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Ministry of Education

Notice of Requirement, North City High School

Transportation Assessment Report

PO Box 1261, Level 1, 7 Hardley Street Hamilton 3240 P: +64 7 839 550 www.tdg.co.nz New Zealand 10574ta_v6.doc

July 2010

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Ministry of Education

Notice of Requirement, North City High School

Transportation Assessment Report Quality Assurance Statement

Prepared by:

Anna Wilkins

Senior Transportation Engineer

Reviewed by:

Mark Apeldoorn

Director

Approved for Issue by:

Mark Apeldoorn

Director

Status: Final

Date: July 2010

Ministry of Education, Notice of Requirement, North City High School: Transportation Assessment Report

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................1 2. Site Location ...........................................................................................................................2

2.1 Description.................................................................................................................2 2.2 Rototuna Structure Plan ............................................................................................2 2.3 Location in Road Hierarchy .......................................................................................2 2.4 Location Strategy.......................................................................................................6

3. Existing Transportation Network .............................................................................................9 3.1 Existing Road Network ..............................................................................................9 3.2 Existing Walking and Cycling Networks...................................................................12 3.3 Public Transport Services........................................................................................13

4. Existing Traffic Volumes........................................................................................................14 5. Road Safety ..........................................................................................................................15 6. Future Traffic Volumes..........................................................................................................16 7. School Concept Plan.............................................................................................................18

7.1 Proposed Layout Concept .......................................................................................18 7.2 Proposed Student and Staff Numbers .....................................................................18 7.3 Access and Egress..................................................................................................20 7.4 School Collector Road Design.................................................................................20 7.5 Interim Arrangement................................................................................................21

8. Traffic Generation .................................................................................................................22 8.1 Traffic Generation Considerations ...........................................................................22 8.2 School Traffic Generation........................................................................................22 8.2.1 Daily Traffic Generation......................................................................................................... 22 8.2.2 Hourly Traffic Generation ...................................................................................................... 24 8.3 Future Public Transport Services ............................................................................25

9. Traffic Distribution and Assignment ......................................................................................26 10. Transportation Network Effects.............................................................................................28

10.1 Methodology............................................................................................................28 10.2 Absorption Capacity (Austroads) .............................................................................28 10.3 Ultimate Scenario ....................................................................................................29 10.3.1 School Driveway Intersections .............................................................................................. 29 10.3.2 Collector-Collector Intersection, Western End....................................................................... 31 10.3.3 Borman Road-School Collector Road Intersection................................................................ 32 10.4 Interim Scenario ......................................................................................................33 10.5 Transportation Network Effects Summary ...............................................................33

11. District Plan Assessment ......................................................................................................35 11.1 Policies and Objectives ...........................................................................................35


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11.2 Transportation Rules ...............................................................................................36 12. Summary and Conclusions ...................................................................................................38

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1. Introduction

This report assesses the traffic planning implications of a proposal by the Ministry of Education to designate for a new school to be established on a site in the northern Hamilton suburb of Rototuna.

It is intended that the designation will ultimately provide for a school of up to 2,500 students. At this stage the school is known as North City High School and it is proposed to operate as an area school accommodating intermediate and secondary aged students.

One of the primary implications of any school proposal is its effect on the local traffic environment. In this case, it is necessary to consider both the existing and future traffic environments. This requires consideration of the implications of the Rototuna Structure Plan.

In examining the traffic planning implications of the Ministry of Education school proposal, the following elements have been addressed:

(i) the traffic generating potential of the proposed school at various peak hours of activity;

(ii) the likely distribution of that traffic to the planned future interim and long-term road networks;

(iii) the effects of the additionally generated traffic on the function of surrounding network and intersections;

These and other matters are addressed in the detail of this report as follows. In summary however, it has been found that the proposed school designation can be accepted as contributing to the comprehensive and sustainable development of the Rototuna area.

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2. Site Location

2.1 Description

The location of the proposed designation site is shown on Figure 1. The site is located between Horsham Downs Road and North City Road in northern Hamilton and is zoned Future Urban by the Hamilton City Council (HCC) District Plan.

The site of the proposed school is currently rural. It is surrounded by rural land to the north and has the expanding residential area of Hamilton City approaching from the south.

There are two existing schools located near the site, Hamilton Christian School on North City Road and Te Totara Primary School on Hector Drive.

2.2 Rototuna Structure Plan

The site is within the area that is the subject of Variation 12 to the HCC District Plan and the Rototuna Structure Plan. The latest available version of the Rototuna Structure Plan is shown as Figure 2.

The Rototuna Structure Plan includes a Rototuna Town Centre, residential areas, an educational precinct including the designation site and community facilities such as playing fields, a library and aquatic centre.

Figure 2 shows that in the draft Structure Plan, the school site is to be served by a School Collector Road connected via a new road to North City Road. At its eastern end the School Collector Road connects at a T-intersection with Hector Drive and continues around to connect with Borman Road.

The timing of the construction of the full length of the School Collector Road is dependent on other land owners and the agreements they reach with Council. The Ministry of Education has no control over these factors. The Ministry has an agreement with the relevant land owner that interim access will be available to the School site as shown on Figure 2.

This interim arrangement will operate as a cul-de-sac using a section of the School Collector Road and a local road that is identified in the Structure Plan. These are both shown in Figure 2. Both the interim scenario and the long-term Structure Plan scenario are assessed in this Transportation Assessment Report.

2.3 Location in Road Hierarchy

Figure 3 shows the location of the site in the context of the existing and planned future road hierarchy. The upper section of Figure 3 shows the road hierarchy currently set out in the District Plan.

In this hierarchy the major arterial network in the Rototuna area is formed by Wairere Drive, Resolution Drive and Gordonton Road. This is supported by a minor arterial network of Thomas Road, Borman Road, Hukanui Road and Horsham Downs Road. No road network detail is included in the vicinity of the site.

