Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
6 <br />6. The September 3, 2010 report (page 5) from TTA notes that Leigh Village <br />representatives `have indicated a willingness to accommodate park and ride' of <br />an amount mentioned previously, 3500 spaces. This is no longer the case <br />(suggested at 500 parking spaces) and therefore LRT and park and ride would <br />not serve the high traffic flow along the NC 54 corridor. <br />7. Park and ride opportunities are reported to be difficult in the NC 54/I-40 region <br />(now and in the future; page 5 -September 30, 2010 TTA Report), however, due <br />to the unserved direction of fixed route to the RTP area, vehicles will need park <br />and ride to switch to LRT or BRT. This need is noted in the NC 54 corridor study. <br />8. Right-of-Way Availability, (page 7 -September 30, 2010 TTA Report), notes that <br />alignment right-of-way has been `preserved' at `possibly no cost' in the C-1 <br />alignment. That may be true for the area in Meadowmont but not along the <br />majority of the route including the traverse of federal environmental lands. <br />9. Since the New Starts application is a six-month process for its first submittal and <br />decisions about `final' alignment may still be 3 to 4 years out, could 15-501 be <br />offered as a preferred alignment since it is within the study area of the AA? <br />BRT/LRT DECISIONS <br />If it is decided that fixed route (LRT or BRT) would better serve Orange County <br />and its connection to Durham County via the 15-501 corridor as a complement <br />and/or a supplement to the NC 54 corridor, what process is suggested? <br />2. BRT cost estimates for the Durham-Orange Route appear to be about 55 million <br />a mile vs. 81.2 million a mile for LRT. Although the BRT cost is 31 % lower, <br />Federal Transit Administration (FTA) study of 2001 (and 2009) and US General <br />Accounting Office (GAO) of June 2003 report that BRT is typically $13.5 million <br />for dedicated bus way and $9.0 million for use with high occupancy vehicle lanes. <br />Could BRT routing be designed in such a way to reduce capital costs, and <br />thereby allowing multiple BRT links in 2-3 corridors as noted previously? <br />3. Assuming revenues of approximately $5 million per year from'h cent sales tax <br />and $700k from vehicle registration fees and on the expenditure side, $4.9 million <br />for bus hours countywide, how will Orange County accumulate $82.5 million for <br />LRT within the timeframe proposed? That represents only approximately $1 <br />million per year after expenditures to "save" for LRT or BRT. <br />Page 4 of 5 <br />