Often-used Terminology, phrases or references you need to know. For those of you who are "purists," please understand that these terms have been put into "layman's" language so regular ol' people like you and me can decipher them.

Average Daily Trips. This is a number representing the average number of trips per day that a new community/development will generate. A "ballpark" figure is a little less than ten times the number of D.U.'s, or Dwelling Units. (The Gibson Traffic Consultants use the phrase "SFD" which means "Single Family Detached") For example, if a community is planned for 10 homes, that development will generate approximately 100 trips per day, on average.

This refers to a type of traffic configuration that channels, literally, traffic in a given direction to a specific place. In the case of most of the traffic studies performed by the city in the last couple of years, this refers to the Sultan Basin Road/Highway 2 eastbound left-turn lane (EB LT) coming off of Highway 2, channeling traffic turning north onto Sultan Basin Road into a "storage" lane, otherwise known as a left-turn lane.

Eastbound

Gibson Traffic Consultants. This is the consulting firm which has performed 95% of the traffic studies generated for new developments in Sultan. It is located at 1712 Pacific Avenue, Suite 100, Everett, WA 98201; phone 425.339.8266; fax 425.258.2922.

EB = Eastbound

WB = Westbound

NB = Northbound

SB = Southbound

LT = Left turn

RT = Right turn

The amount the developer is charged to "defray" the costs to taxpayers for burdens placed upon already-existing roadways because of their projects, as well as "special" or "one-time" traffic improvements, such as installation of the light at Old Owens/US 2. The impact fee for the year 2000 for burdens on city-wide streets is $1,837. This is the amount that is multiplied by the "target" number produced from the traffic study, and is one of the primary reasons it is done. The "target" number represents the number of peak hour trips estimated will be generated by the existence of this new project. In the traffic studies we have reviewed for Sultan Basin Road, the estimated number of peak hour PM trips is almost always equal to the total number of SFD's (or D.U.'s) being built.

Traffic fees are assessed based on the estimated number of vehicles that will pass through, or use, a particular roadway. Currently, it is determined that all projects built in Sultan will be utilizing the city's existing road structure, in one way or another.

For instance, if a developer is proposing to build 100 single family homes, the estimated peak hour PM figure used for mitigation fees would be approximately 100. Therefore, the total dollar amount the developer should pay in fees would be $183,700.

Refers to the Institute of Transportation Engineers. This organization publishes the "bible" upon which most of these studies are based, the Trip Generation Manual. The current manual in use, and the ones that almost all recent developments have been based, is the 6^th edition dated November 1997.

Level of Service. This is the "yardstick" in standard use to categorize the flow, or efficient, of highways, roads and intersections. (This term is also used in most other infrastructure descriptions, but the "yardstick" or units of measurement vary, depending upon the specific type of infrastructure; i.e., water, sewer, power, etc.)

Listed below are the LOS criteria applied to Intersections & Class I Arterial Segments:

Left turn

For one-time traffic improvements, such as the traffic signalization at Old Owen Road, certain developments had to pay "their share." Instead of basing the shared amount upon PM peak fees for the city-wide system generally, "special" (or additional) fees are charged to a developer based on how many residents in his project are expected to use the section of roadway or intersection being developed. This calculation is based on an actual traffic count and is one of the reasons you have seen so many black "counting" cables stretched across Highway 2 at the Sultan Basin/Cemetary Road intersection.

As far as we've been able to determine, there is a time limit as to when and how long these special impact fees can be charged to a developer. In other words, a developer who already had a proposed development in the approval process when Old Owen Road was built would pay a portion of the cost of the signalization, while a developer who goes into city hall today to begin the approval process, would not.

Northbound

This refers to the peak traffic "hour" -- obtained either from WSDOT traffic figures or the consulant's actual traffic counts -- upon which calculations are made to determine the figure used for the mitigation fees. This is a vital number, since it represents the traffic consultant's estimate of the impact a new development will have on that particular hour, or, how many cars in the new development will actually be using that intersection.

ROUTE 2

U. S. Highway 2

Southbound

Sultan Basin Road.

Single Family Detached. This is a term referenced throughout Gibson's traffic studies, primarily because the studies we reviewed were for single family homes and not apartments. The City of Sultan generally uses D.U., or Dwelling Unit.

U. S. Highway 2 (also referred to as "Route 2" or Rt2)

Vehicles per hour. Self-explanatory. The number of vehicles going through a measured area or intersection.

Westbound

Washington State Department of Transportation. In conversation, it is often shortened to "whiz-dot" or sometimes, "wise-dot."