TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Public Forum: 2025 Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Regional Transportation Plan Preferred Alternative
DATE: November 25, 2002
Tonight’s public forum is intended to receive public comment on the 2025 Regional Transportation Plan, Preferred Alternative. The attached resolution would provide the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee with recommendations on the 2025 Regional Transportation Plan Preferred Alternative (Attachment 1).
PROCESS
The 2025 Regional Transportation Plan must be developed and adopted by the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Urban Area to meet federal transportation and air quality regulations. The 2025 Transportation Plan will include roadway, transit, bicycle and pedestrian projects to be completed over the next 25 years and will include a financial plan designed to fund these improvements. The adopted Plan must meet federal air quality standards. Future State and Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Programs will use the adopted 2025 Plan as a guide to select projects for funding. Development of the Plan was been underway since early 2000.
The current Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee schedule proposes that a final Preferred Alternative be adopted by the Transportation Advisory Committee on December 18, 2002. Once a draft Plan is approved, it will be analyzed by State and federal agencies for compliance with federal clean air standards. The federal air quality conformity regulations require that the Urban Area must adopt a final Plan by February 28, 2003. Failure to adopt a Plan by that time may result in a cut-off of all federal transportation funding to the Urban Area. It is anticipated that the Transportation Advisory Committee will adopt a final Plan in March or April, 2003.
The Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee has endorsed a 2025 Preferred Alternative (Attachment 1). They have opened a 42 day public comment period on the Preferred Alternative.
The Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization endorsed a 2025 Regional Transportation Plan Preferred Alternative on November 6, 2002. The endorsement of the Preferred Alternative by the Transportation Advisory Committee completed a process that included the evaluation of over 65 different alternatives.
The Chapel Hill Town Council reviewed the 2025 alternatives at various stages, including the most recent consideration of the five Tier 3 alternatives on September 9, 2002 (Attachment 2). On September 9, 2002, the Council recommended the following:
1. Alternative C should be used as the base for developing the preferred alternative.
2. Transit improvements, including improvements to local transit service and the implementation of fixed guideway systems, should be implemented prior to pursuing roadway expansions, especially on US 15-501 Boulevard and Fordham Boulevard.
3. Corrections should be made to the transit model network to more accurately reflect local and fixed guideway transit impacts in the preferred alternative.
4. It is the sense of the Council that the fixed guideway line running between University and the Horace Williams property should serve Downtown Chapel Hill.
On October 23, 2002, the Transportation Advisory Committee released a fiscally unconstrained Preferred Alternative. The Preferred Alternative included all the elements recommended by the Council on September 9, 2002.
The 2025 Preferred Alternative endorsed by the Transportation Advisory Committee on November 6, 2002 includes all the elements of the fiscally unconstrained Preferred Alternative released on October 23, 2002, including the use of Alternative C as the base. Attachment 3 of the Council’s September 9, 2002 memorandum includes a summary of those elements of Alternative C in Chapel Hill.
Regional staff determined that anticipated transportation revenues will be adequate to fund all elements of the Preferred Alternative. Estimates of costs and revenues are included in Draft Recommended Report (Attachment 1). Several additional elements have been included in the Preferred Alternative. These include:
· Modifications to the local transit system service levels, reducing service frequency on selected routes.
· Extension of the high capacity transit corridor identified from I-40 in Chapel Hill to the Carrboro Town Center. This corridor has been extended from the Carrboro Town Center, west along Jones Ferry Road to the Bypass and then north to Carrboro Plaza at the request of Carrboro.
· Inclusion of several additional bicycle projects in Durham County at the request of the Durham Bicycle Advisory Commission.
Attachment 3 shows the daily volume compared to capacity in summary for the Preferred Alternative. As noted in previous alternatives, traffic congestion is anticipated along the NC 54, US 15-501 Boulevard and Fordham Boulevard corridors. Congestion is also projected along Estes Drive.
Attachment 4 is the Summary of Measures for the 2025, all five Tier 3 Alternatives and the Preferred Alternatives. Note that Preferred 3 is the Preferred Alternative currently proposed for public comment. The option labeled Preferred Alternative represents the fiscally unconstrained Preferred Alternative. Preferred 1 included modifications to the local transit services. Preferred 2 includes all the elements of Preferred 1 but removed the Northeast and Northwest Parkways in eastern Durham. The Transportation Advisory Committee asked that the Plan be evaluated without the Northeast and Northwest Parkways in response to citizen comments.
Attachment 5 is a detailed map of the proposed fixed guideway and high capacity transit corridors in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area.
