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WHEREAS, The Orange County Disability Awareness Council works to promote <br />opportunities for disabled citizens to work and live in an environment free of <br />barriers imposed by architecture, attitude, andlor lack of opportunity, and <br />WHEREAS, Orange County is proud to be a participant in the American Disability Act <br />{ADA} which will celebrate its tenth anniversary this year. <br />NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF <br />COMMISSIONERS do hereby proclaim May 1-5, 2000 as <br />DISABILITY AWARENESS WEEK <br />in Orange County and urge our citizens to became more aware of the needs, capabilities and <br />hopes of people with disabilities. <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />6. SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS -NONE <br />7. PUBLIC HEARINGS <br />a. Proposed NCDOT 2000-2001 Secondary Road Improvements Program <br />The Board will receive citizen comments on the proposed N.C. Department of <br />Transportation 2000-2001 Secondary Road Improvement Program. <br />John Link made reference to a letter received from Mr. Mills addressing three items that <br />the Commissioners requested -the study conducted by Professor Hartgen of UNC-Charlotte that <br />related that Orange County's roads were in poor condition compared to other counties, the <br />maintenance andlor improvements to US 70, and the process in determining how to remove snow <br />in inclement weather. <br />Mike Mills, NCDOT Division Engineer, presented the Secondary Road Improvement <br />Program as included in the agenda. He said that this year's program would not use any bond <br />funds because those funds are finished. He read the list of roads that are planned to be in the <br />Secondary Road Improvements Program for 2000-2001. The total rural road miles for 2000-2001 <br />is 8.95 miles. The total miles for subdivision residential roads is .87 miles. He said that if there is a <br />right-of-way problem, the roads move dawn on the priority list. <br />Mike Mills made reference to a report done by David Hartgen, a Charlotte UNC <br />professor, an the road conditions in North Carolina. He said that the report does show some of the <br />weaknesses in the road system. He questioned the way the professor did the ranking of the <br />pavement conditions. He said that the professor only compared the poor roads in Orange County, <br />and he did not compare the entire road system. He said that the professor only used a rating of 50 <br />and below, and NCDOT considers resurfacing a road when the rating goes below 70. The <br />professor also compared Orange County's roads to an 11-foot lane width and an 11-foot shoulder. <br />Mr. Mills said that this width of road is almost the width of one lane of I-85. Mast of the secondary <br />roads in Orange County have 10-foot lanes and 6-8 foot shoulders, which is more than adequate. <br />He said that this report did not present a clear picture of the road conditions in North Carolina. <br />Mike Mills explained how the roads are rated every two years by NCDOT. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis asked about the determination of the shoulder and if grass <br />constitutes a shoulder and Mr. Mills said yes. Commissioner Halkiotis said that there were a lot of <br />ditches that were two feet off the pavement. <br />Mike Mills said that NCDOT tries to accommodate the property owners on the road in <br />regards to the shoulder width. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to the condition of US 70 from the Durham <br />County line to Hillsborough. He said that there was a tremendous increase in truck traffic in this <br />area since Hillsborough has diverted the trucks from Churton Street to US 70 and NC 86 North. <br />He said that the road has suffered from the trucks being an the road. He mentioned the citizen that <br />