December20,2021

Mr.StanPilant
CityofJacksonPlanningDept.
111E.MainStreet,Suite201
Jackson,TN38301

RE: StarbucksDowntownSite
  TrafficAnalysis

Mr.Pilant,
This letter report summarizes the findings of my analysis of potential traffic operational issues
resultingfromtheproposeddevelopmentofaStarbuckscoffeeshopindowntownJackson.Based
onpreviousdiscussions,theinvestigationwaslimitedtoanalysisoftheA.M.peakhour,underthe
assumption that it would represent the critical period for traffic operations given the nature of
Starbucks’ business.  The study examined on two potential traffic issues: 1) impacts of siteͲ
generatedtrafficonthepublicstreetintersectionsadjacenttothesite;and2)impactsoftraffic
queueingbehaviorinternaltothesite,asitmayaffectonͲstreetoperations.
Ipreparedthisasasummaryreporttofocusontherelevantconsiderationsinaconciseformat.All
inputdataandbackgroundcalculationsareavailableuponrequestifdesired.

Background
Theproposeddevelopmentplan(copyattached)callsforconstructionofafreestanding2,225sq.
ft.StarbucksstoreonthenorthsideofWestLafayetteStreetbetweenNorthHighlandAvenueand
ShannonStreet.ThefacilitywouldbeservedbyasingledrivewayconnectiontoLafayetteStreet,
locatedapproximately90feeteastofShannonStreet(±160feetwestofNorthHighland).Thesite
includes15onͲsiteparkingspaces,andadriveͲthroughfacilityoperatingwithaclockwiserotation.
TheplancurrentlyshowsasingleͲlanedriveͲthroughwithapproximately15vehiclestorageanda
bypasslanetoaccesstheparking,butmyunderstandingisthattheplanmaybeamendedtoprovide
adoubledriveͲthroughlaneconfiguration.

Methodology
Existing traffic volumes at the intersections of Highland Ave @ Lafayette St and Lafayette St @
Shannon Street were derived from turning movement counts conducted on December 8, 2021,
from6:45A.M.to8:45A.M.
Anticipated trip generation of the Starbucks location was based on published data (ITE Trip
GenerationLandUsecode937CoffeeandDonutShopwithDriveͲThroughWindow)and
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comparedtocountsconductedattwootherexistingfreeͲstandingStarbuckslocationsinJackson:
2034 North Highland Avenue and 8 Lanese Dockery Dive (Union University Drive location), both
conductedonDecember10,2021,from7:00A.M.to8:00A.M.DriveͲthruutilizationdatawasbased
onthesameobservations.
Asaconservativeapproach,effectsofpassͲbyanddivertedtrafficwereignoredinthetripgeneration
calculations.Allgeneratedtrafficwasassumedtobenewtraffic.Inreality,asubstantialportionof
trafficto/fromthesiteislikelytobediverted(e.g.avehiclewhichnormallycommutesnorthbound
onNorthHighlandchangingbehaviortodivertthroughStarbucksbeforecontinuingonitsoriginal
route).Theanalysisalsoassumedthatthevehicularshareoftrafficwouldbesimilartothatatthe
otherJacksonstores.Itseemslikelythatalocationinacentralbusinessdistrictwillattractmore
walkͲup customers, however that effect will probably be more pronounced later in the day, with
vehicularcommutersstillcomprisingmosttrafficintheA.M.peakhour.Distributionandassignment
ofsitetrafficwasassumedtofollowexistingtrafficpatternsinthearea.

Findings
Resultsoftheanalysiswereasfollows:

TripGeneration
TripgenerationwasestimatedusingITETripGenerationdataandcomparedtoA.M.peakhourcounts
attheexistingStarbucksstoresinJackson.Resultswereasfollows:
Entering Exiting Total
Traffic Traffic Traffic
DataSource (vph) (vph) (vph)
ITETripGenerationLandUse937 107 111 218
(A.M.PeakHourofGenerator)
NorthHighlandStarbucks(7:00– 105 95 200
8:00)
UnionUniversityStarbucks(7:00 113 106 219
–8:00) 

ThedatawasveryconsistentbothbetweenthefieldobservationsatthetwoexistingStarbucksstores
inJackson,andbetweentheITEpublishedratesandthefieldobservations.TheITEdatawasusedas
thebasisfortripvolumesfortheremainderofthestudy.
TheattachedFigures1Ͳ3illustratetheexistingA.M.peakhourtrafficvolumesinthearea,thenew
trafficprojectedtobegeneratedbytheStarbucks,andtheresultingtotaltrafficvolumes.

