V.  Garage Location Alternatives

Analysis of Alternative Sites

Numerous potential garage locations have been identified in recent planning documents for The Ohio State University.  The T&P Plan and the SCDP do not agree over the use of some of the sites, and decisions subsequent to the plans have eliminated some sites from use for parking.  The sites initially identified in the plans are listed in TABLES 1 and 2 in Section II of this report, and their locations are illustrated on MAP 2.

Changes since the plans were reviewed eliminate the following potential garage sites from consideration:

As the Consultant Team preliminarily evaluated the remaining sites, the following criteria  were considered for each site:

FIGURE 2:

Garage Development Site Comparisons illustrates the relative desirability of the sites being considered.  It is important to remember that the sites are being compared to one another, not to an “ideal” site, since none exists.  Also, some sites are more desirable for South Campus parking needs, while others are more desirable for Health Sciences needs.

The Consultant Team then considered these remaining sites and rejected the following ones, based upon the reasons stated in TABLE 6.

TABLE 6:  Rejected Garage Sites

This analysis led to the identification of three priority sites, and the “pros” and “cons” of each site are explained in TABLE 7:  Priority Garage Sites.  The sites, shown in MAP 4:  Garage Sites Identified by Consultant Team, could meet the variety of needs experienced in the South Campus and Health Sciences District, and they have the potential to be able to provide more than 1,500 spaces if traffic circulation can be made to work effectively.  Further, the three sites could be developed strategically to assist with the ongoing parking displacement problem that will occur as other campus construction proceeds. 

The Surface Lot south of Garage E (11^th Avenue) was mentioned in the T&P Plan, and it remained as a desirable site after preliminary discussions were held.  For purposes of this project, it will be referred to as the “10^th Avenue” garage site.  The Cunz Hall Surface Lot arose as a possibility when traffic and access considerations preliminarily eliminated the Wiseman Surface Lot as a reasonable site, and the “River of Trees” proved to be sacrosanct in the Master Plan.  As the Larkins Hall expansion and the Psychology Building construction were discussed with members of the campus community, it became clear that parking was needed in this general area to serve those displaced by construction, people coming to the library (including students in the evenings), visitors to Larkins, and others.  Transforming the Cunz Hall Lot to a garage became an attractive alternative. 

The Rhodes Hall Surface Lot was suggested for convenient patient parking by the Consultant Team in the 1993 study.  After reviewing options, the SCDP, and discussing future needs of Health Sciences, the Consultant Team returned to this site as a priority one, but with a different configuration than before.  The Team believes this site could meet critical parking needs for several populations, provide a mixed-use venue for parking and other hospital services, and link to Rhodes Hall and perhaps a new small building on the west side.  Given the strongly expressed needs for improved patient parking, the Consultant Team concluded that the Rhodes Hall Lot is too pivotal a location to be used only for green space.  Some of the goals associated with green space (creating an identity, setting up views to the hospital, improving the aesthetics of the area) could also be met through the sensitive design of a mixed-use facility oriented toward patient/visitor and short-term physician parking.

The Consultant Team also reviewed plans entitled “OSU Medical Center Gateway Parking Study” prepared for the HSC by another consultant.  The plans proposed two garages to be built on the west side of the Rhodes Hall lot, with only the roadway between the garages and the buildings on the west side of Perry Street.  The plans had at least two objectives:  to accommodate structured parking and to create green space where the primary part of the Rhodes Hall parking lot had been.  The two garages supplied 448 parking spaces, only 75 more spaces that what exists now on the surface lot.  The Consultant Team rejected this configuration of parking at the Rhodes Hall lot for the following reasons:  1) the net number of only 75 additional spaces could not justify the cost, 2) the 448 spaces were to be provided in two garages, thus incurring significant extra costs for the construction, and 3) the number of spaces would be inadequate for the needs expressed by the Health Sciences in its desire to provide improved parking for patients, visitors, and physicians.

