Minutes - 20091215 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Jacobs said that he understands why this is titled the way it is, but it is unfortunate that it is a negative statement. He thinks of it as the reallocation of funds to better address traffic flow in the Hillsborough area. He said that there are some simple improvements that could make a major difference. He thinks that Orange County needs to have a discussion about how it wants its traffic to flow instead of going along with what NCDOT has said. PUBLIC COMMENT: Jim Ray said that he has been involved in this issue for probably 25 years. He has been on three committees for the Town of Hillsborough. He read from his handout: "The purpose of the project is to reduce traffic congestion on Churton Street in the central business district in terms of traffic delay at intersections and travel time in the peak period and the peak direction. The traffic through the central business district of Hillsborough on Churton Street operates on congested conditions due to the limited lane capacity, lack of turn lanes, close spacing of traffic signals, and the presence of on-street parking. The congestion is most severe in the central business district on Churton Street between NC 86, US 70 Business south of the Eno River, and Tryon Street. The Churton Street intersection delay at Margaret Lane and King Street is expected to increase by over 700% compared to 2005 conditions and the delay at Tryon Street is expected to increase by over 4,000%. What this means for motorists is that it takes 6-8 minutes with 2005 conditions to drive 1.2 miles of Churton Street through downtown Hillsborough. The 1.2 miles is from 70 to where 70-A meets Churton Street. It is projected to take 36.8 minutes to travel the same distance in 2025 with the no-build conditions. The annual vehicle hours of delay along downtown Churton Street are projected to grow exponentially from about 163,200 hours in 2005 to 3,067,200 in 2025, for a 19-fold increase. This will require parallel congestion relief routes and other land use strategies to mitigate traffic conditions in Hillsborough." He said that Brady Road Extension would be a parallel route. Scott Ray said that when his father started with the Elizabeth Brady Road issue, he was born. Now his son is 8 and he hopes that he is not talking to the Board of County Commissioners in 25 years trying to figure out how to keep traffic off of Lawrence Road. He lives outside of Hillsborough and he is thrilled to hear that the County Commissioners are concerned about representing the County residents against Hillsborough's projects. He said that the EDD task force specifically recommended the three alignments of Elizabeth Brady Road in 2001 as the first, second, and third priorities. No-build was not one of the top three, and it was #6. He read some facts from the EDD task force recommendation: - First recommendation is Elizabeth Brady Road alignment 3 through Poplar Ridge - Second recommendation is Elizabeth Brady Road alignment 2, averting the race track - Third recommendation is original alignment. He said that he drove down Erwin Road today at 5:00 and he saw Hillsborough's future of bumper to bumper cars. He said that the no-build option did not address any environmental, cultural, or infrastructural impact by forcing ever increasing on roads never intended for the capacity. He said that because Hillsborough chose the no-build option, then Old NC 10, Lawrence Road, 70-A, Old Mountain Road, and West Hill Avenue will become de facto bypasses. He asked the Board of County Commissioners to vote against this resolution. Commissioner Gordon said that this issue has been discussed extensively. She asked the Board to look at the blue sheet from her with the revisions.