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The lower section shows the road hierarchy that was included in the draft Rototuna Structure Plan, produced by HCC in September 2008. In this hierarchy the major arterial network includes the Waikato Expressway which follows an alignment from Resolution Drive to Gordonton Road and passes along the northern boundary of the site.

The structure of the arterial network remains generally the same as in the existing District Plan however Gordonton Road changes from major arterial to minor arterial status. The draft structure plan includes more detail in the vicinity of the site. Borman Road is classified as a minor arterial from Gordonton Road through to Kay Road and a network of collector roads feed off it including North City Road and Hector Drive.

The school site itself is located on a proposed collector road which runs between North City Road and Hector Drive.

2.4 Location Strategy

Figure 4 shows the location of existing secondary and middle schools in Hamilton. The nearest school to the proposed designation site is Hamilton Christian School. This is a co-educational private school that accommodates primary, intermediate and secondary school age students. Ministry of Education information shows that it has a roll of approximately 400 students.

St Andrew’s Middle School is a state school accommodating Year 7 to 10 students (Form 1 to 4). It is located approximately 4.5km from the site and has a roll of 150 students.

The nearest large secondary schools are St Paul’s Collegiate, a private Anglican partly co-educational secondary school with a roll of 570 students and Waikato Diocesan School for Girls, a state integrated Anglican secondary school with a roll of 640 students. These schools are both located approximately 5.5km from the site.

The nearest co-educational state secondary school is Fairfield College on Bankwood Road, some 5km from the designation site. It has a roll of about 1,200 students.

Figure 4 illustrates that whilst Hamilton’s residential area has extended out to the north, state secondary schools are predominantly located in the central and southern areas of the city.

Schools differ from most other urban activities. They are developed to meet defined demands, rather than being developed to generate new demands. New schools do not therefore generate new school traffic. Rather, new schools simply better meet the demands that already exist, or will exist as population growth occurs.

This means that when considered in a strategic sense, a new school will produce a net reduction in vehicular travel by enabling an average reduction in catchment size for all schools in the vicinity. This then allows more opportunity for walk, cycle and bus trips and it reduces the average length of the school trip. A new urban school therefore, will inevitably result in benefits to the whole transportation system.

What a new school will do however, is focus existing school travel to a new location. This means that when choosing a site for a new school, the following four important characteristics must be exhibited:

(i) a location close to the centre of maximum demand, (as determined by existing population, forecast population and the locations of existing schools);

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(ii) the availability of a parcel of land of sufficient size to accommodate a school;

(iii) a location that is well connected to the strategic road network via arterial traffic routes to ensure an appropriately high level of vehicular and pedestrian accessibility; and

(iv) a location that is well served by public transport facilities.

The proposed site is within the Future Urban Zone of the District Plan and is surrounded by planned future residential growth. This combined with the existing location of schools in Hamilton and the lack of a major secondary school in the northern suburbs indicates that the designation site is located suitably at a centre of demand.

Sufficient land is available and the location within a planned education precinct within the Rototuna Structure Plan maximises potential for quality pedestrian, cycle, and vehicle connections and accessibility. No public transport facilities existing at present, however these can be introduced as the area develops and the school will be designed to accommodate bus drop off and pick up on site also.

Therefore, the proposed location of the designation site offers an opportunity to serve a local catchment and reduce the distance students need to travel to school. In particular, the designation may potentially reduce the need for travel on routes and bridges that are already heavily used by commuter traffic from Hamilton’s northern suburbs.

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3. Existing Transportation Network

3.1 Existing Road Network

The site does not currently have frontage to an existing road. The nearest existing roads are North City Road, Hector Drive and Borman Road. Figure 5 is an aerial photograph of the local area showing formed roads, and existing and proposed educational facilities.

North City Road is a rural road with a posted speed limit of 100km/h. It has a 7m wide sealed carriageway and sealed shoulders of varying widths. It has a short section, at its southern end near Borman Road and the access to Hamilton Christian School, which has a 50km/h posted speed limit. North City Road is shown in Photographs 1 and 2.

Photograph 1 : North City Road south of Kay Road looking north.

Photograph 2 : North City road, north of Borman Road looking south.

The intersection of Borman Road and North City Road is controlled by Give Way signs on the North City Road approach. There are right and left turning lanes on North City Road and a right turn bay is provided on Borman Road.

The carriageway of Borman Road between North City Road and Hector Drive features cycle lanes on both sides of the road, one traffic lane in each direction, a painted central median and indented parking and bus bays at various points along its length. Borman Road is shown in Photographs 3 and 4.

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Photograph 3: Borman Road looking west towards North City Road

Photograph 4: Borman Road looking east

Hector Drive currently operates as a cul-de-sac that provides access to Te Totara Primary School. The intersection of Hector Drive and Borman Road is controlled by Give-Way signs on Hector Drive. At present, Borman Road terminates west of this intersection.

HCC advise that Hector Drive has been specifically designed to serve the needs of Te Totara Primary School and ultimately other educational, recreational and residential land uses in the area. It features a 7.0m wide carriageway with 2.0m wide paved parking bays on the western (school) side. The footpath on the school side is 3.0m wide. This 3.0m wide path begins at a signalised pedestrian crossing on Borman Road and leads to the Te Totara entrance. The footpath on the eastern side of Hector Drive is 2.0m wide.

There is a signalised pedestrian crossing on Hector Drive however as Hector Drive currently terminates with a turning head north of the Te Totara entrance, these signals are not currently active. Hector Drive is shown in Photographs 5 and 6.

Photograph 5: Hector Drive, looking north towards Te Totara

Photograph 6: Borman Road looking south towards Te Totara

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3.2 Existing Walking and Cycling Networks

The existing walking and cycling infrastructure that is provided in the area surrounding the site includes a mixture of on-road cycle lanes, off-road cycle and pedestrians paths immediately adjacent to road alignments, and off-road paths through parks and along waterways.

