or Weekend Peak Hour Traffic data also is necessary.
• For industrial land uses, passenger vehicle trips and truck trips will need to be separately noted. 

Traffic Analysis

1. Site access
2. Capacity and Level of Service 
3. Safety
4. Site circulation/parking 
5. Evaluation of the ability of the existing street system to support the proposed development from these perspectives: 
   • Traffic volume data
   • Historic growth rates
   • Level of Service data
   • Bicycle and pedestrian facilities
   • Traffic control devices
   • Regulatory signs
6. If signalization is proposed, include a signal warrant study and signal progressional analysis.
   • Any changes to the traffic signal system may also require pedestrian improvements.
7. Traffic impact of proposed project on study area, including intersection analyses at the locations determined during the scoping discussion.
   • Turning movement counts
   • Level of Service data
   • Safety assessments
   • Turn lane warrant evaluations for intersections and driveway accesses

Improvements Analysis 

1. Provide an assessment of the improvements needed to the existing street system in order to support the traffic anticipated to be generated by the proposed development.
   • Developers of new single-family detached and attached neighborhoods that access through existing neighborhood streets must:
     • Repair road surface (if minor damage exists) or resurface it (if major damage exists).
     • Widen roadway cross-sections to accommodate the new number of proposed homes to the fullest extent practical.
2. Take into account whether the proposed development will be required to build one or more collector roads shown on the RFATS Collector Streets Plan.
3. Also take into account whether the proposed development may be affected by any approved and funded roadway improvements (PDF) in close proximity to the proposed development.
4. Include details of improvements to be made, termini of the improvement project, entity managing the project, and the anticipated completion year. 

Recommendations

Include information about the projection methods used and the assumptions made about the background traffic on the existing street network.