SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

Chapter 5 – Environmental Consequencespeak-hour conditions (between 6:00 AM and 8:30 AM and 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM, Monday throughFriday). Movements on Saturday, Sunday, and holidays are by special request only.Under implementation of Alternative A, the military vehicles would use existing Army protocols andBMPs to minimize impacts to public transportation conditions as follows:• The maximum number of vehicle per convoy would be 24.• Convoys would be sequenced at 15- to 30-minute intervals, so the maximum hourly volumewould be 96 vehicles per hour.• Convoys would be scheduled during non-peak traffic hours, thus reducing potential impacts onpeak-hour traffic conditions.• Convoy traffic would yield to public traffic at road crossings.Traffic impacts were assessed based on volume increases and LOS, which is a measure of trafficconditions on a given lane or roadway. Six LOSs (LOS A through LOS F) are used to designatedriving conditions from best to worst, respectively. In general, LOS A represents free-flow conditionswith no congestion, while LOS F represents severe congestion with stop-and-go conditions. Theanalysis assessed whether the traffic associated with Alternative A would exceed the capacity of onandoff-ramps, cause LOS at intersections and freeway mainline segments to deteriorate from LOS Athrough D to LOS E or F, cause LOS to deteriorate from LOS E to LOS F, or increase congestion atintersections currently operating at (or anticipated to operate at) LOS F. A worst-case LOS analysiswas performed for the highways and crossings using the following assumptions:• The maximum number of vehicles was used for calculations (four convoys of 24 vehicles each,sequenced at 15-minute intervals);• The convoys would stop for traffic along the state highways, so an intersection would becontrolled by two-way stop signs; and• Although convoys would be scheduled for non-peak hours; to develop a worst-case LOS analysis,convoys were assumed to be scheduled during peak-hour conditions as described above.Intersection Operations. Military vehicle convoys would cross public roadways. Convoys wouldyield to public traffic at road crossings to minimize impacts on traffic operations. Therefore, impactsto intersection operations associated with convoys would be less than significant.Roadway Segment Operations. Under this alternative, military vehicle convoys would generateadditional traffic on public roadways. Assuming worst-case conditions, the LOS for convoy trafficwould be C or better (light congestion; occasional backups on critical approaches). Public roadwaysegment operations would continue to operate at acceptable levels (LOS C).Roadway segment operations at SBMR and WAAF would continue to operate at acceptable levelsunder Alternative A including convoy activity between SBMR and Hickam Air Force Base. TheStryker vehicle is well within the design standards for these highways.To serve as military vehicle trails, perpetual easements would be acquired for the Dillingham Trailand Helemano Trails, as well as an easement for Drum Road, also know as Kukuha Trail. These trailswould typically be used for convoy transport. Dillingham Trail would connect SBMR and DMR.Helemano Trail would be used to access DMR and KTA. Military traffic that currently uses publicroadways may be rerouted to the trails. Thus, current military traffic volumes along public roadwaysFebruary 2008 5-36 2/25th SBCT Final EIS