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1.0 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The citizens of Caddo Parish District 12 attended a Special Session of Caddo Parish

Commission held on December 16, 2013. The project area is depicted on the District 12 Map

attached in Appendix 8.1. The reason for their attendance was to seek assistance from the

Caddo Commission based on following three items:

Flooding and Drainage

Emergency Service Response Times

Additional Road Access (dead end roads)

The Public Works Engineering Department of the Caddo Parish Commission has addressed the

Flooding and Drainage issues through recent upgrades in drainage structures at and around the

Dawson Road Jefferson Paige Road intersection. This has alleviated the issues that were a

concern of the citizens.

To address the emergency service response time, the Caddo Commission worked with the

State of Louisiana to get additional funding for Caddo Fire District No. 3. This extra funding is

being used to add personnel to the previously unmanned fire station on Jolly Napier Road to

become a fully staffed fire station.

To address the final issue of road access, Public Works Engineering Department performed a

preliminary analysis of road changes that would eliminate Dawson Road being a dead end road.

The Department settled on the extension of Rice Road to Dawson Road. In their analysis, they

met with land owners and established the proposed route.

KSA Alliance, Inc. and Nixon Engineering Solutions, LLC was contracted to perform a Feasibility

Study of the extension based on the proposed route. The Feasibility Study would consist of the

methods used to complete the study, preparation of an Opinion of Probable Construction Cost,

Community Impacts and a BenefitCost Analysis of the proposed project. From this study, KSA

Alliance and Nixon would offer a formal recommendation to the Caddo Parish Commission.

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2.0 METHODS OF STUDY

The Feasibility Study will be comprised of the following tasks or methods to fully evaluate the

proposed road extension:

Traffic Counts Average daily traffic counts will be used to evaluate the traffic load on

the roads before and after the proposed extension/connection.

Drive Time Calculations - Evaluation of times to drive to a designated location using

differing paths and speeds.

Emergency Service Response Times Calculation of time for emergency service

response from different locations.

Environmental review Evaluation of the proposed route in reference to the national

environmental databases.

Opinion of Probable Construction Cost Estimated construction cost of the proposed

road along with upgrades of the existing roads.

Benefit-Cost Analysis Calculation of cost associated with the project in comparison to

the number of users located along the entire route.

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3.0 OPINION OF PROBABLE CONSTRUCTION COST The following Total Project Cost for the Rice Road to Dawson Road Connection incorporates

the engineering design and road construction for the project. The road construction cost shown

is based upgrading the existing Rice and Dawson roadways along with the construction of the

extension of Rice Road to Dawson Road. The new construction will also incorporate drainage

structures, pavement markings and erosion control. A map showing the proposed construction

is included in Appendix 8.2.

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4.0 ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW

The EDR Radius Map Report with GeoCheck was obtained by KSA Alliance, Inc. from

Environmental Data Resources, Inc. This type of report is used to complete a Phase 1

Environmental Site Assessment for property to be acquired.

The purpose of a Phase 1 - Environmental Site Assessment, as stated in ASTM E 1527-13, is

to identify, to the extent feasible, recognized environmental conditions in connection with the

subject property. The term recognized environmental conditions means the presence or likely

presence of any hazardous substances or petroleum products in, on, or at a property: (1) due

to any release to the environment; (2) under conditions indicative of a release to the

environment; or (3) under conditions that pose a material threat of a future release to the

environment.

A review of the databases listed in the EDR Radius Map Report showed no environmental

concerns with the location of the proposed route. The complete report is attached in Appendix

8.3.

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5.0 COMMUNITY IMPACTS 5.1 Traffic Counts

The Caddo Parish Engineering Department supplied the following Average Daily Traffic (ADT)

counts for the study area:

Jefferson Paige Road east of Dawson Road - 675 ADT Jefferson Paige Road west of Dawson Road - 324 ADT Jolly Napier Road north of Jefferson Paige Road - 359 ADT Dawson Road - 161 ADT Rice Road - 89 ADT Greenwood Road east of Rice Road - 1115 ADT Greenwood Road west of Rice Road - 1124 ADT

After construction of the proposed road, Dawson Road to Rice Road could become a cut

through from Jefferson Paige to Greenwood Road. Using the data above, the combined ADT of

Dawson and Rice Roads would be 250 ADT without any future development or any additional

traffic. The ADT of the possible project is estimated base on the following assumptions: all of

Dawson and Rice Roads; half of Jefferson Paige Road east of Dawson Road, half of Jolly

Napier Road; and half of Greenwood Road east of Rice Road. Using these figures the ADT of

the possible project being a cut through could be as high as 1270 or a 500% increase over the

ADT of Dawson and Rice Roads combined. The increased traffic on the road could be

considered a negative impact from the people who live there.