Thus the Team kept the Rhodes Hall lot in the list of priority sites, but in a configuration to provide more parking spaces.  The issues of green space and gateway presence will also be addressed in the design discussion.

TABLE 7:  Priority Garage Sites

Functional Designs and Traffic Issues for Preferred Sites

10^th Avenue garage

Description

The 10^th Avenue Garage has been preliminarily planned as a 784 space facility, displacing the existing 200 surface spaces for a net gain of 584 parking spaces on this site.  The proposed garage is five floors, with the four supported floors rising to approximately the same height as the 11^th Avenue Garage (Garage E).  Entry and exit would be along 10^th Avenue.  The location of the garage is shown on SKETCH A-1.  Further details of the functional design, including sketches of typical floors, are contained in APPENDIX C.  This garage could have a link to the 9^th Avenue Garage, but the need, impact, and circulation would need to be investigated further.

Topography of the site allows for the possible inclusion of retail, commercial, or office space along 10^th Avenue of approximately 14,000 square feet, although none of this would need to be included.  A possibility of including housing at this location was suggested; however, fire access and ventilation issues need further study for this option to be considered.

Cost

Cost estimates are based on the figures provided by the Office of the University Architect and Physical Planning (APPO) for FY 2003, which is the year that debt service payments for the new facilities are expected to begin.  APPENDIX D provides a more detailed delineation of the estimated costs for parking structures in the future.

The overall cost of this facility is estimated at $14,856,502 with retail or commercial uses, or $18,949 per space.  Using the figures from APPO, the estimated construction (hard) cost is $12,590,256, including shell space for other uses along 10^th Avenue.  Soft costs for design, geotechnical, testing, and related activities are estimated at 18% of the construction costs, or $2,266,246. 

The total cost of the facility without retail or commercial space is $14,113,631, or $18,002 per space.  Without retail or commercial uses, the estimated construction cost is $11,960,704.  Soft costs are estimated at $2,152,927. 

Traffic Impacts

The 10th Avenue Garage is planned to be accessed from 10^th Avenue, which is currently one-way eastbound from Neil Avenue to High Street.  The intersection that is most significantly affected by this proposed garage site is the signalized intersection of Neil Avenue and 10^th Avenue.  Neil Avenue provides north-south vehicular circulation through the South Campus and Health Sciences District.  MAP 5 presents the South Campus and Health Sciences District and the existing lane configurations of campus intersections. 

The traffic generation characteristics associated with the individual garages are dependent on the characteristics of the users served by the proposed facilities.  Parking facilities designated for full-time staff serve major entries and exits associated with the morning arrivals and afternoon departures that are typical for commuter peak periods.  For facilities intended to serve students and faculty, the parking demand consists of peak arrivals and departures concentrated around class start and end times and is usually distributed throughout the course of the day.  For facilities designated to serve patients, the parking demand is distributed evenly throughout the course of the day with no clearly identified peaks.

The Consultant Team has estimated that the 10th Avenue Garage will serve primarily a mix of students and faculty.  Based on existing traffic counts at the 11^th Avenue garage (that currently serves faculty, staff, and students), the traffic projected to be generated by this facility consists of 214 inbound trips and 184 outbound trips during the AM and PM peak hour, respectively.

In order to accommodate the addition of a garage south of the 11^th Avenue garage, 10^th Avenue will not require any improvements.  The inbound and outbound vehicle flows can be integrated without any roadway modifications.  The circulation of inbound traffic will require that all inbound traffic enter the garage from 10^th Avenue, traveling east from Neil Avenue.  Outbound traffic will be required to turn left out of the garage onto 10^th Avenue and have the option of remaining on 10^th Avenue to reach High Street or of turning into the alley (Worthington Avenue) that links 10^th Avenue and 9^th Avenue.  It is recommended that the alley (Worthington Avenue) be improved and maintained to serve traffic exiting from both the 11^th Avenue garage and the proposed 10th Avenue Garage.  FIGURE 3 presents the access for this facility.

