Council voted 6-1 in favor of the motion, with Council Member Mike Heath stating he voted against the motion due to the scope of the project.
Planned intersection improvements at Pecan Street and FM 685 include a displaced left turn lane, which will reroute traffic turning left onto a new road that runs parallel to the original one. Other improvements include traffic signal timing changes, said Patricia Davis of Pflugerville's engineering department.
Council previously awarded a $213,000 services agreement to Koch Consulting Engineers, Inc. in March 2019 before the addition of Project Charm to the city's development proposals. Since, city staff have modified the traffic impact analysis and scope of the proposal to accommodate for increased traffic related to the proposed 3.8-million-square-foot distribution center.
Davis said the impacts of Project Charm on Pecan Street are predominantly focused on the east-west portion of Pecan Street's intersection at FM 685. Heath said that, following his review of the traffic impact analysis, the intersection's level of service is currently ranked "F" and would remain so even after intersection improvements are made.
“There’s still 137 seconds of delay at the intersection," Heath said, adding that it marks an overall intersection failure.
City staff said that the developers behind Project Charm have agreed to help coordinate with proposed improvements, adding that when accounting for traffic impact by Project Charm, the upgrades would create a 30-40% intersection improvement.
As it stands, there are four Pecan Street intersections projects planned concurrently, Davis said: Pecan Street at SH 130, Pecan Street at Biltmore Avenue, Pecan Street at FM 685 and Pecan Street at Heatherwilde Boulevard. Based on its current schedule, the project is expected to go to bid in spring 2021.
Editor's note: This post has been updated with to clarify Patricia Davis' title.