On the arterial network, there is an off-road shared walking and cycle path along Wairere Drive and Resolution Drive and the series of grade-separated underpasses at major roundabouts. Walking and cycling infrastructure is also a dominant feature of the recently completed Resolution Drive/Borman Road roundabout. Some examples are shown in Photographs 7 to 10 below.

Photograph 7: Off-Road path to Resolution Drive underpass

Photograph 8: Borman Road Underpass

Photograph 9: Off-Road path to Resolution Drive underpass

Photograph 10: Standard and off-road footpath, Borman Road

The roundabout construction included off-road paths, with landscaping, seating and lighting, leading to underpasses under Borman Road and Resolution Drive. These facilities are typical of those that are provided at the Wairere Drive/Hukanui Road, Wairere Drive/Resolution Drive and Wairere Drive/River Road roundabouts.

Locally, the Borman Road carriageway includes footpaths and on-road cycle lanes. There are signalised pedestrian crossings on Borman Road and Hector Drive and Hector Drive features 2-3m wide footpaths. Examples of existing cycle and pedestrian facilities on Borman Road are shown in Photographs 11 and 12.

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Photograph 11: Borman Road carriageway, looking towards North City Road

Photograph 12: Borman Road signalised pedestrian crossing

3.3 Public Transport Services

There are currently three public transport routes in the vicinity of the site. The “30 Northerner” service runs from Westfield Chartwell through Huntington, Rototuna and St James passing along Resolution Drive and Farringdon Drive. This service operates Monday to Saturday approximately every 30 minutes during peak periods and hourly during off-peak.

The “RD Rototuna Direct” Service runs half hourly during weekday peak times only from the Transport Centre in Bryce Street to Thomas Road along Heaphy Terrace, via Westfield Chartwell and Hukanui Road.

The “16 Rototuna Service” follows a similar route but stops more frequently and runs half hourly on weekdays and hourly at weekends.

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4. Existing Traffic Volumes

HCC holds limited information about traffic volumes in the vicinity of the site. The site does not currently have access to an existing road and much of the existing network around the site is not yet fully completed and connected. Therefore the focus of this assessment will instead be the planned future network and the expected traffic volumes on that network.

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5. Road Safety The site does not have frontage to an existing road however a search of the road safety history of the local area has been made using the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) Crash Analysis System (CAS). The search has included Borman Road from the Resolution Drive roundabout to Hector Drive, the section of North City Road from Borman Road to just beyond the access to Hamilton Christian School and the full length of Hector Drive. The search included the most recent full five year period from 2005 to 2009 inclusive and the available data from 2010. It revealed one non-injury crash that occurred on North City Road during 2006. It involved a truck hitting the rear of a northbound car that was waiting to turn right into a private access. This road safety history does not show any underlying safety issues in the wider area, however much of the surrounding network has only recently been constructed and the local road network that will serve the designation site is yet to be designed or built.

In planning the concept design for the proposed school consideration has been given to how traffic demands can be accommodated in a manner that optimises the safety of the interface between the site and its frontage road. As will be explained later in this report, consideration has also been given to the form of the frontage road in providing for the peak flow demands of the proposed school in a safe and efficient manner.

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6. Future Traffic Volumes

To assist with this assessment, HCC has made available modelled traffic volumes from the Waikato Regional Transportation Model (WRTM). These model results reflect the latest available forecasts for traffic volumes on the network surrounding the site at the year 2021. It is understood that the land use in the model does not reflect the school proposal.

The modelled daily traffic volumes are shown on Figure 6 below.

Figure 6 : Modelled Daily Traffic Volumes, 2021

Figure 6 shows that the School Collector Road carries a two-way volume of 2,635 vehicles per day (vpd) at its western end and 1,089vpd at its eastern end.

North City Road is modelled as carrying 3,288vpd north of Borman Road whilst Borman Road carries 2,442vpd east of North City Road and 2,752 east of the School Collector Road.

The morning and evening peak hour volumes (two-hour flows) are presented on Figure 7 and Figure 8 respectively.

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Figure 7 : Modelled Morning Peak Traffic Volumes (Two-Hours), 2021

Figure 8 : Modelled Morning Peak Traffic Volumes (Two-Hours), 2021

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7. School Concept Plan

7.1 Proposed Layout Concept

The proposed concept plan for the school is shown in Figure 9. The plan shows the indicative layout of school buildings including classrooms, a hall, a gym and an administration building as well as hard courts and playing fields. The transportation features of the concept plan include:

a staff parking area.

an on-site bus and light vehicle drop-off/pick-up area with one entry-only and one exit-only access, located approximately 100m apart.

a student parking area with a separate access located approximately 100m from the drop-off/pick-up exit.

a potential location for a pedestrian underpass near the HCC drainage reserve.

a potential location for a signalised pedestrian crossing.

Noise bunds are proposed on the boundary between the school and the proposed Waikato Expressway alignment.

7.2 Proposed Student and Staff Numbers The assessment of traffic effects of the designation is based on the maximum enrolments presented in Table 1.

LEVEL AGE ROLL

Year 7 12 380

Year 8 13 380

Year 9 14 400

Year 10 15 400

Year 11 16 400

Year 12 17 310

Year 13 18 230

Total - 2,500

Table 1 : Proposed School Roll by Level and Age

The proposed school will have a maximum of 2,500 students when it reaches capacity. An estimate of 150 teaching and support staff would be required when this enrolment level is achieved.

The MOE advises that the school is likely to be staged and is planned to open in 2013/14 with a role of 650 students. It is then expected that capacity would be increased to 1,110 students by 2016, 1,600 students by 2018 and the full 2,500 students by 2021.

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7.3 Access and Egress

Three vehicle accesses are proposed to the School Collector Road. These are an entry to the on-site drop-off/pick-up area, an exit from this area and a separate two-way access to the student parking area.

