Orange County NC Website
Altering travel demand is a third way to improve the efficiency of existing <br /> streets. Travel demand can be reduced or altered in the following ways: <br /> (1) Encourage people to form carpools and vanpools for journeys to work and <br /> other trip purposes. This reduces the number of vehicles on the roadway <br /> and raises the people carrying capability of the street system. <br /> (2) Encourage the use of transit and the bicycle mode. <br /> (3) Encourage industries, business, and institutions to stagger work hours or <br /> establish variable work hours for employees. This will reduce travel <br /> demand in peak periods and spread peak travel over a longer time <br /> period. <br /> (4) Plan and encourage land use development or redevelopment in a more <br /> travel efficient manner. <br /> • SYSTEM EFFICIENCY <br /> Another means for altering travel demand is the development of a more efficient <br /> system of streets that will _better serve travel desires. A more efficient system <br /> can reduce travel distances, time, and cost. Improvements in system efficiency can <br /> • <br /> ;be achieved through the concept- of functional classification -of streets and <br /> :development of a coordinated major street system. <br /> Functional Classification <br /> Streets perform two primary functions -- traffic service and land service, which <br /> when combined, are basically incompatible. The conflict is not serious if both <br /> traffic and land service demands are low. However, when traffic volumes are high, <br /> conflicts created by uncontrolled and intensely used abutting property lead to <br /> intolerable traffic flow friction and congestion. <br /> The underlying concept of the thoroughfare plan is that it provides a functional <br /> system of streets which permits travel from origins to destinations with direct- <br /> ness, ease, and safety. Different streets in the system are designed and called on <br /> to perform specific functions, -thus minimizing the traffic and land service <br /> conflict Streets are categorized as to function as local access streets, minor <br /> thoroughfares, or major thoroughfares (see Figure 2.1). <br /> Local Access Streets provide access to abutting property. They are not intended <br /> to carry heavy volumes of traffic and should be located such that only traffic <br /> with origins and destinations on the streets would be served. Local streets may <br /> be further classified as either residential, commercial, and/or industrial depending <br /> upon the type of land use which they serve. <br /> 2.3 <br />