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Comprehensive Plan Transportation Element Policy 7 . 1 of the Indian River County Comprehensive Plan — Transportation Element indicates that the county will explore alternatives to widening major thoroughfares when those thoroughfares intrude into an existing residential neighborhood. While the county will consider reasonable mitigation and/or alternatives to road widening, it is also the policy of the county to maintain its adopted level of service standards. In the fall of 2004, the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) considered several programmed roadway improvement projects. During the public involvement phase of the roadway development process, a considerable amount of citizen opposition arose against two of those roadway projects — the 43 `d Avenue and 27th Avenue widening proiects . Both 43`d Avenue and 27th Avenue are two-lane undivided facilities that were proposed to be widened to five-lane facilities. The proposed widening Projects were perceived as leading to higher volumes of traffic higher travel speeds, increased noise levels, and reduced safety. In order to maintain the adopted level of service while also maintaining the quality of life of the residents in south Indian River County, the county explored a number of alternatives to five- laning 43`d and 27th Avenues. These alternatives included three-laning 43`d and 27th Avenues; establishing new roadway alignments ; and widening parallel facilities. In addition, an analysis was conducted to determine the feasibility of maintaining adequate levels of service through expanded transit service on the facilities. In performing the analysis of alternatives, the county employed a number of quantitative techniques, including regional travel demand modeling using FSUTMS on the adopted Treasure Coast Regional Planning Model network. • Roadway Alternatives An analysis was performed of the impact of three-laning as opposed to five-laning, 43`d and 27h Avenues. According to the Generalized Level of Service Tables contained in FDOT ' s 2002 Quality/Level of Service Handbook, dividing an undivided facility generally results in a 5% increase in capacity. Applying this increase to the two lane capacity of 43d Avenue, three-laning these facilities would result in a new capacity of approximately 903 vehicle trips/hour/direction. While helping to mitigate level of service problems, this solution alone does not fully address these concerns, since peak hour directional demand from proposed traffic projects on 43 `d Avenue (921 trips) will soon exceed three-lane capacity (903 trips). With respect to new roadways and parallel roadways, a number of north/south facilities exist within a distance of approximately five miles of 43 `d and 27th Avenues. Two of these facilities (US 1 and Old Dixie Highway) connect residents in both Indian River and St. Lucie counties, while two others (58th Avenue and 20th Avenue) are limited to only Indian River County. In analyzing improvement options for north/south alternatives, it was determined that widening parallel facilities is either not feasible and/or will not result in adequate levels of service on 43 `d and 27th s . Avenue According to preliminary model runs performed as part of the MPO ' s 2030 Long Range Transportation Plan update, the widening of US 1 from four to six lanes will still result in level of service deficiencies on 27th and 43 `d Avenues. Consequently, another roadway alternative was explored. That was the extension of 58h Avenue to Indrio Road in St. Lucie County. Community Development Department Indian River County 76