IntersectionOperations
TheanalysissuggestedthattheadditionaltrafficexpectedasaresultoftheStarbucksdevelopment
willhavenegligibleeffectsontheexistingintersectionoperationsattheHighland@Lafayetteand


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Lafayette@Shannonintersections.BothintersectionsoperateatgoodlevelsͲofͲservice(LOSAtoB)
currently.TheadditionofsitegeneratedtrafficisnotexpectedtochangethelevelͲofͲserviceofthe
intersectionsoverall,oranyindividualmovements.
IntheA.M.peakhourattheHighland@Lafayetteintersection,theeastboundqueues(bothleftͲturn
laneandthrough/rightlane)hadrelativelyfewobservedinstancesofqueuebuildupbeyond4cars
(the length where the queue beings to affect intersection operations due to the short leftͲturn
storage).Withtheadditionofsitegeneratedtraffic,theprevailingeastboundqueuesareexpected
toincreasebyaround2carspersignalcycle.Withthat,theeastboundqueuewilloccasionallyextend
back to the point where Lafayette Street is just a single eastbound lane.  When that occurs, the
existinglandscapeislandonthesouthsideofthestreetmaypreventtrafficfromgettingpastthe
queueinordertousethefullcapacityofbotheastboundlanesatthesignal.Iwouldnotexpectthis
tobeafrequentoccurrence,butonceitoccursitcouldtaketwoormoresignalcyclestoclear.

DrivewayOperations
Drivewayoperationswereassessedforthreepotentialissues:

x EastboundqueueingfromHighlandAve
Asnotedabove,siteͲgeneratedtrafficisexpectedtoaddaroundtwocarstotheeastbound
queue on Lafayette from the traffic signal at Highland.  This could periodically extend the
queuetoapointwherecarsattemptingtoexittheStarbucksdrivewayarenotabletoturn
left.  I would not expect that to occur frequently, however, when it does happen it could
createcirculationissuesinternaltothesite,asexitingtrafficblockstheentryflowofvehicles.

x WestboundqueuefromShannonStreet
During the observation period (2 hour duration), only three instances were noted of
westbound queues from the Shannon Street intersection exceeding 2 cars in length (the
lengththatcanbeaccommodatedbetweenthestopbarandtheproposeddrivewayexit).
OwingtothecharacteristicsoftheallͲwaystopcontrol,whenthosequeuesdidoccur,they
clearedalmostimmediately.ModelingsuggeststhattheadditionoftheanticipatedStarbucks
trafficwouldhaveanegligibleeffectonthequeueingonthatapproach.Therefore,blocking
oftheproposeddrivewayduetothewestboundqueuefromShannonStreetintheA.M.peak
periodisnotexpectedtohaveanydetrimentaleffectondrivewayoperations.

x Southboundqueueofvehiclesexitingdrivewayblockingcirculationofenteringvehicles
Modeling suggests that the exiting vehicles in the site driveway onto Lafayette Street will
occasionallydevelopaqueueexceedingtwocarlengthsthatcouldblockenteringvehicles
from accessing the driveͲthru lane.  This could create a shortͲduration blockage in the
drivewaythroatbutshouldclearquickly.Iwouldnotexpectthattocauseabackupoftraffic
ontoLafayetteStreet.


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DriveͲThroughOperations
Little data exists to provide a basis for analyzing the operation of driveͲthrough windows at food
serviceuses.DemandfordriveͲthroughserviceseemstobemuchmoreafunctionoftrafficinthe
servicearearatherthananyparticularcharacteristicofthefacility.Fromwatchingtheoperationof
thedriveͲthroughwindowsattheexistingStarbucksstore,Iobservedtworelevantfactors:

x IntheA.M.peakhour,demandfordriveͲthroughservicesignificantlyexceedsthecapacityof
thedriveͲthroughoperationatbothlocations.WhenthedriveͲthroughqueueexceeds10to
12vehicles,newcustomersenteringthesitetendedtooptoutofusingthedriveͲthrough.A
fewcircledthebuildingandleftwithoutmakingapurchase,butmostwouldparkandgoin
topickuptheirordertoͲgo.ForbothoftheexistingsitesIobserved,theratioofdriveͲthrough
traffictototalenteringtrafficinthe7:00to8:00A.M.timeframewasidentical:55%.Littleof
thenonͲdriveͲthroughtrafficappearedtobesitͲdowncustomers.
 TotalEntering DriveͲthru %DriveͲthru
 Location Traffic(vph) Traffic(vph) Traffic)
 NorthHighlandStarbucks 121 66 55%
 UnionUniversityStarbucks 113 62 55%

