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18 <br />September 3, 2010 <br />TRIANGLE REGIONAL TRANSIT PROGRAM <br />Durham to Chapel Hill Corridor <br />Alignment West of I-40 <br />September 3, 2010 <br />BACKGROUND <br />At a meeting with Town of Chapel Hill and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill representatives on <br />July 27, 2010, the Town requested that additional alignments be considered for the Durham to Chapel <br />Hill fixed guideway transit corridor in the segment that is between the proposed Gateway station (in the <br />southwestern quadrant of the interchange of I-40 and US 15-501) and the junction of NC 54 and US 15- <br />501 (near the proposed Hamilton Road station), before continuing to the University of North Carolina at <br />Chapel Hill main campus. The 2035 DCHC MPO Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) shows the <br />alignment that was adopted by the MPO following a Major Investment Study (MIS) completed for the <br />corridor in 2001 (a Major Investment Study is now referred to as an Alternatives Analysis). The MPO <br />plan proposes light rail transit (LRT) as the preferred vehicle technology for the corridor. <br />The adopted and alternative alignments are shown in Figure 1. Commencing at the Gateway station, the <br />adopted alignment (Alignment 1) swings south roughly paralleling the west side of I-40, traverses the <br />proposed Leigh Village development in southwest Durham, then swings west to cross the US Corps land <br />(through a Natural Heritage Area), through Meadowmont, crosses NC 54 to serve the Friday Center, and <br />then continues west to terminate at the UNC Hospitals. <br />In addition, an alignment that closely parallels the NC 54 roadway corridor (Alignment 2) was also <br />proposed as an alternative to the adopted alignment to avoid the crossing of the Natural Heritage Area <br />by Alignment 1. This alignment is considered to be broadly within the adopted corridor in the LRTP. <br />Alignment 3 remains on US 15-501/US 15-501 Bypass (Fordham Boulevard) between the Gateway and <br />Hamilton Road stations and is outside of the adopted corridor. At its furthermost point, Alignment 3 is <br />approximately 2 %Z miles from the adopted alignment. The Town requested that Alignment 3 be <br />considered since (a) over 10 years has elapsed since the adopted alignment was initially selected, and <br />(b) redevelopment along the US 15-501 corridor within Chapel Hill has become a higher priority for the <br />Town. <br />1 <br />