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Home My WebLink AboutFORECAST OF IMPACT OF TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES A Forecast of the Impact on Transportation Facilities Elk Run Energy Station A FORECAST OF THE IMPACT ON TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES ELK RUN ENERGY STATION ADDENDUM TO FEBRUARY 2007 REPORT PURPOSE OF REPORT Subsequent to the original report entitled "A Forecast of the Impact on Transportation Facilities," dated February 2007, LS Power has investigated the usage of biomass fuels at the proposed Elk Run Energy Station (ERES). The Elk Run Energy Station design was then revised to allow supplementing the coal supply with biomass fuels and, consequently, burn up to 10 percent biomass. Potential supplemental biomass sources may include switchgrass, prairie grass mixes, corn stover and dried distillers grain (DDG), a by-product of Iowa-based ethanol projects. Biomass would be delivered by covered trucks and stored in silos on the site. For this level of usage, an estimated average of 50 trucks (30-ton trucks, 386,000 tons/year of biomass) would operate daily (Monday - Friday, 7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.) delivering biomass to the site. This addendum provides an evaluation of the impact on transportation facilities associated with the biomass truck traffic. REVISIONS TO PROJECTED TRAFFIC VOLUMES The proposed biomass usage will add additional truck traffic to the Elk Run Energy Station throughout the operational phase. Table 5 in the original report summarized the projected traffic during the operational phase. The revised table below shows the additional truck traffic which would occur during the operational stage due to the biomass trucking. TABLE 1 (Revised Table 5 From Original Report) PROJECTED TRAFFIC-OPERATIONAL PHASE Material Truck/Railcar Vehicles Per Day Quantity Capacity Vehicles Per (Mon-Fri, Vehicle Content (Tons/Yr) Vehicle Type (Tons) Week 7:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.) Deliveries to ERES Activated Carbon 1,200 Truck 10 2.3 0.5 Lime 24,000 Truck 25 18.4 3.7 Ammonia 2,450 Truck 20 2.4 0.5 Coal 2,950,000 Rail 120 Misc.Deliveries Truck 20 4.0 Biomass 386,000 Truck 30 250 50 TOTAL 3,363,650 293 59 Shipments From ERES CCBs 203,500 Truck 24 163 I 33 Other Employees Car 406 58 Source: LS Power 93760/05.00/Adndm-Traffic-ElkRunEnergyRpt 4-08.doc -1- April 2008 A Forecast of the Impact on Transportation Facilities Elk Run Energy Station TRAFFIC EVALUATION Usage of biomass fuels will result in additional truck traffic on the road system serving the proposed plant. A total of 100 truck trips per day (50 loaded trucks inbound, and 50 empty trucks outbound) will be distributed on various streets and roadways approaching the plant. It is anticipated that the biomass fuels will originate from a variety of source points, primarily including agricultural operations and ethanol plants. Trucks therefore may originate at any point within a reasonable driving distance of the plant. In the absence of embargoes or routing prohibitions, most drivers will select the fastest route available which utilizes suitable hard-surfaced roadways. A road map of the Northeast Iowa area was used to estimate the most probable routing for trucks arriving from any direction. The map in Figure 1 subdivides the area surrounding the plant into four sectors based on the existing highway patterns in this area. s . ° ° , p ".k.... Ql1,-4.: '1,_ f." \,.„0, ,,,,4„, . ........., : . . r r-'====. =-:", t --- '-, .,s rY iF° ��, C p .. },_.. f � r • a Al - rAnt22,ZA -= '',"*A ,_: 'A. A: . , A Z-.A -irik'44,-siiilk -.2 "-7 7-'-.-.' ` — — ° f tom. '.==z ., 'w -0.- "i re,� aatt to 4 '§ r, e, '"-r r "„+„, g_ f - .. r •,s \ .4a.,, „•rdxat t '' ' - Y. t , . , Figure I. Breakdown of " ,: .,.-t .- e " ,,.. t _ . I s`-'n.