The staff car park is accessed from the drop-off/pick-up area however the student car park has been provided with a separate access. Staff are expected to generally arrive at the school before the peak period of drop-off activity during the morning and depart after the peak period of pick-up activity in the afternoon. The peak period of student vehicles however is expected to coincide with drop-off/pick-up activity and therefore the student car park has been provided with a separate access to ensure their vehicles are not interacting with vehicles and students in the drop-off/pick-up area.

The drop-off/pick-up area is able to be designed to accommodate circulation and parking of buses and light vehicles and to facilitate movement of students boarding and alighting from these vehicles within the land area that has been set aside.

7.4 School Collector Road Design

The detailed design of the School Collector Road cross-section and the on-site drop-off/pick-up area can be developed when consent is sought to build the school. It is envisaged that the School Collector Road cross-section would be similar to the existing cross-section on Borman Road, shown previously in Photographs 3 and 4. This would reinforce the character of the area as an education precinct including nearby Te Totara Primary School and Hamilton Christian School.

Features that could potentially be used in the cross-section to reinforce the presence of an education precinct include:

Narrow traffic lanes;

On-road cycle lanes;

Wide footpaths;

Threshold treatments to define the start and end of a school area;

Roadside parallel parking bays; and

Signalised and/or unsignalised pedestrian crossing facilities including central refuge islands.

Many of these features have already been used on both Borman Road and Hector Drive adjacent to Te Totara Primary School. Right turn bays within a central median are likely to be required at the entrance to the drop-off pick up area and potentially the student car parking area, once the School Collector Road is connected to Hector Drive and/or Borman Road at its eastern end. Interim arrangements are discussed in the next section.

During detailed design stages of the project, consideration can be given to integration with the HCC recreation area proposed on the southern side of the School Collector Road.

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7.5 Interim Arrangement

As indicated on Figure 2, the school will be served by an interim cul-de-sac arrangement until the School Collector Road is completed and connected at both ends. It is envisaged that the section of the School Collector Road that is built for the opening of the School would be built to its final intended standard incorporating the features described above. The School Collector Road would initially terminate east of the student car park access.

The section of local road that will provide interim access to the school will be designed and constructed to a standard suitable to carry the construction traffic associated with the school. Once the school is open this road would carry all the operational traffic generated by the school, up to an identified threshold in the school roll. This threshold is discussed further in Section 9 of this report. The interim connection will revert to local road status once the School Collector Road is completed and connected.

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8. Traffic Generation

8.1 Traffic Generation Considerations

When considering traffic that is ‘generated’ by a school, it should be kept in mind that a school is different in concept to other activities that might generate traffic. This is because a school satisfies a defined demand for travel. The number or locations of schools does not affect the need for students to travel to school. In other words, creating a new school does not generate new traffic that does not already exist on the road network. Rather, new schools simply have the effect of better providing for demands that already exist, and are being satisfied in a less efficient manner by other schools elsewhere.

In this regard then, the development of new schools must result in a more efficient transportation system when the system as a whole is considered. The presence of a new school that serves a local catchment inevitably results in overall reductions in both vehicular trip numbers and trip lengths. This is considered particularly relevant in Hamilton where residential growth has been occurring in the north of the city whilst secondary schools are predominantly located in central and southern Hamilton. The location of existing secondary schools and middle schools in Hamilton was shown previously on Figure 4.

What a new school does do however, is concentrate school traffic movements to a point. This is one of the primary reasons that it is desirable to locate a school adjacent to one or more arterial roads, so that the school traffic is not concentrated into a residential neighbourhood; and so that there is minimal diversion of traffic away from routes that would already otherwise be used by school traffic.

The traffic generating patterns of schools are dependent on a number of factors, including:

the type of school;

the number of driving aged students, and the extent to which parking is available for those students;

the nature of the school catchment, and hence the extent to which students can walk, cycle or bus to school;

the availability of bus services for the school, both in terms of regularly scheduled services that pass close to the school, and chartered school bus services; and

the proximity of the school to city-bound arterial routes that enable parent drop-offs and pick-ups as part of existing home-to-work and work-to-home trips.

To establish the likely traffic generation patterns of the proposed school, reference has been made to the report ‘School Travel Behaviour in New Zealand’ prepared for the New Zealand Transport Agency in 2009. This report uses Ministry of Transport (MOT) Household Travel Survey (HTS) from 2003 to 2006 to formulate equations for estimating school traffic generation based on the type of school, its location, roll size and age of students.

8.2 School Traffic Generation

8.2.1 Daily Traffic Generation

The NZTA report treats intermediate (age 11-12) and secondary (age 13-17) schools separately. Intermediate schools in major urban areas generate 1.15 trip legs per student (one-way).

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Therefore the 760 students will generate a total of 1,748 trip legs (two-way) over the course of a full day.

For secondary schools in major urban areas, the rate is 1.12 trip legs per student (one-way) therefore the total daily generation of the 1,740 students is 3,897 trip legs (two-way).

The expected traffic generation of the proposed school, split into the walking and cycling, public transport, vehicle passenger and vehicle driver modes is summarised in Table 2.

YEARS 7 AND 8 YEARS 9 TO 13 MODE OF TRAVEL % of total vpd

(IN+OUT) % of total vpd (IN+OUT)

TOTAL (vpd (IN+OUT))

Walk/Bike 45% 787 39% 1,511 2,298

Bus 11% 192 13% 517 709

Vehicle Passenger 44% 769 40% 1,551 2,320

Vehicle Driver 0% 0 8% 318 318

Total 100% 1,748 100% 3,897 5,645

Table 2 : Daily Traffic Generation, Students by Mode

The table shows the student roll is expected to generate a total of 2,638vpd as either private car drivers or private car passengers.

The NZTA report recommends that staff are assessed as travelling to the site in single-occupancy vehicles. Therefore for the 150 staff an allowance of 300vpd is made. The report also recommends that an allowance of 1% of total daily flow is made for service vehicles such as plumbers and tradesmen.

