§ 58-231. Definitions.

For the purposes of this division, the following words and terms are defined, in addition to those terms and words included in division 1 of this article:

Access improvements means the transportation improvements necessary to provide safe and adequate ingress and egress and for efficient traffic operations. Access improvements include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1)

Rights-of-way and easements;

(2)

Left and right turn lanes;

(3)

Acceleration and deceleration lanes;

(4)

Traffic control devices, signage, and markings;

(5)

Drainage and utility relocation; and

(6)

Sidewalks.

Access road means a street or road that runs generally parallel to an arterial or collector road and is the primary access to abutting properties. The access road may separate abutting properties from arterial or collector road rights-of-way and, if so, this type of facility shall be known as a frontage road.

Capacity means the traffic-carrying ability of road segments or intersections.

Capacity intersection means the maximum number of vehicles for a given time which a given intersection can safely and efficiently carry at a specified level of service.

Capacity per lane means the maximum number of vehicles in a one-mile segment of roadway for a given time period which a typical new lane can safely and efficiently carry at a specified level of service.

Development generating traffic means any construction or expansion of a building, structure, or use; any change in use of a building or structure; or any change in the use of land any of which attracts or produces additional vehicular trips.

Direct access improvements are always project improvements, not system improvements. Direct access improvements include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1)

Site driveways and roads exclusively serving traffic destined for or produced by the development generating traffic on the site;

(2)

Median cuts made necessary by those driveways and/or roads;

(3)

Turn lanes, acceleration lanes and/or deceleration lanes leading to or from those driveways and/or roads;

(4)

Traffic control measures for those driveways and/or roads;

(5)

Access or frontage roads that are not shown as planned publicly built and/or publicly owned roads in the county's comprehensive plan or in any official State of Georgia highway planning document;

(6)

Roads or intersection improvements whose primary purpose at the time of construction is to provide direct access to a development project generating traffic; and

(7)

Necessary right-of-way dedications for such project improvements.

Diverted traffic or passerby traffic means traffic which is already on the transportation network which is attracted by the new land development and which may be diverted from another route.

Expansion means road and intersection design capacity enhancements which include, but are not limited to, extensions, widenings, intersection improvements, upgrading signalization, and improving pavement conditions.

Impact means the incremental effect of additional vehicles on a roadway segment.

Intersection level of service means the sum of volume capacity ratios, the actual rate of flow on an intersection approach divided by the capacity of that approach and used in conjunction with the delay factor per vehicle. This ratio is expressed as a level of service and is determined by methods of analysis described in the Transportation Research Board's, "Highway Capacity Manual," Special Report 209, 1985.

Level of service or LOS means, in addition to the general definition in section 58-170, for transportation, a qualitative measure describing the collective factors of speed, travel time, traffic interruption, freedom to maneuver, safety, driving comfort and convenience and operating costs provided by a transportation facility under a particular volume condition. Levels of service vary from A to F. Level of service classifications shall have the same meaning as set forth in the Transportation Research Board's "Highway Capacity Manual," Special Report 209, 1985.

Link level of service for the purposes of the fee calculation shall be determined by the volume to capacity ratios as defined in the county's transportation model.

LOS goal means the performance standard the county proposes to meet.

Public transit means public mass transportation services along with capital improvements, equipment, and operations provided by agencies and/or authorities chartered by the State of Georgia to provide such services in Fulton County.

Road or roadway means arterial or collector streets or roads which have been designated in the transportation element of the comprehensive plan and/or the capital improvements program element of the comprehensive plan, together with all necessary appurtenances including, but not limited to, bridges and traffic control improvements.

Sidewalk shall be considered a project improvement.

Transportation facility means roads, streets, and bridges, including rights-of-way, traffic signals, landscaping, sidewalks, other related appurtenances, and any local components of state and/or federal highways.

Transportation network means the interconnecting system of streets, roads, highways, and other public ways open to vehicular traffic by the public generally and dedicated to the public use. The transportation network includes existing public transportation facilities, planned extensions and expansions to existing public transportation facilities, and planned new transportation facilities.

Trip means a one-way movement of vehicular travel from an origin (one trip end) to a destination (the other trip end). For the purposes of this division, the term "trip" shall have the meaning which it has in commonly accepted traffic engineering practice.

Trip generation means the attraction or production of trips attributed to the use or activity associated with a given type or classification of land development.

Trip rate or trip generation rate means the number of vehicle trip ends which can be attributed to a specific type of land development activity per unit of development per day as documented in the most current Institute of Transportation Engineers (I.T.E.) "Trip Generation Manual."

(94-RM-121, pt. 2, art. I, 5-18-94)

Cross reference

Definitions generally, § 1-2.