The entrance to the facility will be located on the west end of the garage with two entrance lanes.  The garage exit is planned for the east end of the facility with two exit lanes.  The 784 parking spaces can be efficiently served by the two entrance and exit lanes.  The dual lane entrance allows for ample internal stacking by providing the ability to stack ten vehicles within the entrance drives of the garage before extending out into the public roadway.

CUNZ HALL GARAGE

Description

The garage proposed to be located on the Cunz Hall surface parking lot is a six-floor facility with five supported levels, providing 656 parking spaces.  The garage would displace approximately 135 surface spaces, meaning that the garage would provide a net new supply of 521 spaces.  SKETCH B-1 illustrates the proposed location of the garage.

Inclusion of retail, commercial, or office space at grade on the east or west sides could be accomplished by shifting the entry or exit point accordingly.  This also could possibly allow for a direct connection to the Larkins expansion if it were planned for both facilities.  At the present time, the exact footprint of the Larkins expansion is unknown, although it has been indicated that the size of the building will increase from initial projections.  It will be important as plans for Larkins are refined that enough space is maintained for construction of the Cunz Hall Garage.  If space is not available on this site, then no good alternate location exists for a garage that will sufficiently meet the needs of University customers.

One method of ensuring that enough space is available for the Cunz Hall Garage is to integrate the parking structure into the overall Larkins project.  This partnership should encourage greater efficiency in the construction process.   However, there are some caveats to consider if a partnership between the two projects is determined to be the desired course.  The financial projections contained in Section VI are predicated on the garage opening by 2003, with a net new supply of 521 spaces and a construction cost not to exceed the amount that is indicated below.  To ensure that these conditions are met, OSU may want to consider including the Cunz Hall Garage as a stand-alone component of the Larkins project. 

Cost

Using the estimated costs per space for 2003, the overall cost of this facility is estimated at $12,430,951 with retail or commercial uses, or $18,949 per space.  The estimated hard cost for the Cunz Hall Garage is $10,534,704, including shell space for retail or commercial uses.  Soft costs for design, geotechnical, testing, and related activities are estimated at 18% of the construction costs, or $1,896,247. 

The total cost of the facility without retail or commercial space is $11,809,364, or $18,002 per space.  The estimated construction cost is $10,007,936.  Soft costs are estimated at $1,801,428. 

Traffic Impacts

The Cunz Hall Garage is planned to be accessed from Neil Avenue and from 12^th Avenue.  The intersection immediately affected by this proposed garage is the offset intersection of 12^th Avenue and Neil Avenue.  This intersection serves significant vehicular traffic and heavy pedestrian volumes that contribute to delays associated with progression through this intersection. 

The 12^th Avenue corridor currently experiences significant congestion and delays due to a combination of high vehicular volumes as well as heavy pedestrian volumes crossing 12^th Avenue.  The significant traffic volumes reflect motorists destined for several major parking facilities on 12^th Avenue, the medical care and research facilities, academic buildings in the center of South Campus, and destinations on High Street.  The capacity is constrained along the 12^th Avenue corridor and will continue to operate with delays during the AM and PM peak hours in the future with the addition of the Cunz Hall Garage.   Due to this capacity constraint, it is projected that a significant portion of traffic approaching this facility will take alternate routes to access Neil Avenue and this proposed facility, rather than drive to the 12^th Avenue access to this proposed facility. 

The 12^th Avenue entrance/exit is recommended to be used in off-peak times, and it could be designed to prevent use in peak periods.  Any 12^th Avenue use could also be coordinated with the anticipated activity associated with the “River of Trees.”   In order to facilitate access from Neil Avenue to the Cunz Hall Garage, the existing offset intersection of 12^th Avenue and Neil Avenue needs the installation of a signalized intersection to control the significant pedestrian traffic and vehicular volumes.  This recommendation allows for the separation of vehicular and pedestrian traffic within the intersection that currently poses a safety hazard as well as a source for vehicular circulation delay.  If properly programmed, this recommended traffic signal can act as a deterrent for cut-through traffic through the 12^th Avenue corridor or as a better conduit for traffic destined to and from the Cannon Drive and High Street corridors. FIGURE 4 presents the access for this facility.