x FromasamplingofthedriveͲthroughtraffic,theaveragedriveͲthroughservicetime(timeat
thewindow)was1minute,20seconds,howeversomevehicleshadwaittimesinexcessof4
minutes.ThetotaltimethatdriveͲthroughcustomersspentonthesite(fromentryintothe
sitetoexitfromthedriveͲthroughwindow)averagedroughly12minutes.Waittimeatthe
orderstationseemedtobealesserfactorinthedriveͲthroughcapacitythanthewaittimeat
thepickupwindow.

Iwouldexpecttheproposedfacilitytooperatesimilarly–oncethedriveͲthroughqueuereaches10
to12vehiclesinlength,additionalcustomersarelikelytoparkandgoinsidetogettheirordertoͲgo.
WiththeavailabilityofadjacentonͲstreetparkinginadditiontotheonͲsitespaces,thiswillprobably
beanevenmoreattractiveoptionthanattheotherstores.
TheoperationofthedriveͲthroughiscomplicatedbytheclockwiserotationsinceenteringvehicles
mustcrossthepathofexitingvehicles.Thisiscounterintuitivetodriversandmayresultinsome
confusionintheinternalcirculation.IfthedriveͲthroughqueuedoesexceedtheavailablestorage
capacity, the exiting vehicle flow will be blocked by the entering flow, which could potentially
“gridlock”theinternalcirculation,causingabackupoftrafficontoLafayetteStreet.

Conclusions
Thenatureofthisdevelopmentdoesnotlenditselfparticularlywelltoquantitativeanalysisoftraffic
operations.  The scarcity of data on facilities of this type makes any estimates of driveͲthrough


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Traffic Analysis
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demand low confidence level assessments.And, because of the limited storage areas for queues of
traffic both internal to the site and on the street, the operations will be very sensitive to fluctuations
of just a few vehicles – well within the error range of any trip generation estimates.For these reasons,
I believe a qualitative assessment is more meaningful in this case than the numerical results of the
calculations.With that, I offer the following general conclusions:

x The proposed Starbucks is unlikely to have any significant detrimental effects on the
operations of the existing street network.  The adjacent intersections have a substantial
amount of available capacity, so they should be able to absorb the added traffic from the
Starbucks without noticeable increases in delays.

x The eastbound queues on Lafayette Street from the Highland signal will likely lengthen from
around 4 cars under existing conditions to around 6 cars when Starbucks traffic is added.This
may occasionally restrict full utilization of the eastbound lanes at the signal.  It could also
potentially block vehicles from leftͲturn exits from the Starbucks driveway.These issues could
be partially mitigated by removal of the small landscape island on the south side of Lafayette
Street to permit extension of the eastbound storage.  Because these issues will likely be
infrequent, if they occur at all, I would suggest not making any changes until the Starbucks is
open and can be assessed under actual operating conditions.

x In terms of internal circulation, I do have concerns that the clockwise driveͲthrough circulation
could cause occasional problems with entering vehicles blocking exiting vehicles.Based on
tendency, observed at the other Starbucks locations, of drivers to bypass driveͲthroughs with
long queues I would expect this to be a relatively rare occurrence.

It should be noted that my findings and conclusions are based on “normal” operating conditions.
When the store first opens, there are likely to be high volumes and customers unfamiliar with the
site, which could result in a period of somewhat chaotic traffic operation.I recommend that any
evaluations of the operation wait until the operation normalizes after a few weeks of business.
If you have any questions or need any additional information, please let me know.

Sincerely,
AlexanderEngineering,Inc.

Barry Alexander, P.E. PTOE 

President

cc: Hal Crocker – Healthy Community, LLC

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Attachments:
 ConceptualSitePlan
 Figure1–ExistingTrafficVolumes
 Figure2–TripAssignment(NewTraffic)
 Figure3–TrafficVolumeswithProject


 6

6
N SHANNON STREET

N HIGHLAND AVENUE
T

SITE AREA = 0.57± AC

STARBUCKS
PROPOSED
2,225 SF
8

15

PATIO

W LAFAYETTE STREET
GRAPHIC SCALE IN FEET
STARBUCKS - JACKSON, TENNESSEE 0 15 30 60
OPTION G - REV5
November 30, 2021