We have received the Final Report of the experts we retained to conduct a traffic study on the impact of the proposed development at 767 New Haw Creek Road (“The Meadows at Haw Creek”). The study we requested focused on traffic flow and safety at four significant intersections in Haw Creek, which most of us encounter daily: (1) New Haw Creek Road at Bell Road (Evergreen School), (2) Old Haw Creek Road at Bethesda Road (Haw Creek Elementary School), (3) New Haw Creek Road at Beverly Road, and (4) the New Haw Creek Road intersection with Route 70. 

While each of these intersections are problematic today, the report concludes that the increased traffic from the proposed development would exacerbate those problems. Our experts concluded that “the proposed development will adversely affect the health or safety of persons residing or working along New Haw Creek Road in the vicinity of the proposed development from a traffic engineering perspective.” 

With respect to traffic flow and safety at Evergreen School and Haw Creek Elementary School the report documents the steps the schools have taken to mitigate traffic queuing on New and Old Haw Creek Roads (e.g., staggered drop-off and pick-up times) but finds that the increased traffic from the proposed development would result in more significant queuing on both roads.

The report calls out the safety issues at the Beverly Road and New Haw Creek Road intersection, specifically the inadequate line-of-sight distances for cars making left turns onto Beverly Road from New Haw Creek Road or from Beverly Road onto New Haw Creek Road. With respect to the Route 70 intersection with New Haw Creek Road the report concludes that back-up times at peak hours will increase. 

We encourage you to read the full report. Each of the intersections that were studied are stressed today. As the city makes its decision on whether to grant conditional zoning to the developer to build 95 housing units at “The Meadows of Haw Creek” it needs to consider the incremental impact of the traffic it would be permitting. Hopefully, the report of our experts will help guide the city’s zoning decision.