The Ashby High Rise still can’t get approved.
Plans for the Ashby high-rise were rejected for the 10th time Tuesday with the city saying its own traffic evaluation now shows the projects impact would push the Bissonnet Street at Shepherd Drive intersection to nearly an “F” level.
However, “A significant reduction in peak-hour trips, including appropriate trip offsets, could have a potential to address heightened concerns,” a city engineer, Mark L. Loethen, wrote in his comments.
Computing traffic level involves a formula that rates intersection flow from “A” (no traffic) to “F” (very slow).
The rejected plans were submitted April 7, making the three months until they were returned to the developers unusually long.
Developer Matthew Morgan had said Friday the length of time that passed was “somewhat unorthodox” and that Buckhead partners would resubmit plans prior a receiving decision from the Public Works Department.
“We are working on new a submission based on city’s attempts to reach an agreement,” he said, adding the partners had remained in contact with the city throughout the lag time.
Loethen said a city traffic 24-hour traffic count along Bissonnet that was conducted April 29 and showed an average increase of background traffic of 11 percent, not the 1 percent or 2 percent presented by the developer’s traffic consultant.
Link via Swamplot. For what it’s worth, as someone who frequently drives along Shepherd, the intersection at Bissonnet is quite clogged. It’s common for the line of traffic waiting at the light at Bissonnet to reach as far back as Sunset, and that’s with three vehicle lanes on Shepherd. (I can’t speak to the traffic on Bissonnet itself, as I seldom drive on it.) I have no idea what if anything the Ashby developers could do to ensure it doesn’t get any worse, though honestly I don’t think it would have much impact in any case.
I like the suggestion posted on Swamplot that the developers should just donate the land to West U for a new sewage treatment facility.