5.2 Drive Time Calculations

In evaluating the community impacts of travel times, two destinations were analyzed. An eastern

destination and a western destination. The Walmart on Pines Road was chosen as the eastern

destination and the intersection of US 80 and Jefferson Page Road was chosen as the western

destination. Both of these are directly adjacent to I-20 and can be used to represent generic

eastern or western travel. Maps of both of these routes are included in Appendix 8.4.

Calculations of travel distance and travel time were made for both of these routes at the existing

posted speeds. The distances were calculated using current GIS maps. Using these distances,

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posted speed limits and allowances for traffic control devices a hypothetical travel time was

computed. The computed hypothetical travel time for the existing conditions was then compared

to actually driving the route. Based on the actual measured travel time the calculated times were

increased by 5% to account for traffic, acceleration and deceleration. In addition the speed

limits, traffic control, and travel congestion were recorded during the actual drive. Summaries of

the calculated travel distance and time are included in the following Tables 1 and 2. Copies of

the calculation worksheets are included in Appendix 8.4.

Table 1 Eastern Travel Time Comparison

Path from Dawson Road to Walmart

Distance (miles)

Time (minutes)

Stop Lights

Stop Signs

Existing 25 mph 5.5 9.8 4 1 Existing and New Road Construction 25 mph 6.4 11.6 1 1 Existing and New Road Construction 45 mph 6.4 8.5 1 1

Table 2 Western Travel Time Comparison

Path from Dawson Road to intersection of Jefferson Paige Road and

Greenwood Road (US Hwy 80)

Distance (miles)

Time (minutes)

Stop Lights

Stop Signs

Existing 25 mph 5.5 8.1 0 2 Existing and New Road Construction 25 mph 4.4 9.1 0 2 Existing and New Road Construction 45 mph 4.4 6.0 0 2

As can be seen in Tables 1 and 2, the new proposed extension does not improve travel time in

either an eastern or western direction, in fact the travel time becomes longer in both cases.

To improve the travel time for both of the previous comparison, the speed limit along both

Dawson and Rice Roads would have to be increased. As a comparison, a calculation of the

travel times was performed with a speed limit increase to 45 mph on Dawson, Rice and the

constructed Rice Road extension. These calculations shows a decrease in the Eastern Travel

Time to 8.5 minutes and to 6.0 minutes in the Western Travel Time. The Caddo Commission

would have to approve an increase in the speed limit from 25 mph to 45 mph, which would be

based on need after the project is built.

5.3 Emergency Service Response Times Another community impact is a decrease in the Emergency Service Response Time. The fire

stations of Caddo Fire District #3 serve the project area. Caddo Fire District #3 Station 1 is

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located on Hwy 80 in Greenwood, Louisiana and the other location for this area is the Caddo

Fire District #3 Station 4 on Jolly Napier Road. In looking at the response time it was assumed

the emergency vehicles would travel at 10 mph over the posted speed limit. It was also

assumed that their delay due to traffic control devices would be significantly less. Similar to the

travel time the travel distances were calculated from GIS maps. Using those distances and

assumed emergency vehicle speeds response times were calculated for Station 4 to the middle

of Dawson Road and Station 1 to the middle of Rice Road. A map showing these routes and the

time calculations are included in Appendix 8.5.

Table 3 Emergency Service Response Times

Fire Stations

Response Location

Distance (miles)

Time (minutes)

Fire District #3 Station 1 Rice Road 3.5 3.9 Fire District #3 Station 4 Dawson Road 2.3 2.6

Based on our analysis, all areas of Rice Road and Dawson Road can be served by the

emergency services of Caddo Fire District #3 with a response time of less than 5 minutes.

Adding the Rice Road extension will not change this, but will allow Caddo Fire District #3 to

better serve this residential area of Caddo District 12. This connection will allow either station to

respond to Rice and Dawson Roads very quickly.

5.4 Tax Benefits For this study, there is a cost comparison will be between the Total Project Cost and the number

of households that could directly benefit from the construction. Assume 15 households for Rice

Road, 24 households for Dawson Road and 27 households for adjacent roads for a total of 51.

The cost to the project area without any future development would be $76,683 per household.

This proposed connection would open up this area for future residential development, which

would lower the cost per household. For future development, the existing saturation rate of

household to road length is prorated based on the proposed road length and calculates to 101

households. Then, the cost to the project area with future development would be $38,721 per

household.

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Although the extension of Rice Road to Dawson Road would open up the property along the

route for development, the development would be single family homes on large lots or possible

subdivisions with multiple single family homes. Based on the current homestead exemption, it is

most likely that the parish would not see a benefit in the way of property taxes from the

development.

