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6 NC 54 / 1-40 CORRIDOR STUDY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY These outreach activities were augmented through use of a project web site (http:Z/www.nc54- i4ocorridyrstudy.c 1) to share information and provide additional opportunities for the community to review materials and weigh in with ideas or issues of concern. The DCHC MPO staff and consultant team also met informally with various individuals and groups throughout the study. The recommendations contained in this report are a direct reflection of the input provided over the year-long public engagement i process. Vision for the Corridor Through the study process, analysis and broad-based. feedback, a vision emerged for a regionally significant multimodal corridor that serves both regional and local travel through an expanded and more efficient network of streets, bus routes, bicycle facilities and pedestrian enhancements. The integrated land use and transportation vision is to promote community livability by guiding future development into targeted mixed-use areas to reduce trip lengths, enable greater use of non-auto travel options and provide location-efficient choices for housing and transportation. These areas are within 3/4 to 1/2 mile of the four planned light rail stations in the corridor. This will effectively support the investment in rail passenger service that will strengthen regional and local travel options between the UNC campus, Orange County, Durham County and elsewhere in the Triangle Region. Over time, the centers help transform the corridor from a drive-by strip into highly accessible, well-connected places that function as vibrant focal points serving local and regional needs. Land Use Strategy Figure ES-1 presents the recommended nodal development vision for the corridor. This land use- transportation blueprint embraces livability principles that provide more transportation choices, promote equitable, affordable housing through location and energy-efficiency, enhance economic competitiveness through reliable and timely access to employment, educational opportunities and services, and by supporting existing communities through transit-oriented, mixed-use development that will help safeguard existing neighborhoods and preserve rural landscapes. Table ES-1 shows the recommended height and density targets for the nodal development plan, which provides the compact, mixed-use framework necessary to create a series of vibrant walking districts that enables reliance primarily on non-auto travel modes as they approach build-out of the development program. The density minimum and maximum thresholds identified in the table provide a targeted range that allows some flexibility and variation along the corridor, and the upper limit does not have to be achieved to make the transit-oriented development work effectively. There is no one-size-fits-a,11 approach, but having good jobs-housing balance and sufficient numbers of households in the '/4 mile core radius from the station have proven to be essential to strong transit ridership elsewhere in the country, particularly from those who can access the station by walking and bicycling. The creation of highly developed mixed-use centers can help mitigate automobile travel demand by creating an environment where walking and access to transit is the priority. It also provides a mechanism to advance transportation funding opportunities that are unlikely to be available with the status quo or trend development pattern. For instance, allowing more dense development in the core and immediately adjacent areas of planned light rail stations to create mixed-use "nodes" along the corridor provides the incentive to obtain mitigation funding from future development to advance funding for the roadway improvements that eventually will be needed in the corridor even without the development. This is because AUGUST 2010 —DRAFT FINAL REPORT 3