The Fehr & Peers Traffic Study is Inadequate
Fehr & Peers’ calculations indicate that the existing operations of the Asian Art Museum caused 207 vehicles to arrive & leave during a typical day, and 449 on a free admission day (p. 14). With the expanded museum, an additional 227 vehicles would arrive and depart on a free admission day (p. 19).
The expansion is expected to create an increase in peak parking demand of 44 additional cars in Volunteer Park on a free admittance weekday (comparing Table 12 with Table 7), and 33 additional cars on a free admittance weekend day (comparing Table 14 with Table 10).
Fehr & Peers observed the parking occupancy in Volunteer Park on two occasions (p. 11):
Thursday, November 10, 2016, 12 PM – 5 PM: The highest occupancy was at 6 PM when 137 spaces were available within the park.
Saturday, November 12, 2016, 12 PM – 5 PM: The highest occupancy was at 12 PM when 75 spaces were available within the park.
As these were not free admission days for the museum, Fehr & Peers estimated the additional demand during free admission days. This yielded an estimate that the minimum number of available spaces would be 90 on a free admission weekday (p. 14), and 46 on a free admission weekend day (p. 16).
Adding the impact of the proposed museum expansion, Fehr & Peers expected 227 additional vehicles to arrive & depart on a free admission day, whether weekday or weekend (p. 17, p. 19). This led them to estimate that a minimum of 46 parking spaces would be available on a free admission weekday (p, 18), and 13 on a free admission weekend day (p. 20). So the study concluded that an admission of the museum could be accommodated by the existing parking supply.