AGENDA #3a(4)

MEMORANDUM

TO:                   Mayor Foy and Town Council Members

FROM:             Chapel Hill Transportation Board

SUBJECT:        Petition Regarding Street Signage

DATE:              December 8, 2004

Dear Mr. Mayor and Council Members:

        Last evening the T-Board voted 6-0 to request that the Town Council consider the attached petition regarding improvements in street signage in Chapel Hill.  We thank you for your consideration of this matter.

Best wishes,

George Cianciolo, Chair

Street Signage Resolution

Whereas the Orange County/Chapel Hill Visitors Bureau estimated that more than 1.3 million people (3,600 per day) visited our area in 2002-03;

Whereas air quality in Orange County and Chapel Hill is positively related to route guidance and traffic information and inversely related to traffic volume, traffic speed and traffic flow;

Whereas, metropolitan area air quality, as measured by the EPA readings of ozone levels during 2000-2002, was the 23rd worst in the USA;

Whereas visitors to Chapel Hill can drive more safely through intersections if they can easily find and read street signs at key intersections;

Whereas the condition of street signs in Chapel Hill varies widely among intersections (from large to small, blue to green, obscured to visible, and single to multiple);

Whereas the poor and varied quality of street signs in Chapel Hill provide inadequate route guidance and traffic information to its visitors and guests, and contribute to higher traffic volumes, lower traffic speeds and more restricted traffic flows than should exist;

Therefore, be it resolved that the Chapel Hill Town Council requests that the Town Manager develop a plan for improving town street and informational (public parking, governmental offices, public facilities, University facilities, hospital, etc.) signs that:

1. Includes clear standards for the size, format and placement of signs at all intersections involving key collector and arterial roads in Chapel Hill, with the suggestion that overhead signs be used at major intersections;

2. Includes a list of intersections where better signs are most urgently needed;

3. Includes a schedule for implementation that reflects budgetary and regulatory constraints now facing the Town;

4. Includes the University, whenever appropriate, in discussions involving signage relevant to University locations;

5. Involves the Town Staff working with the T-Board to develop and implement such a plan.