AGENDA #7
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro 2025 Regional Transportation Plan Preferred Alternative
DATE: December 9, 2002
The attached resolution A would provide final comments and recommendations to the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee concerning the 2025 Regional Transportation Plan Preferred Alternative.
Resolution B would include an additional recommendation removing the designation of a high capacity transit corridor through the Chapel Hill Historic District.
BACKGROUND
On November 25, 2002, the Council held a Public Forum on the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro 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 has 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 will result in the determination that the Urban Area’s air quality conformity has lapsed. During the period of lapse, federal Transportation agencies cannot approve new grant funding for highway or public transit projects within 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.
KEY ISSUES
There were several comments and questions from Council members and citizens at the November 25, 2002 Public Forum. We have addressed below those comments and questions. An email comment was received by the Town and is attached (Attachment 2).
Financial Projections
A question was raised concerning the language on page 7 of the 2025 Plan suggesting that shortfalls in anticipated funding would be primarily from transit revenues.
Comment: Federal guidelines allow that a portion of transportation funds, such as the Surface Transportation Program, which traditionally have been used in North Carolina for roadway projects, can be used for public transit, bicycle or pedestrian improvements. We suggest that the following sentence be added to Section 3.1:
“Federal regulations allow the use of the Surface Transportation Program and Congestion Management Air Quality funds for public transit projects. While the Plan includes these anticipated revenues in the Highway category, they could be utilized for public transit projects.”
This language has been included in the attached resolutions.
Chapel Hill Historic District
Several questions were raised concerning the potential impact of the implementation of a high capacity transit corridor along Cameron Avenue in the Historic District.
Comment: The inclusion of a high capacity transit corridor connecting the University campus, Carrboro and the Horace Williams property, using Cameron Avenue, reflects the need to accommodate future travel demand between those destinations.
The implementation of any of the high capacity or fixed guideway transit corridors included in the 2025 Plan, including the corridor along Cameron Avenue, would require additional study and analysis. The federal environmental regulations for securing funding of transit capital projects require that impacts on historic districts be fully evaluated and minimized.
We note that the inclusion of a high capacity transit corridor in the 2025 Plan is not intended to designate a specific alignment. The specific alignment for a high capacity transit connection between the Horace Williams property and the University campus would be developed from more detailed environmental studies. We believe that there are transit technologies available, such as streetcars and fixed guideway buses, that might be implemented along the Cameron Avenue corridor within the existing roadway right- of- way.
In its September 9, 2002 comments to the Transportation Advisory Committee the Council recommended that the high capacity transit corridor between the University and the Horace Williams property should serve downtown Chapel Hill. One option for providing service to downtown Chapel Hill might be to utilize both Franklin Street and Cameron Avenue for the implementation of a high capacity transit corridor. Service along Franklin Street would be west bound, while the corridor would utilize Cameron Avenue for east bound service. This option would minimize the impacts along either roadway and would provide service to the Chapel Hill Downtown (Attachment 3).
The Historic District Commission has reviewed the proposed high capacity transit connection and recommended that it be included in the 2025 Plan. (Please see Historic District recommendation below.)
Adoption of Resolution A would include the proposed corridor, requesting the addition of Franklin Street to the possible alignment. Resolution B would offer language that recommends removing the corridor from Cameron Avenue and designating Franklin Street for the alignment.
Weaver Dairy Road and Fordham Boulevard
The 2025 Plan description of Weaver Dairy Road as a five lane cross-section and Fordham Boulevard as having six lanes between NC 54 and US 15-501 South prompted several comments from citizens and the Council.
Comment: We believe that roadway improvements included in the 2025 Plan will not be constructed unless they are included in the Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program for funding. The Town and the North Carolina Department of Transportation are now engaged in discussions about proposed improvements to Weaver Dairy Road. Given the Council’s support for an enhanced three lane configuration along Weaver Diary Road, we believe it would be appropriate to recommend that the 2025 Plan be revised to include a similar cross-section. We note that the projected 2025 daily traffic volumes support the inclusion of Weaver Dairy Road as a three lane facility. Resolutions A and B include a recommendation to include a three lane cross-section for Weaver Dairy Road in the Plan.
The 2025 Plan projects significant travel demand along the entire length of Fordham Boulevard, from Franklin Street to US 15-501 South, with the highest daily volumes projected in the section between US 15-501 South and NC 54. The travel demand model projects approximately 44,000 daily trips between US 15-501 South and Manning Drive and over 58,000 trips per day between Manning Drive and NC 54. The Council has recommended that transit, bicycle and pedestrian improvements should be implemented prior to the widening of roadways and we believe that such strategies should be fully implemented along Fordham Boulevard prior to any roadway widening. The attached resolutions include language to implement transit improvements first.
Northern Durham Parkway
A question was raised concerning the status of the proposed Northern Durham Parkway.