=,r;i Biomass Source Locations 93760/05.00/Adndm-Traffic-ElkRunEnergyRpt 4-08.doc -2- April 2008 A Forecast of the Impact on Transportation Facilities Elk Run Energy Station Although individual drivers will select their own preferred routes, the most probable routing near the ERES plant from each sector is expected to be as follows: • Sector 1: U.S.20 to Plaza Drive,Dubuque Road,Elk Run Road and Newell Street. • Sector 2: The most direct route would be I-380 or U.S. 20 to the Raymond exit,then Raymond Road and Newell Street. An alternate route, more preferred by Black Hawk County during the original traffic study, would follow the same path as Sector 1, avoiding travel through the city of Raymond. • Sector 3: Various roadways to Raymond Road,then south through Dewar to Newell Street. • Sector 4: Various roadways to North Elk Run Road and Newell Street. Much of this traffic may use Dunkerton Road to reach North Elk Run Road, and a small percentage may use Donald Street. Based on the above routings, the distribution of additional truck traffic on the various roadways is listed in Table 2. These estimates are based on traffic from Sector 2 using the Plaza Drive-Dubuque Road-Elk Run Road-Newell Street routing, which is the recommended route to avoid trucking through the city of Raymond. TABLE 2 ANTICIPATED BIOMASS TRUCK TRAFFIC Estimated Biomass Road Location 2005 ADT* Truck Traffic Elk Run Road North of Newell Street 1,410 25 Donald Street West of Elk Run Road 2,590 5 Donald Street East of Elk Run Road 1,350 0 Elk Run Road South of MLK Jr.Drive 6,900 60 MLK Jr.Drive West of Elk Run Road 3,630 0 Raymond Road South of Newell Street 2,080 0 Raymond Road North of Newell Street 2,080 15 *Average Daily Traffic(ADT)from Iowa DOT. Newell Street (not listed in Table 2) would experience the largest increase in traffic and is already proposed to be improved as part of the original mitigation plan for the Elk Run Energy Station. Elk Run Road, to the south of Newell Street and MLK Jr. Drive, would experience the next highest increase in traffic. To characterize the impact of the additional trucks, a new traffic count was taken on Elk Run Road during the week of April 21, 2008. The new traffic count showed that the daily traffic on Elk Run Road is similar to the Iowa DOT's 2005 count, which was 6,900 vehicles per day. The existing truck traffic on Elk Run Road was found to be 17.8 percent of the total traffic, or approximately 1,220 trucks per day. The graphs in Figure 2 illustrate the proportional increase in traffic associated with the biomass fuel trucking. None of the streets and roadways evaluated would experience new capacity problems because of this increase in traffic. 93760/05.00/Adndm-Traffic-ElkRunEnergyRpt 4-08.doc -3- April 2008 A Forecast of the Impact on TrElkansportatRunionEnergy Facilities Total Traffic on Elk Run Road, Truck Traffic on Elk Run Road, South of MLK Drive South of MLK Drive 8000r 1400 ,,,,,/,,,/cv„„ 5,4,,,/,',11 ,/////x.,/i/,4 ,,,,„1,,,,,, z000 7, ///•// ',/;*,i71200 6000 „go ,/, /�' 1000 5000 II Biomass 800 < I Biomass 4000 Traffic(0.9%) Trucks (5%) Existing Total7, /,/,,x7/7,./ Existing 3000 a Traffic(99.1%) 600 „„„),,, 2,, /# Trucks(95%) 400 .� 2000 1000 � 200 044' 0 Figure 2. Comparison of Biomass Truck Traffic on Elk Run Road SUMMARY AND MITIGATION RECOMMENDATIONS The truck traffic associated with the usage of biomass fuels will be dispersed onto ai number of roadways approaching the Elk Run Energy Station. Many of these roadways already serve significant truck traffic from nearby industries, including Tyson Foods, Warren Transport, Deere & Company, Eagle Ottawa, Ferguson Enterprises and the Northeast Industrial Park. The additional contribution from the biomass trucking will be a relatively minor proportion of the existing traffic and will not cause the capacity on any street to be exceeded. To minimize the traffic impact on streets which are less appropriate for trucking,the following mitigation measures are recommended. Elk Run Energy Station should require their suppliers to use approved roadways in the vicinity of the plant; specifically, biomass trucking should not be allowed on the following streets: • Newell Street West of Elk Run Road • Logan Avenue(U.S.63)South of Donald Street • Local Streets in Downtown Waterloo • Raymond Road Through the City of Raymond 93760/05.00/Adndm-Traffic-ElkRunEnergyRpt 4-08.doc 4- April 2008