'Campus Pointe' Development (Capstone Project)Campus Pointe is located on the northeast corner of the intersection at University Drive and South College Avenue. The site currently contains married student housing, however there are plans for redevelopment. We were tasked with designing a site plan that incorporates a mixture of uses, pedestrian and transit accommodations, a parking plan, and a traffic impact analysis. This report is broken into the following six sections:
Site Plan Design: This section provides details on the layout and evolution of how the site was designed. This section presents a discussion of the site layout and the theory behind it. It also demonstrates the flow of ideas contributing to the site design process. Details on the “central spine,” street network, nodes of activity, and green areas are provided. The site is designed so that each area compliments its surroundings.Land Uses: This section presents the details and locations of each type of land use on the site. It discusses each use and provides a map demonstrating placement of these items. When developing Campus Pointe we were tasked with accommodating a mixture of uses. The site needed to be laid out in such a way that each use was optimally located.
Pedestrian Accommodations: This section discusses how pedestrians can access the site and move through it once on location. The site was designed in such a way to accommodate pedestrian mobility and activity. The site is adjacent to Texas A&M University and will likely be the home of University affiliates. Thus, sidewalks are along every street and are at least 10 feet in width. These wide sidewalks can also accommodate bicyclists. In order to provide optimal pedestrian flow through the site from west to east, the central spine begins at the corner of University and S. College Main. The central spine provided a guide for the development of the rest of the site plan.
Transit: This section discusses how each of the modes of transportation are incorporated and encouraged. Transit incorporation into a multi-use development is critical. To add to the appeal of Campus Pointe, a Texas A&M University bus route is anticipated to run through the site. We designed pullouts at strategic locations, throughout the transit route, for easy bus loading. These pullouts are located adjacent to the parking garages that are partially designed for student parking. Thus, students can park their car and conveniently catch the bus to campus.
Parking Plan: This section provides a detailed analysis of the parking demand. It also presents the parking needs of the development, and discusses the location of parking areas. When developing a site plan it is important to consider where and how much parking is necessary within different areas of the site. The Campus Pointe development is to be a mixed use development with an urban feel. College Station has a very auto-centric culture and this must be taken into account when developing parking. At the same time, it is important to not overbuild for parking because this would lead to unnecessary costs. Mixed-use developments have the potential to share much of its available parking. Many of the businesses won’t be in use during specific times of the day. This allows parking to be shared by those businesses that are open during the time of day the other is closed.Campus Pointe is to be a mixed-use development incorporating residential, retail, office, and entertainment. Different land uses require different amounts of parking. Because of the variety of land uses, opportunities exist for a degree of shared parking. The adjacent table provides the breakdown of each type of land use incorporated into the development.
Traffic Impact Analysis: This section analyzes the potential traffic impact of the proposed development and to make suggestions on how potential traffic can be mitigated. The traffic impact of Campus Pointe traffic is being analyzed for the weekday PM peak period of the study site, which was determined to be from 5-6 pm. Study area characteristics, such as lane geometries and signal timings were obtained using either Google Earth or through field observation. Subsequently, this data, along with the grown vehicle counts was entered into Synchro. Synchro is a micro-simulation software tool that allows measures of effectiveness, such as level of service (LOS) and delay to be analyzed.
Modifications for Consideration
After presenting the poster on April 29, 2010, we received suggestions for modifications to the plan. This section provides information on changes that could enhance our site plan.
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