Table 2 shows that 709 student trips are made each day by bus. As the roading network in the vicinity of the site is not yet built, there are no public transport services in the vicinity of the site. However, as the area grows, it is likely these will be added. Model split survey data from Traffic Design Group surveys at schools in Auckland showed that 40% of students who travelled by bus used public services and 60% used dedicated school buses. This proportion has been adopted for this assessment. It is however acknowledged that the split is site-specific and will depend on the student catchment and the various services that are available. The adopted proportion can be updated in subsequent assessment stages as more information becomes available.

Using an average occupancy of 20 students per bus, 22 buses would be required to deliver the students to the school. These buses make two movements, one entry and one exit, for each drop-off and pick-up therefore the expected bus volume in each peak period is 22vph (IN+OUT) and the total volume over the day is 44vph (IN+OUT).

The total daily traffic generation of the proposed school is summarised in Table 3.

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Vehicle Type VPD (IN+OUT)

Student Passengers 2,320

Student Drivers 318

Staff 300

Servicing 29

Buses 44

Total 3,011

Table 3 : Daily Traffic Flows

The table shows that will the full roll of 2,500 students the school is expected to generate 3,011vpd (IN+OUT). This is expected to occur at the year 2021. The staging of the school’s capacity for students and the associated traffic generation is illustrated in Figure 10.

Figure 10 : Staged Traffic Generation Estimates

With the opening roll of 650 students, the estimated daily traffic generation is 783vpd, increasing in three steps to the full 3,011vpd by 2021.

8.2.2 Hourly Traffic Generation

The NZTA report also provides profile information for the distribution of the daily vehicle activity during the peak hours of activity. For all types of school the morning peak hour is the hour ending 9:00am and the afternoon peak hour is the hour ending 4:00pm.

For Year 7 and Year 8 schools, 48% of the daily traffic flows occur during the morning peak and 33% occur during the afternoon peak. For Year 9 to 13 schools 43% of activity occurs during the morning peak hour and 25% during the evening peak hour.

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Applying these factors to the estimated daily flows above determines that the expected morning peak hour traffic generation of the proposed school is 1,339vph (IN+OUT) whilst the afternoon peak hour volume is 823vph (IN+OUT).

8.3 Future Public Transport Services

Table 2 shows that when the school reaches its maximum roll of 2,500 students, some 709 bus-trips are expected each day. This is equivalent to some 355 students travelling by bus, making one arrival and one departure trip.

For the purpose of undertaking a capacity analysis of the site driveways a split of 60/40 between dedicated school buses and public services has been adopted. This is based on an assumption that Environment Waikato will be operating some bus services in the Rototuna area as it grows and develops and some students will use these services. The remainder would use dedicated school bus services administered by the Ministry.

It is unlikely that any public transport services will be in place when the school opens and further unlikely that any would be routed onto the School Collector Road while it is in cul-de-sac form. In the longer term however, public transport services could travel along the School Collector Road.

This is a matter for Environment Waikato’s public transport planning team and the school is by no means reliant on such services being provided. A letter has been provided to Environment Waikato informing them of the key aspects of the school proposal including the expected roll and proportion of students using bus transport, either public or otherwise. Consultation with EW can continue as the project progresses.

When consent is sought to design the school, a detailed analysis of likely bus movements to and from the site will be undertaken as part of the design of the drop-off and pick-up area.

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9. Traffic Distribution and Assignment

The peak hours of traffic generating activity at the school are of interest in assessing the ability of the surrounding transportation network to accommodate generated traffic.

The likely distribution of traffic movements on the network will on the form of this network and how the land use around the school and in the wider Rototuna area develops. As there is uncertainty about this, the assessment of transport effects on the surrounding network has been undertaken on the basis that all movements to the school come to and from the south, and they are split equally between the east and west.

Combining this estimation with the known split of inbound and outbound movements from the combination of student driver, staff and drop-off/pick-up activity gives an estimate of the traffic generated by the school on the local network. The generated movements are summarised on Figure 11.

These movements have been used to undertake a high level assessment of the ability of the surrounding road network to accommodate the proposed school.

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10. Transportation Network Effects

10.1 Methodology

Typically, assessing the transportation network effects of the proposed school designation would involve adding the generated traffic movements to the existing traffic volumes on the surrounding road network and assessing its ability to accommodate the combined traffic volumes.

In this case, the transportation network surrounding the site is the subject of a draft structure plan. Some traffic modelling has been undertaken using this draft network as part of other HCC projects. However care has been taken when using this modelling as the exact network form and the full extent of land use in the area are not necessarily established.

For the purpose of this NOR, an assessment has been made of the ability of the most likely future transportation network to accommodate the school-generated traffic. Reference has been made to the Waikato Regional Transportation Model (WRTM) forecasts at the year 2021. However, as these flows do no necessarily include all applicable land use, reference has also been made to ‘typical’ flows for roads with the same classification in Hamilton. Care is also required however to avoid the potential for double counting of the traffic generated by the school, when this is overlaid on an area model that already predicts some traffic generation for the land to be occupied by the school.

This ‘ultimate’ scenario represents the long-term situation where the school, Rototuna Structure Plan and the associated road network are all fully developed and implemented.

An ‘interim’ scenario has also been assessed where the school is accessed from a purpose-built access road that connects to North City Road. This scenario has been assessed to ensure that if for any reason the roading elements of the Rototuna Structure Plan are delayed or not in place, there is an option to access the school from the existing road network. This interim scenario includes the fully developed school. Although the school will be staged, the analysis aims to confirm that an interim roading arrangement can accommodate the demands of the fully developed school if necessary. This scenario is considered highly unlikely however because the ultimate school roll will only be reached as the area around the school, and the associated roading, is developed.

Overall the purpose of both these assessments is to provide a strategic analysis that demonstrates that the school designation can be accommodated by the surrounding network. Characteristics such as school traffic distribution and assignment, background traffic volumes and detailed intersection layouts and operation can all be refined when consent is sought to build the school.