Comment: On October 30, 2002, the Council adopted a motion instructing Chapel Hill’s Transportation Advisory Committee representative to support the resolution adopted by the Orange County Commissioners opposing the inclusion of the Northeast/Northwest Loop in Durham. The Orange County Commissioners expressed concern that the proposed alignment of the Loop in Durham allowed for possible extension into Orange County.
Subsequently, the City of Durham and Durham County have clarified the proposed alignment of the Northern Durham Parkway. The alignment currently included in the 2025 Plan ends at Roxboro Road. We believe that the inclusion of an alignment for the Northern Durham Parkway terminating at Roxboro Road, along with assurances from both the City of Durham and Durham County that there are no plans to extend the alignment to the west would satisfy the Council’s concerns about the impact of this facility on Orange County.
The attached resolutions include a request to incorporate a statement into the 2025 Plan stating that the proposed alignment would end at Roxboro Road.
2025 Plan Report Inaccuracies
A Council member noted that the Planning Board had identified several inaccuracies in the tables included in the Plan.
Comment: We will forward the corrections to the regional transportation staff.
Schedule for Approval of 2025 Plan
A citizen raised a concern about the pace of review for the 2025 Plan, suggesting that the approval of the Preferred Alternative be delayed.
Comment: The Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Urban Area began the development of the 2025 Plan in 2000. The Urban Area has analyzed over 60 different Plan alternatives and has followed a process for providing the public with information on the Plan and opportunities for comment.
If the Plan is approved by the Transportation Advisory Committee on December 18, 2002, the Urban Area will still be unable to meet the February 28, 2003 air quality conformity deadline. We estimate that this will result in a 2-3 month lapse of federal air quality certification, resulting in the delay of the approval of new federal transportation projects. Any further delay in approving the 2025 Plan will result in a longer period of lapse which would have more widespread impacts, including the possible delay of federal funding to the Chapel Hill bus system.
ADVISORY BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS
Historic District Commission
The Historic District Commission voted 9-0 to recommend that the Council proceed with the long term study of public transportation through the Historic District as long as the Historic District Commission retains the authority to approve the congruity of the system (Attachment 4).
Transportation Board
The Transportation Board voted 7-0 to affirm their previous comments on the 2025 Plan, (Attachment 5).
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.
Comment: We believe that the Preferred Alternative incorporates the Transportation Board’s concerns. Resolution A offers language that would reflect the Council’s most recent discussions regarding Weaver Dairy Road. We note that while the Alternative includes assumptions about improvements to other Town roads, we believe the final determination of the roadway improvements will be the result of negotiations between the North Carolina Department of Transportation and the Town.
Planning Board
The Planning Board voted 10-0 to adopt a resolution (Attachment 6) supporting the 2025 Plan and identifying several additional comments. We have included those comments below that have not been incorporated into the attached Resolutions A and B.
· 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.
· That the improvements of the unpaved western portion of Pickett Road be considered for inclusion in the Plan.
Comment: We believe that there is no clear consensus on the degree to which the vehicle registration fee is regressive. We note that the vehicle registration fee is currently used as the primary source of local funding for the Triangle Transit Authority.
If the Council wishes to include a recommendation on use of the vehicle registration fee we offer the following language that could be added to the resolutions:
“The proposed increases in the vehicle registration fees are regressive and should be minimized as a source of revenue in the 2025 Plan.”
Pickett Road in not within the Chapel Hill planning jurisdiction and does not impact the Town’s transportation network. We have not included comments on the status of Pickett Road in the attached comments.
NEXT STEPS
The Transportation Advisory Committee is scheduled to consider approving the 2025 Preferred Alternative on December 18, 2002. If 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.
The Urban Area’s air quality conformity certification will lapse on February 28, 2003. Failure to adopt a final Plan by that time will result in the determination that the Urban Area’s air quality conformity has lapsed. During the period of lapse, federal Transportation agencies cannot approve new grant funding for highway or public transit projects within the Urban Area.
RECOMMENDATION
Manager’s Recommendation: That the Council adopt Resolution A, endorsing the 2025 Preferred Alternative and providing the Transportation Advisory Committee with the following recommendations:
“Federal regulations allow the use of the Surface Transportation Program and Congestion Management Air Quality funds for public transit projects. While the Plan includes these anticipated revenues in the Highway category, they could be utilized for public transit projects.”
Resolution B would approve the same comments but revise #3 to include a recommendation that the high capacity transit corridor proposed along Cameron Avenue be modified to use Franklin Street as an alignment.
ATTACHMENTS
RESOLUTION A
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 (2002-12-09/R-11a)
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:
“Federal regulations allow the use of the Surface Transportation Program and Congestion Management Air Quality funds for public transit projects. While the Plan includes these anticipated revenues in the Highway category, they could be utilized for public transit projects.”
This the 9th day of December, 2002.
RESOLUTION B
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 (2002-12-09/R-11b)
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:
“Federal regulations allow the use of the Surface Transportation Program and Congestion Management Air Quality funds for public transit projects. While the Plan includes these anticipated revenues in the Highway category, they could be utilized for public transit projects.”
This the 9th day of December, 2002.