BUDGET WORKING PAPER

TO:                  W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

FROM:            Bill Letteri, Public Works Director

SUBJECT:       Improvement of Town Street Name and Information Signs

DATE:             April 27, 2005

This is in response to requests from the Transportation Board and the Community Design Commission and a January 10, 2005 petition referred to the Manager by the Town Council requesting improvements in street signage. Their petition is attached.

BACKGROUND

The attached petition requests that the town prepare a comprehensive plan covering improvements related to informational and guide signs throughout town. This request aims to assist people in finding specific sights and thus improve both safety and the overall air quality through better fuel emission controls. More informative, accurate, understandable signage will result in less travel quantity, speed and flow.

DISCUSSION

Initial efforts specifically aimed at start-up will include identification of key players and contacting those with responsibilities and programs that relate to such signage improvements requested. On April 12, 2005 a meeting was held with the Public Works Director and a representative of the Public Arts Commission to outline specific steps to be undertaken in the coming weeks, which include:

• Organize a kick-off meeting of the task force, with attendees to include representatives of:  Public Works (Director and Field Operations Superintendent), the Planning Department, Engineering Department, the Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission, the Downtown Commission, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Community Design Commission;

• Develop of “Scope of Work” to guide the task force in identifying specific streets, intersections, parking, public and University facility locations subject to improvements;

• Develop cost estimates for the work with guidance as to the extent to which it can be accomplished within existing budgeted funds. 

• Develop a review process, to include participation of relevant stakeholders (Transportation Board, NCDOT, the public, UNC, etc.);

• Develop a timeline for implementation.

We plan to report periodically to the Council as progress is achieved with this major task.

Attachment: Petition submitted on January 10, 2005, to the Mayor and Council by the Transportation Board

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;

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