This NOR assessment focuses on the following key elements of the road network.

The proposed school driveways on the School Collector Road;

The School Collector/Collector intersection to the west; and

The School Collector/Borman Road intersection to the east.

10.2 Absorption Capacity (Austroads)

Figure 12 shows a graph developed using the Austroads Guide to Traffic Engineering Practice, Part 5: Intersections at Grade. This graph shows practical absorption capacity, which is the

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ability of a major road stream of traffic to accommodate or absorb a minor stream of traffic flow, from a side road. It is based on the residual capacity in the major road flow and the gap acceptance requirements of the minor road flow. For minor road vehicles turning left onto a two-lane, two-way major road the Austroads recommended minimum gap and follow up headway are 5 seconds and 2 to 3 seconds respectively. For right turns on a two-lane, two-way major road the minimum gap and follow-up headway are 5 seconds and 3 seconds respectively. For the purpose of a simple analysis, values of 5 seconds and 3 seconds have been adopted for minimum gap and follow-up headway respectively, for all minor road vehicles.

Figure 12 shows the practical absorption capacity (vehicles per hour) for increasing volumes of major road flow.

Practical Absorption Capacity - Unsignalised Intersections(From Austroads Part 5)

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Figure 12: Practical Absorption Capacity

The area above the line can be considered to represent combinations of major and minor road traffic volumes that exceed the capacity of unsignalised intersections. Combinations below the line are operating within the capacity of an unsignalised intersection.

10.3 Ultimate Scenario

10.3.1 School Driveway Intersections

The School Collector Road is included in the latest WRTM modelling provided by HCC. The daily and peak hour modelled volumes are presented in Table 4.

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LOCATION DAILY (vpd)

AM PEAK (vph)

PM PEAK (vph)

School Collector Road, Western End 2,635 215 279

School Collector Road, Middle Section 1,987 175 160

School Collector Road, Eastern End 1,089 104 98

Table 4 : Modelled School Collector Road Volumes

Table 4 shows that in the middle section, adjacent to the designation site, the School Collector Road carries a maximum peak hour volume of 175vph.

The school access with the highest volume is the exit-only access from the drop-off/pick-up area. The exiting volume is 576vph and 348vph during the morning and afternoon peak hours respectively. Figure 13 shows these values plotted on the absorption capacity graph.


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Figure 13: School Driveway Analysis

The graph illustrates that at the WRTM predicted flow of 175vph on the major road (x-axis), a flow of up to 830vph could be absorbed from a minor road. Therefore if the WRTM was an accurate indication of the likely non-school traffic volume on the School Collector Road, the school driveways involving up to 576vph will operate efficiently and well within capacity.

It is also of interest what the limiting major road volume would be, knowing the expected minor road volume from the school. During the morning, the exit volume from the school is 576vph. The graph illustrates that this could be absorbed into a major road volume of up to around 520vpd. The forecast major road volume is however only about 175vph.

Typically, on collector roads the peak hours of activity account for around 10% of the daily traffic volume. Therefore, the school driveways would have sufficient capacity even if the opposing traffic volume increased to around 5,200vpd (520vph x 10).

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By comparison, the HCC Development Manual indicates that a Collector Road carries a traffic volume of up to 3,000vpd. The latest traffic count from another collector road in a fully developed area of Rototuna/Flagstaff, Discovery Drive, indicates that it carries a daily volume of around 4,760vpd including morning and evening peak hour volumes of 500vph.

Therefore the proposed school driveways can be expected to have sufficient capacity on a ‘typical’ Collector Road.

10.3.2 Collector-Collector Intersection, Western End

In the draft Rototuna Structure Plan the School Collector Road is shown as connecting to another Collector Road at its western end. In the WRTM, this intersection is Give-Way controlled.

This Collector Road is modelled in the WRTM as having a daily volume of 2,500vpd south of the School Collector Road and 1,500vpd north of the School Collector Road.

During the morning peak hour, the modelled volume that is opposing the School Collector Road traffic (including vehicles turning right into the School Collector road) is 84vph during the morning peak and 224vph during the afternoon peak.

The modelled exiting flow on the School Collector Road in the WRTM is 155vph during the morning and 76vph.

Figure 14 shows the ‘before’ and ‘after’ points for the morning and afternoon peak hours plotted on the absorption capacity graph. It is noted that the afternoon peak of the school is 3:00-4:00pm whereas the typical peak for other traffic on the network is between 4:00pm and 6:00pm. Conservatively, these peak periods have been added together, however in reality they may not coincide exactly.


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Figure 14: Practical Absorption Capacity, Collector-Collector Intersection

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As Figure 14 illustrates, the presence of the school adds some traffic volume to both the major and minor arms of the intersection. During both peak hours, the combinations of traffic volumes remain below the practical absorption capacity line, meaning a Give-Way controlled intersection can accommodate the expected traffic volumes.

This capacity analysis does not specifically account for the fact that at this intersection, the traffic associated with the school is likely to be turning right into the School Collector Road and left out of the School Collector Road. Conservatively, these right turn movements have been added to the major road flow however in reality they do not oppose the left turn movement out. As such, this analysis is again conservative and robust for this stage of the assessment.

Overall Figure 14 shows that Give-Way controlled intersection is expected to have sufficient capacity to accommodate the traffic designated by the school. Furthermore there is some spare capacity, should the traffic volume on the Collector Road increase beyond what the WRTM 2021 scenario has allowed for.

10.3.3 Borman Road-School Collector Road Intersection

In the WRTM modelling Borman Road has a daily volume of 1,655vpd west of, and 2,744vpd east of, the School Collector Road.

Figure 15 shows the ‘before’ and ‘after’ points for the morning and afternoon peak hours at this intersection, plotted on the absorption capacity graph.


