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TO: |
Roger L. Stancil, Town Manager |
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FROM: |
J.B. Culpepper, Planning Director David Bonk, Long Range and Transportation Planning Coordinator |
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SUBJECT: |
Draft 2009-2015 State/Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program |
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DATE: |
February 11, 2008 |
PURPOSE
This memorandum reviews the draft State/Metropolitan 2009-2015 Transportation Improvement Program (Attachment 1) and offers recommendations for comments to the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee. The Transportation Advisory Committee is considering the development of a draft Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program in preparation for negotiations with the State over the final 2009-2015 Program.
The attached resolution would provide the Transportation Advisory Committee with comments and recommendations on the 2009-2015 Transportation Improvement Program.
In 2007, the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee initiated the process for developing the 2009-2015 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program. The attached diagram (Attachment 2) illustrates the process for the development of the Transportation Improvement Program. We are now at the end of the process for preparing the 2009-2015 Transportation Improvement Program. Federal regulations require that both the State of North Carolina and the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Urban Area develop transportation improvement programs. The Transportation Improvement Program allocates federal and state transportation funding among projects in the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Urban Area.
In early 2007, the Transportation Advisory Committee requested that local jurisdictions prepare transportation priority lists for use in the development of a Regional Transportation Priority List. The Council approved a Chapel Hill Priority List on May 21, 2007 for use in preparing the 2009-2015 Transportation Improvement Program (Attachment 3).
In November, 2007, the State Board of Transportation released the draft State 2009-2015 Transportation Improvement Program. The Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee released the draft State Program as the draft Metropolitan Program for public comment on January 9, 2008.
At this time, the Transportation Advisory Committee is identifying key issues from the Draft 2009-2015 Transportation Improvement Program that representatives of the Committee will raise with representatives of the North Carolina Department of Transportation. These negotiations are intended to resolve differences between the State and Urban Area over elements of the 2009-2015 Transportation Improvement Program. Negotiations with the State are expected to be scheduled in late February or March, 2008.
KEY ISSUES
We summarize below several key issues related to the Draft 2009-2015 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program. These include the status of Chapel Hill projects in the draft Program. We have also included a more comprehensive comparison of the draft 2009-2015 Transportation Improvement Program with the adopted 2007-2013 Program prepared by the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization staff (Attachment 4).
A. Status of Chapel Hill Transportation Improvement Program Projects:
The chart below provides a summary of the status of selected Chapel Hill projects in the proposed Draft State 2009-2015 Transportation Improvement Program compared to the adopted 2007-2013 Transportation Improvement Program.
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Project |
Adopted 2007-2013 TIP |
Proposed Schedule Draft 2009-2015 TIP |
Proposed Project Budget |
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1) South Columbia |
ROW-2007 Construction-2009 |
ROW-2007 Construction-2009 |
FY07 TIP- $5.205 million FY09 TIP- $6.660 million |
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2) Weaver Dairy Road |
ROW-2009 Construction-2010 |
ROW-2008 Construction-2011 |
FY07 TIP-$15.59 million FY09 TIP- $15.964 |
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3) Seawell School Road Bicycle Facilities |
Construction-2007 |
Unscheduled |
FY07 TIP- $650,000
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4) Signal System Upgrade |
Construction FY2011 |
Construction FY2009 |
FY07 TIP- $4.6 million FY09 TIP- $5.0 million |
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5) Estes Drive- N. Greensboro St. to Seawell School Rd. |
Not Scheduled |
Under construction 2008 |
FY09 TIP- $480,000 |
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6) Homestead Road-High School Road to NC86. |
Right of way and construction post 2013. |
Unscheduled |
FY07 TIP- $10.6 million
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Project |
Adopted 2007-2013 TIP |
Proposed Schedule Draft 2009-2015 TIP |
Proposed Project Budget |
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7) Estes Drive-NC86 to N. Greensboro Street. |
Right of way and construction post 2012. |
Unscheduled. |
FY07 TIP- $7.6 million
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8) Mason Farm Road Realignment |
Feasibility Study |
Future Year Project |
$23.1 million |
Estes Drive/Seawell School Road: The draft 2009-2015 Transportation Improvement Program includes a reallocation of $650,000 from the Seawell School bicycle project to providing shoulders along Estes Drive from North Greensboro Street to Seawell School Road. After the release of the draft 2007-2013 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program the North Carolina Department of Transportation, Town and Metropolitan Planning Organization staff determined that the completion of the Seawell School bicycle and pedestrian improvements would significantly exceed the $650,000 allocated for the project. At the same time the Town of Carrboro requested funding to improvement shoulders along Estes Drive from North Greenboro Street to Seawell School Road to compliment the shoulders constructed from Seawell School Road to Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Chapel Hill agreed to the reallocation of funds. The current estimate for completing the Estes Drive shoulders is $460,000. We believe that the remaining funds, totaling approximately $110,000 should be reallocated to the Old Durham-Chapel Hill Road bicycle and pedestrian project to supplement the current funding. We anticipate that the more detailed design of that project will identify additional costs.
We also believe that the Seawell School project should be included as an unfunded, future year project.
Homestead Road: The draft 2009-2015 Program does not include the Homestead Road project, which was included in the 2007-2013 Program as an unfunded priority. We believe this project should continue to be shown as an unfunded, future year project.
Mason Farm Road: The draft 2009-2015 Program includes the Mason Farm Road Feasibility Study recommendations to realign the Road as a future year project, with an estimated cost of $23.1 million. Chapel Hill has not requested the inclusion of this project in the Transportation Improvement Program. We believe there has not been enough review of this proposal by the Town and surrounding community to warrant inclusion of the project in the Program. We also believe the Town has more important transportation needs that could be funded with the current estimated cost of the project and recommend that it be removed from the Program.
NEXT STEPS
The Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee has opened a public comment period on the 2009-2015 Draft State/Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Plan. The Committee will hold a public hearing on February 13, 2008 and is expected to approve a final 2007-2013 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program in March or April, 2008. The North Carolina Department of Transportation will hold the Division 7 Public Hearing in Chapel Hill on February 20, 2007 between 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm at the Seymour Senior Center.
The final North Carolina 2006-2012 Transportation Improvement Program, which will incorporate the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Program, is expected to be approved by the State Board of Transportation in May or June, 2008.
RECOMMENDATION
We recommend the Council consider [the attached resolution] providing the Transportation Advisory Committee with the following comments and recommendations.
ATTACHMENTS