Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
4 <br />Update on Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Grant Agreement <br />• Operating Assistance for Proposed Intra-Hillsborough Public <br />Transit Route <br />• Capital Expenses for DTCC Orange Campus Park and Ride Lot <br />BACKGROUND <br />In May 2009, the Orange Bounty Board of Commissioners (BOCC) approved a resolution <br />endorsing a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) grant agreement with the North <br />Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT). The agreement includes three years <br />operating assistance for a new Orange Public Transportation (OPT) intra-Hillsborough transit <br />route that provides a connection to the park/ride lot at the Durham Technical Community <br />College (DTCC) Orange Campus to the Justice Complex in downtown Hillsborough. The <br />agreement allows the County to be reimbursed up to $130,680 per year at 80% share to <br />operate the new proposed public route, beginning July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2013. (See Chart) <br />Orange County applied for the CMAQ grant in 2004 and the Town of Hillsborough provided a <br />resolution supporting the County's application. Since then, Triangle Transit (TT) has taken over <br />the successful OPT general public route between Hillsborough and Chapel Hill, TT Route 420. <br />The 420 route is configured for express commuter service with stops at the DTCC park/ride lot <br />and the Justice complex in downtown Hillsborough. To enable acceptable running time for the <br />commuter route between the two towns, some low-income areas previously served by the old <br />OPT route are no longer served. <br />Staff from OPT, Orange County Planning and the Town of Hillsborough have worked together <br />to develop a new public route that would provide service primarily within the Town of <br />Hillsborough and connect with the 420 public route at the DTCC park/ride lot. <br />OPT has developed a business plan (attached showing the route design, projected rider-ship, <br />marketing, operating specifics and financial resources needed to operate the service for the first <br />three years. After the first three years of CMAQ funding, the County would need to make <br />application for continued funding for transit operations under alternative Federal/State grant <br />programs; i.e., JARC <br />The proposed Intra-Hillsborough route will require a revision to the County's CMAQ grant <br />showing the air quality benefits of the newly proposed transit route. The CMAQ contract <br />agreement provides reimbursement of operating assistance with a requirement the transit route <br />remove an average 125 vehicles per day from downtown Hillsborough. Emissions reductions <br />would be calculated using the projected route rider-ship. <br />The existing CMAQ contract agreement would need to be amended to provide up to maximum <br />80% ($130,680/yr) of the operating expenses for the first three years. The following chart <br />illustrates the matching obligations (Local Share) and expenses eligible for reimbursement for <br />CMAQ funds (Federal share) for the first three years of projected operating expenses under: <br />1. The existing contract agreement, <br />