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Figure 15: Practical Absorption Capacity, School Collector-Borman Road Intersection

Figure 15 shows that the traffic volumes expected to be generated by the school can be accommodated by a Give-Way controlled intersection. The maximum minor road volume occurs during the morning peak when some 364vph is exiting the School Collector Road. The modelled major road flow is 567vph at this point, which lies under the capacity line.

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The graph shows that the major road flow could increase to up to around 950vph before capacity of the intersection is reached. Peak hour volumes of this level are generally similar to what occurs on Thomas Road, which is a nearby example of a minor arterial that has fully developed surrounding land use including a major shopping centre.

10.4 Interim Scenario

Initially it is proposed that the school site will be served by a cul-de-sac arrangement using a section of local road and a section of the School Collector Road. This was illustrated on Figure 2.

There are currently many unknowns surrounding the timing of development of land and roading in the area covered by the Rototuna Structure Plan. There is also some uncertainty about the rate at which the school roll will grow and this is dependent on factors such as residential development in the surrounding area and the popularity of the new school relative to others in the area.

An assessment has therefore been made to determine when the interim school access arrangement would have to be upgraded to the full School Collector Road, with connections at both ends.

The main limiting factor in identifying this threshold is considered to be the ability of the intersections of the local road/North City Road and North City Road/Borman Road to accommodate the peak hour turning movements associated with the school. The threshold that has been identified is a volume of 1,980vpd which correlates to a roll of 1,650 students.

By comparison, the HCC Development Manual suggests that local roads carry 800-1,000vpd and collector roads carry 1,000 to 3,000vpd. The draft New Zealand Standard for Land Development and Subdivision Engineering (NZS 4404) recommends that local roads can carry up to 2,000vpd.

The proposed interim local road connection will be designed to carry construction traffic and therefore will be of a higher standard than a typical local road. A maximum volume of 1,980vpd sits within the various recommended ranges for local and collector roads and is considered to be an appropriate upper limit for the interim arrangement.

If other residential development occurs along the local road connection the threshold number of students at the school would decrease. Appendix 1 contains a table with various combinations of students and households which in total equate to the threshold of 1,980vpd.

It is also noted that when the local road connection ceases to be used as a route to the school, some physical measures may be required to deter traffic from using it. These measures could include traffic calming along the road or threshold treatments at either end.

10.5 Transportation Network Effects Summary

The analysis demonstrates that the traffic generated by the school can be accommodated on the planned future road network in the area. The form of this network and the likely traffic volumes on it are the subject of ongoing work by HCC through projects such as the Rototuna Structure Plan.

An assessment has been made using the best available information and this assessment shows that the year 2021, with the fully developed school, priority-controlled intersections are able to

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provide sufficient capacity for the school driveways and the intersections at either end of the proposed School Collector Road.

More information will emerge as the North City High School project moves towards design and construction and more detailed assessment of intersection performance can be undertaken. Any required mitigation can be incorporated at design and resource consent stages, and the assessments clearly show there is ample capacity within the network to accommodate the design demands likely to arise.

Experience and observations large secondary schools in Hamilton suggest that whilst there can be some congestion effects associated with before and after-school peaks, these are generally of short duration and can be minimised through good design of drop off and pick up areas in particular.

In this case, both the on-site provisions and the local road network can be designed specifically to be consistent with an education precinct. Therefore it is expected that the generated traffic volumes will be able to be accommodated on the transportation network as it develops. Further supporting this is the existing distribution of high schools in Hamilton and the lack of a secondary school serving the northern suburbs.

North City High School has the potential to significantly reduce the distance students are required to travel to school. With these reduced distances come enhanced opportunities for walking and cycling trips and in a transportation network sense, less demand for travel on already heavily used routes from northern Hamilton into the central city for example. There are therefore net positive effects to be derived elsewhere on the network.

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11. District Plan Assessment

11.1 Policies and Objectives

The proposed designation would be zoned ‘Community Facilities’ by the District Plan. Section 5.3 of the District Plan addresses Community Facilities. They are described as “…an essential component in the urban environment and contribute significantly to the community’s quality of life.”

The principal issues regarding community facilities in Hamilton are:

The scale and intensity of community facilities can impact on neighbourhood character and amenity values;

The operation of community facilities can generate a range of negative effects that impact on the neighbourhood amenity values;

Community facilities and their siting in relation to the transport network can have adverse traffic effects;

Community facilities are needed in new growth areas but there are constraints on accommodating them.

These objectives and an assessment of the proposed designation against each policy are presented below.

Objective 5.3.1 Community Facilities

To facilitate the provision of a range of community services and facilities throughout the city, in a manner which minimises adverse environmental effects.

Policies

a) Ensure that the scale, form and nature of those community services and facilities operating throughout residential areas is compatible with local amenity values and that adverse impacts on neighbours are avoided.

The proposed school is being planned as part of the Rototuna Structure Plan. The Structure Planning process gives the opportunity for HCC to plan land use and transportation networks around the school to maintain local amenity values and minimise adverse effects on neighbours. The school designation site is bordered to the north by the proposed Waikato Expressway alignment. Noise and visual effects mitigation measures will be developed as part of the school’s planning and design to ensure the designation does not create adverse effects for the Expressway project and vice versa. Other neighbouring and nearby land uses include schools, recreational fields and residential housing. The development of a school in a future urban area allows vehicle, pedestrian and cycle connections to be designed and purpose-built to minimise any adverse transportation effects and maintain amenity values.

b) Enable the development and operation of a range of community facilities on sites in residential areas including new growth areas where impacts on neighbourhood amenity values and on traffic safety and efficiency can be avoided or mitigated.

As described above, the proposed school designation is in an identified growth area where the surrounding transportation network can be specifically designed to accommodate generated traffic while maintaining amenity, safety and efficiency.

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c) Encourage the provision of open space and landscaping to help mitigate impacts on amenity values where the scale and intensity of a community facility may not be compatible with that of the surrounding residential area.

Landscaping and open space areas are proposed as part of the concept plan. These issues will be addressed by others on the project team.

d) Minimise the effects of noise, glare or other nuisances arising from any community facility on adjacent residential areas.