This garage would serve primarily faculty and staff due to its central location on campus, especially its proximity to the academic facilities near the South Campus.  Based on existing traffic counts at the 11^th Avenue garage, which currently serves faculty, the traffic projected to be generated by this facility consists of 177 inbound trips and 152 outbound trips during the AM and PM peak hour, respectively.

Access from 12^th Avenue consists of a narrow two-way roadway that extends from 12^th Avenue past the west sides of the Botany and Zoology Building and Campbell Hall to this proposed facility.  As indicated previously, it is intended that this access only be used at non-peak times.  It should be noted that this access roadway crosses the “River of Trees” concept area currently proposed in the Master Plan, and would need to be coordinated with that concept. 

Access from Neil Avenue consists of a two-lane roadway that extends from Neil Avenue between Campbell Hall and Lazenby Hall to the proposed facility.  Neil Avenue is a two-way north-south roadway that has controlled access north of the Cunz Hall lot.  The entrance to the facility will be located on the east end of the garage with two entrance lanes.  The exit point of the garage is planned on the west end of the facility and provides two exit lanes.  The 656 parking spaces can be efficiently served by the two entrance and exit lanes.  The dual lane entrance points provide the ability to stack six vehicles within the entrance drive to allow for ample internal stacking.

RHODES HALL LOT

Description

A garage on the Rhodes Hall Lot would meet the need expressed by all interviewed representatives of the Health Sciences for increased close parking for patients and visitors.  It could also provide additional spaces for physicians needing the ability to come and go during the day, and for valet services for which demand is increasing.

An attractive garage could form a needed entrance and destination point for the Health Sciences area.  The southern façade could feature attractive signs, graphics, or façade treatment indicating that the patient or visitor had arrived at the medical area of The Ohio State University.  There is also room for green space and landscaping, softening the edges of both the garage and 9^th Avenue.  Patients could tell from the time they stopped at the 9^th Avenue/Perry Street stop sign that the garage was where they wanted to go.  By connecting the garage to Rhodes Hall with an overhead walkway, pedestrian and vehicular traffic could be separated for both better service and safety.  Preliminary discussions with Health Sciences personnel have indicated that the lobby configuration on each floor of Rhodes Hall could be amenable to the walkway connection.  This obviously would need further investigation.

The potential for creating a restaurant and outside eating/coffee area (in good weather) between the garage and the entrance of Rhodes Hall is attractive.  The hospital has no restaurant, and many competing hospitals provide better food service for relatives and visitors as they wait.  With creative arrangement of the walkway, restaurant, and elevators, it could be made simple for people to come to a ground floor restaurant under any conditions.  Obviously the Health Sciences Center would need to indicate whether a restaurant, alternate use, or no use would be its priority for space in the garage.

The preliminary garage design has been done for 1,055 spaces.  The garage would displace 373 existing surface spaces, adding a net 682 parking spaces to the location.  A preliminary allocation scheme would assign 221 spaces for physicians and valet, while 834 would be used for patients and visitors.  The addition of these spaces would allow the University to change the allocation of spaces in all garages in or adjacent to the HSC.  For instance, spaces in the 9^th Avenue Garage would no longer be necessary for patient use, since the new Rhodes Hall Garage could absorb all of that demand.  Likewise, only patients for whom the 12^th Avenue Garage would be really convenient would need to park in that facility. 

The site for the Rhodes Hall Garage is presented in SKETCH C-1 .  There are obviously many façade treatments and garage configurations that would be effective in this location, since the site is large enough to accommodate different designs while still providing sufficient net new parking spaces to make the investment worthwhile and to serve the patient and visitor needs expressed.

Cost

The overall cost of this facility is estimated at $19,991,849 with retail or commercial uses, or $18,949 per space.  Based on the estimated costs for 2003, as provided in APPENDIX D, the estimated construction cost is $16,942,245, including space for commercial or retail uses but excluding the costs for the pedestrian connection to Rhodes Hall.  Soft costs for design, geotechnical, testing, and related activities are estimated at 18% of the construction costs, or $3,049,604. 