We believe that the Preferred Alternative put forward by the Transportation Advisory Committee incorporates all the elements previously endorsed by the Town Council. We suggest that the Council reaffirm their previous comments, recommending that transit improvements (both local bus and fixed guideway), be implemented prior to extensive roadway improvements.
The Preferred Alternative incorporates an extensive network of transit improvements, including the implementation of fixed guideway systems connecting Chapel Hill with Durham and the Research Triangle Park. In addition to the fixed guideway corridors, high capacity transit corridors have been included in the Preferred Alternative along US 15-501/Franklin Street and NC86/Columbia Street/US 15-501 South. The Preferred Alternative also includes the construction of high occupancy vehicle lanes along I-40 from NC 86 to the Johnson/Wake County line.
We note that on October 30, 2002, the Council adopted a motion instructing the Council’s Transportation Advisory Committee representative to support the resolution adopted on October 30, 2002, by the Orange County Commissioners opposing the inclusion of the Northeast/Northwest Loop in Durham.
NEXT STEPS
We expect to bring this item back to the Council on December 9, 2002 for final action. The Transportation Advisory Committee will hold a public hearing on the Preferred Alternative at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, December 4, 2002 in Durham. A public workshop has been scheduled at the Chapel Hill Public Library between 5 pm and 8 pm on Thursday, December 5, 2002.
The Transportation Advisory Committee is scheduled to approve the 2025 Preferred Alternative on December 18, 2002. Once approved, the Plan will be forwarded to federal and State transportation and air quality agencies for evaluation. It is anticipated that this review will take approximately 3 months and allow the Committee to approve the final Plan in March or April, 2003.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Manager’s Preliminary Recommendation: That the Council adopt Resolution A, endorsing the 2025 Preferred Alternative and providing the Transportation Advisory Committee with the following recommendations:
Historic District Commission Recommendation: The Historic District voted 9-0 to recommend that the Council proceed with the long term study of public transportation through the Historic District as along as the Historic District Commission retains the authority to approve the congruity of the system (Attachment 6).
Transportation Board Recommendation: The Transportation Board voted 7-0 to affirm their previous comments on the 2025 Plan (Attachment 7).
The Board also noted that the Preferred Alternative includes the proposed expansion of some facilities, such as Weaver Dairy Road, that are inconsistent with current Town positions
Planning Board Recommendation: The Planning Board voted 10-0 to provide the Council with the following comments and recommendations:
The Planning Board believes that the 2025 Regional Transportation Plan is headed in the right general direction with respect to transit and roadway elements and recommends its support of the Plan with the following considerations:
1. That greater emphasis should be placed on transit facilities and improvements in the Plan rather than roadway improvements, especially the emphasis on implementation.
2. The balance of investment between transit and roadway activity should, therefore, fall in favor of transit rather than roadways as shown in the Plan.
3. Regarding revenue sources (Page 8 of the Plan) the Planning Board supports:
a. Increasing the gasoline fuel tax as a revenue source
b. Increasing the vehicle personal property tax as shown in the Plan
c. Increasing the current cap on automobile sales tax with the additional revenue dedicated to transit and roadway improvements.
The Board notes that the vehicle registration fee is the most regressive form of tax/fee and recommends that revenue from the three sources listed above is preferable to revenue increases from vehicle registration fees.
4. That the improvements of the unpaved western portion of Pickett Road be considered for inclusion in the Plan.
5. That the fixed guideway and/or high capacity transit plan include a stop focused on serving the Franklin/Columbia intersection or at least the Franklin Street corridor downtown.
6. The Board notes that the description of Weaver Dairy Road in the Plan is 5 lanes and is different from the current direction of the Council and community to seek a 3 lane plan.
7. There should be less road widening as a general principal. Old NC 86 is an example of one listed in the Plan that might not be called for.
ATTACHMENTS
A RESOLUTION PROVIDING THE DURHAM-CHAPEL HILL-CARRBORO TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE WITH A RECOMMENDATION ON THE DURHAM-CHAPEL HILL-CARRBORO 2025 REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN PREFERRED ALTERNATIVE
WHEREAS, the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee is preparing a 2025 Transportation Plan; and
WHEREAS, the Transportation Advisory Committee has endorsed a 2025 Preferred Alternative for public comment; and
WHEREAS, the Town Council has reviewed the 2025 Preferred Alternative;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Council recommends that the Transportation Advisory Committee approve the 2025 Preferred Alternative with the following comments:
1. Transit improvements, including improvements to local transit service and implementation of fixed guideway systems, should be implemented prior to pursuing roadway expansions, especially in the US 15-501 and Fordham Boulevard corridors.
2. The Northeast/Northwest Loop in Durham should be removed from the Plan.
This the _____ day of __________, 2002.