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6.0 BENEFIT COST ANALYSIS A benefit-cost analysis (BCA) is a systematic evaluation of the economic advantages (benefits)

and disadvantages (costs) of a set of alternatives. The analysis evaluates differences between

the Base Case and the Alternative(s). For this Feasibility Study the Base Case is to do nothing

and the only Alternative is the construction of the extension.

The objective of a BCA is to translate the effects of an investment into monetary terms and to

account for the fact that benefits generally accrue over a long period of time while capital costs

are incurred primarily in the initial years. The primary transportation-related elements that can

be monetized are travel time costs, vehicle operating costs, safety costs, ongoing maintenance

costs, and remaining capital value.

6.1 User Benefits

Benefits of a transportation investment are the direct, positive effects of the project. For this

section we will look at travel time savings, vehicle cost savings and safety.

Travel Time Savings

As shown in Section 5.2, the calculations show a slight increase in travel time when

comparing the existing to the proposed extension. This increase means that there is no

travel time savings associated with the project and therefore there is no a monetary

benefit.

Vehicle Cost Savings

With increased travel time comes increased wear and tear on a vehicle and no savings.

This too has no monetary benefit.

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Safety

The widening, resurfacing and stripping of the road are user benefits from the safety

perspective. However, this user benefits could be negated because of speeding and

driver carelessness with the new roadway curve.

Due to the slight increases in travel time which would result in not only loss of time, but also

increased vehicle maintenance, fuel, etc., this project has been determined to be unwarranted.

6.2 Costs

The cost of a transportation investment is the total value that must be put in place to construct

the project. The initial value of construction, any maintenance costs and any major construction

items must all be calculated. For this section we will consider a 15 year life cycle cost,

consisting of the Initial Capital Cost, Routine Maintenance and a future rehab after 15 years.

The maintenance and future rehab cost will be brought back to present worth values using a

conservative interest rate of 6%.

Initial Capital Cost

As listed in Section 3.0 the initial capital cost for the project is $3,910,828. This project

includes widening Rice and Dawson Roads, construction of the subgrade and base for

the extension of Rice Road to Dawson Road and a new asphaltic surface course over

the entire length of the project. Also, included are drainage structures and pavement

markings. For this section, the initial capital cost is already in present day values.

Routine Maintenance

With new construction, any required maintenance cost can be deferred for a number of

years after the construction. In this section, we will assume that no maintenance will be

need for the first four years after construction. Then, for the next 10 years (year 4- year

14), the project will require some annual maintenance. This annual maintenance may

consist of be pavement repair, shoulder grading, ditch cleaning and pavement markings.

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For the calculations, we will assume an annual budgeted amount for maintenance of

$50,000. The present worth value of the maintenance items is $291,493. Calculations for

this section are included in Appendix 8.6.

Major Rehabilitation

For this section, we will assume that after 15 years, the entire roadway requires rehab.

The rehab will consist of milling off the existing surface and laying a new asphalt surface

course. The present day cost of asphalt will increased using an inflation factor of 2% a

year for 15 years. The present worth value of the rehab is $3,380,294. Calculations for

this section are included in Appendix 8.6.

The Present Worth Value of the total investment needed for this project $7,582,615.

6.3 Benefit - Cost Ratio

After the calculations have been completed, the benefits are divided by the costs. For the project to be economically acceptable, the results must be greater than or equal to 1.0.

For this project: User Benefits = $0 and Cost = $7,582,615

Benefit Cost Ratio = $0 / $7,582,615 = 0

The Benefit Cost Ratio calculation shows that this project is not practical.

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7.0 SUMMARY WITH RECOMMENDATIONS

This Feasibility Study examined the project to widen Rice and Dawson Roads and to construct

an extension of Rice Road that would be a connection between Rice and Dawson Roads. The

following are the main points discovered by this study:

The cost of the project is $3,910,828

No environmental issue were discovered

Increased traffic counts are considered a negative impact

Travel times to the east and west destination are not improved by the project

Emergency Service Response times benefit from the project

No perceived tax benefit from residential development

The upgraded road section is not a safety benefit

The Benefit Cost Ratio equals zero; project is not been proven as cost effective.

Based on the considerations of this study and the information contained herein, the project

should not go forward, but should be re-examined should other variables appear that allow this

project to be feasible.

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8.0 APPENDICIES

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8.1 CADDO PARISH DISTRICT 12 MAP

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8.2 ROAD CONSTRUCTION

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8.3 EDR RADIUS MAP REPORT

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8.4 DRIVE TIME CALCULATIONS AND MAPS

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8.5 EMERGENCY SERVICE RESPONSE TIME CALCULATIONS AND MAP

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8.6 ECONOMIC ANALYSIS