The total cost of the facility without retail or commercial space is $18,992,194, or $18,002 per space.  Without retail or commercial uses, the estimated construction cost is $16,095,080.  Soft costs are estimated at $2,897,114. 

No estimate for the pedestrian bridge is given due to unknown conditions in the plaza where columns must go, and the issues with connections and fit-out in the upper levels of the Hospital. 

Traffic Impacts

The Rhodes Hall Garage has been identified as a facility that would serve primarily outpatients and limited medical staff due to its proximity to Rhodes Hall and other medical care and research facilities in the vicinity.  Based on existing traffic counts at the South Medical garage, which currently serves patients and medical staff, the traffic projected to be generated by this facility consists of 257 inbound trips and 265 outbound trips during the AM and PM peak hour, respectively. 

The Rhodes Hall Garage is planned to be accessed from Belmont Avenue on the east side of the facility and Perry Street on the west side.  Customers can access Belmont and Perry from Neil Avenue and Cannon Drive via 9^th Avenue.  The existing traffic circulation pattern around the Rhodes Hall surface lot garage consists of a one-way counter-clockwise circulation pattern that allows for entry to the front of Rhodes Hall via Belmont Avenue and exit to 9^th Avenue via Perry Street.  The University has the following two options in providing access to this parking facility planned for 1055 parking spaces:

The lower level of the garage can only be accessed from Perry Street with one entrance lane and one exit lane, which will be sufficient to serve the 221 doctor and valet parking spaces on that level.   Belmont Avenue can be used to enter the ground level to the top floor with two entrance lanes and two exit lanes to adequately serve 834 patient and visitor spaces. The dual lane entrance points provide the ability to stack six vehicles within the entrance drive on the ground level and one vehicle on the lower level to allow for ample internal stacking.

Traffic Issues

intersection capacity analysis

Based on the existing count information collected, the existing levels of service of the critical intersections were determined.  MAP 6 presents traffic volumes for existing conditions.   All capacity analyses are based on the procedures specified by the Transportation Research Board, Special Report 209: Highway Capacity Manual (HCM), 1997.  Levels of service (LOS) range from A to F.  Level of service for signalized intersections is based upon the traffic volume present in each lane on the roadway, the capacity of each lane at the intersection and the delay associated with each directional movement.  The criteria for levels of service are presented in TABLE 7.

TABLE 7:  Level of Service Definitions and Criteria

TABLE 8 presents a summary of the analysis results for existing conditions at the studied intersections for the AM and PM peak hours.

TABLE 8:  Summary of Levels of Service for Existing Conditions

NOTE: * denotes levels of service at or above capacity of the intersection

Based on the results of the existing conditions capacity analysis, the following intersections operate at unacceptable levels of service during the AM and PM peak hours:

Using the traffic projections generated for all of the prospective garage sites, future traffic volumes were projected at the studied intersections to determine the traffic implications associated with the three proposed garages.  MAP 7 presents the locations of the proposed garage sites and the traffic volumes associated with the proposed garage sites.  MAP 8 presents the total future traffic volumes, including the proposed garage sites and other traffic.

TABLE 9 presents a summary of the analysis results for future conditions with the addition of all three proposed garages at the studied intersections for the AM and PM peak hours.   

