Board approves traffic study for 58 of the busiest intersections

A street study involving 58 intersections in Collierville has been approved.
The Board of Mayor and Aldermen unanimously approved a contract on Monday for nearly $120,000 for the first phase of a “traffic modeling project,” which will be reimbursed by 80 percent with federal money.
All of the town’s 44 “signalized intersections” will be included in the study, according to Tim Gwaltney, deputy town engineer.
When asked by Alderman Missy Marshall which of the town’s other intersections would be chosen for research, Gwaltney said the other 14 would be the most “high volume” in town.
Town Administrator James Lewellen said that the town is “trying to look for the intersections where we need to know how people are acting to pick up key data points to measure turning movements.”
He added that the study will help the town determine “how the town empties out during the day, who is coming into the town, who is leaving the town and what roads and intersections they are going through,” he said.
He noted that the study would give the town an idea of traffic patterns “over a long period of time.”
The town has not updated its major road plan since 2008.
“The town has seen significant changes and growth in the last 14 years,” said Gwaltney, “which is driving the need for an update.”
He said that the assessment will track the town’s “existing roadway network” and “provide guidance for future build-out of the town related to its transportation needs.”
“This information will be used to model existing traffic flows and determine the impact of proposed developments,” he said.
The town will pay $23,960 for the first phase of the study. The rest of the money will come from a “surface transportation block grant.”
There will be more money budgeted for the project.
Kimley-Horn of Memphis will perform the evaluation.
The Memphis Planning Organization approved the project in their 2020-23 Transportation Improvement Program.
A “fully functionally computer model simulating traffic patterns based on the town’s existing roadway network and existing traffic volumes” will be Collierville-specific and “future year models” will be built from them.