Adverse glare effects are not expected as the school will not generate significant vehicle movements outside of daylight hours. Noise and glare effects from the school itself are addressed by others in the project team.

e) Minimise adverse effects arising from traffic and parking associated with community facilities on the transport network and the amenity values of the surrounding area.

The concept plan developed for the school includes on-site parking and drop-off/pick up areas for staff, students, buses and light vehicle drop-off. Regular parking demands associated with the school can be accommodated on the site. The cross-section of the School Collector Road will also be designed specifically to accommodate the traffic, pedestrian and cycle volumes generated by the school and minimise any adverse effects.

11.2 Transportation Rules

Section 5.2 of the District Plan contains city-wide rules pertaining to parking, loading and access.

Intermediate and Secondary Schools are required to provide:

1 car parking space per full-time equivalent staff, plus

1 car parking space per 20 students aged over 16, plus

4 drop-off car spaces, plus

1 bus space per 200 students

For the ultimate roll of 2,500 students at North City High School, which includes 940 students over the age of 16, this would require:

150 staff spaces;

47 student spaces;

4 drop-off car spaces; and

13 bus spaces.

There are also requirements for accessible parking spaces for people with disabilities, motorcycles and cycles. Cycle parking is required at a rate of five spaces for the first 100 car parking spaces and one per 20 car parking spaces thereafter. This would require 10 cycle parking spaces.

For schools, the Austroads Guides indicate a potential demand for up to one space per five students above Year 4. It also indicates an initial provision of 50% of this potential demand. A provision of one space per ten students may be an appropriate basis for design in this case. This equates to 65 cycle spaces when the school opens, growing to 250 spaces when the ultimate roll is reached.

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The concept plan has allowed sufficient space to provide at least the District Plan minimum number of on-site parking spaces for all types of vehicles. The NZTA guideline on school traffic generation infers that student parking demand could be around 150 vehicles. The concept plan includes a separate student parking area. The number of parking spaces provided on the site will determined during detailed design based on the likely demand and other considerations such as the practical alternatives that are available for students including pedestrian, cycle and bus transport.

Compliance with District Plan rules will be assessed when consent is sought to construct the school. However, there are no transportation rules in Section 5.2 that are unable to be met by a school constructed on the proposed designation site at this stage.

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12. Summary and Conclusions

There is an existing and growing demand for schools in the northern Hamilton area, brought about by residential development in this area. The existing public schools in the city are some distance away and more school facilities are required to meet the growing demand.

In this regard, schools differ from most other urban activities. They are developed to meet defined demands, rather than being developed to generate new demands. New schools do not therefore generate new school traffic. Rather, new schools simply better meet the demands that already exist, or will exist as population growth occurs.

This means that when considered in a strategic sense, a new school will produce a net reduction in vehicular travel by enabling an average reduction in catchment sizes for all schools in the vicinity. This then allows more opportunity for walk, cycle and bus trips; and it reduces the average length of the school trip. A new urban school therefore, will inevitably result in benefits to the whole transportation system. What a new school will do however, is focus existing school travel to a new location. This means that when choosing a site for a new school, the following four important characteristics must be exhibited:

it must be close to its centre of demand, (ie within the catchment that is to be served);

it must be accessible from all areas of the catchment it serves, preferably by way of an adjacent arterial road network;

it must have good accessibility to the public transport network; and

it must be capable of accommodating the traffic it serves both in terms of access / egress and parking.

The proposed location of the school in Rototuna satisfies all these criteria. In this case, not only is the school well located in a strategic sense, but both the school and the yet to be built local road network can be designed to enable maximum integration with the surrounding area.

This can be achieved through the provision of good access / egress connections, provision of on-site facilities for student drop-off and pick-up; by providing for all anticipated parking demands, including short term drop-off and pick-up parking demands; and by ensuring safe and efficient pedestrian connectivity to any adjacent public transport facilities, recreational areas and surrounding residential catchments.

Assessment of the traffic effects of the school, using the latest available WRTM model results for the year 2021 shows that there is sufficient capacity in the planned network to meet expected demands. However, more detailed analysis and any required mitigation can be undertaken and assessed as the project moves to detailed design stage.

An interim roading arrangement has been proposed until the planned future network is in place. As the timing around this is uncertain, a threshold of 1,650 students (equating to 1,980vpd) has been proposed as a limit before the network should be fully connected.

It is concluded that the proposed 2,500 student school is a suitable and appropriate activity to be developed on this site in the Rototuna area. Further, the traffic and parking effects due to the school can be properly accommodated entirely within the site, with less than minor adverse effects to the immediately surrounding road network, notwithstanding the overall net benefits to the wider transportation system.

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Accordingly, it is recommended that from a traffic planning perspective, this proposed designation for a new school on this site be approved

Traffic Design Group Ltd July 2010


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Appendix A

Interim Roading Threshold Levels


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ROLL (students)

SCHOOL TRAFFIC

(vpd) HOUSEHOLDS HOUSEHOLD

TRAFFIC (vpd) TOTAL (vpd)

650 780 171 1,200 1,980

700 840 163 1,140 1,980

750 900 154 1,080 1,980

800 960 146 1,020 1,980

850 1,020 137 960 1,980

900 1,080 129 900 1,980

950 1,140 120 840 1,980

1,000 1,200 111 780 1,980

1,050 1,260 103 720 1,980

1,100 1,320 94 660 1,980

1,150 1,380 86 600 1,980

1,200 1,440 77 540 1,980

1,250 1,500 69 480 1,980

1,300 1,560 60 420 1,980

1,350 1,620 51 360 1,980

1,400 1,680 43 300 1,980

1,450 1,740 34 240 1,980

1,500 1,800 26 180 1,980

1,550 1,860 17 120 1,980

1,600 1,920 9 60 1,980

1,650 1,980 0 0 1,980

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