Why build a bypass for only 13% of the current US 31 traffic?
According to the 1995 MIS, a video license plate survey revealed that US 31 through traffic accounted for approximately 3,900 vehicles per day. Applying this same proportion to existing year traffic volumes, it is estimated that, on average, approximately 13.5% of the daily traffic utilizing US 31 is through traffic. There are two components that were assessed in evaluating each preliminary bypass alternative’s ability to satisfy the project’s Purpose and Need: Ability to Attract Through Traffic It is reasonable to assume that a majority of US 31 through traffic would utilize a bypass facility, regardless of its proximity to the existing US 31 corridor. For this reason, each bypass alternative was assumed to accommodate equivalent levels of through traffic. Ability to Attract Internal Trips/Local Traffic The varying factor in the traffic modeling was a bypass alternative’s ability to accommodate local trips. The ability of a bypass alternative to attract local traffic in part depends u