TABLE 9:  Summary of Levels of Service for Future Conditions
                 

Based on the results of the future capacity analysis, the following intersections are projected to operate at unacceptable levels of service during the AM and PM peak hours:

Potential roadway improvements

In order to mitigate the impacts of the intersections adversely affected by the additional AM and PM peak hour traffic generated by the proposed expansion of facilities and additional parking, the following comments are offered and in one case improvements are recommended for the intersections:

Proposed Roadway Modifications and Overall South Campus Circulation

The Cunz Hall Garage can be accessed from Neil Avenue and 12^th Avenue (under limited conditions).  In order to maximize all of the access opportunities to and from this facility, the two service roadways that link this facility to Neil Avenue and to 12^th Avenue will be maintained.  The circulation to this proposed facility can be distributed between these two roadways, but will be primarily shifted to Neil Avenue during the AM and PM peak hours due to the congestion that currently occurs along the 12^th Avenue corridor.  Related to the location of this facility are the operations of the geometrically offset intersection of 12^th Avenue and Neil Avenue.  As stated earlier, it is recommended to signalize this intersection to separate vehicular and pedestrian traffic within the intersection that currently poses a safety hazard as well as a source for vehicular circulation delay.  With the installation of a traffic signal at this intersection, vehicular-pedestrian conflicts would be reduced, thus facilitating both pedestrian and vehicular movement through this intersection.  The major issue with 12^th Avenue consists of poor progression through this corridor due to the heavy vehicular volumes and the difficulty of access to and from 12^th Avenue and Cannon Drive.  The progression in all these corridors will be further explored as part of the overall campus circulation analysis.  

The external circulation associated with the Rhodes Hall Garage is dependent on the circulation pattern that the University chooses for this facility.  Two options identified to integrate the proposed garage at this facility consist of maintaining the existing circulation pattern or redirecting the existing one-way loop to a two-way loop around the Rhodes Hall surface lot.   In maintaining the existing one-way circulation, the external traffic patterns with all of the existing facilities remains unchanged.  Changing the direction of the circulation pattern to a primarily two-way system allows for better circulation between Rhodes Hall and this proposed parking facility.  The drawback of this proposal is that it changes 10^th Avenue between Perry Street and Belmont Avenue to a two-way section that can act as a corridor for east-west cut-through traffic from Cannon Drive to Neil Avenue, which does not currently occur.  In order to discourage the east-west commuter cut-through through this area, it is recommended that 10^th Avenue between Neil Avenue and the entrance driveway to the James Cancer Hospital become one-way in the westbound direction.  This recommendation will be further explored with the overall campus circulation analysis.

Potential Impact of SR 315 Ramps on Critical Intersections

The proposed SR 315 southbound on-ramp at 12^th Avenue and northbound off-ramp at 9^th Avenue will provide direct access to the South Campus and Health Sciences District.  Based on traffic volumes projected by the Metropolitan Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC), the SR 315 northbound off-ramp ramp is projected to carry Average Daily Traffic (ADT) of 12,800 vehicles and a peak hour volume of 1,530 vehicles.  Similarly, the proposed SR 315 southbound on-ramp is projected to carry an ADT of 12,000 vehicles and a peak hour volume of 1,440 vehicles.

The addition of these ADTs and peak hour volumes to the intersections of 9^th Avenue and 12^th Avenue with Cannon Drive will adversely affect the existing and projected operations of these intersections, especially with the addition of the proposed parking facilities identified.  The intersection of 12^th Avenue and Cannon Drive currently experiences significant queues and delays during the AM and PM peak hours and will continue to with the addition of he SR 315 on-ramp at this location.  The intersection of 9^th Avenue and Cannon Drive will operate with significant delays and queues with the addition of the SR 315 off-ramp.  

In order to maintain the integrity of the internal South Campus and Health Sciences District roadway network, traffic not destined for nor originating from the South Campus and Health Sciences District should be shifted to non-campus roadways through the use of signs and the implementation of cut-through prevention policies and measures.  The implementation of directives to meet this objective will divert non-campus-related traffic to utilize the capacity of Cannon Drive, rather than burden the east-west campus roadways of 9^th Avenue and 12^th Avenue to access the proposed SR 315 ramps.  Without proper attention to the access issues related to 9^th Avenue and 12^th Avenue, efficient access to the emergency facilities that the proposed ramps have been designed to serve is in danger of being compromised.  Due to the complexity of the issues associated with the impact of the ramps on the South Campus and Health Sciences District, additional analysis would need to be performed to determine modifications to the entire circulation network to address the impacts of the proposed ramps.