Minutes 02-23-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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downtown. The recommendations are different for each section. She said that they want to address congestion, but not at the expense of the vitality of downtown. The section between US 70 and Corbin Street is recommended to have a bus pull-off. Regarding the free-flowing right turn from Corbin Street onto Church Street is a little bit of a safety and speed issue. It is recommended to possibly have a roundabout there. This is an expensive option. There are also other widening and crosswalk recommendations throughout downtown. Margaret Hauth said that just today she received a funding table for these big ticket items. The two big-ticket items were in the $500-600,000 range and some of the projects were as small as $5-10,000. The Town Board will be reviewing these things at the next meeting. Commissioner Foushee arrived at 7:45:12 PM. Chair Pelissier made reference to the right-in and right-out on Margaret Lane from Churton Street and asked if the Sheriff had been contacted about this. John Roberts said that he spoke to the Sheriff, who said that he was not happy about putting a median across Margaret Lane because it would inhibit his deputies from making a left- hand turn out of Margaret Lane in an emergency. Commissioner Hemminger said that she liked the removal of some of the on-street parking. She said that she has concerns about a median on East Margaret Lane. Margaret Hauth said that the pedestrian signal would be kept at East Margaret Lane. Discussion ensued on how confusing the parking garage is next to the library regarding what is free and what is paid. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he is concerned that someone coming south on Churton Street who wanted to drop someone off at the courthouse would have difficulty. d) Update/Follow-up Discussion on Safe Routes to Schools Draft Action Plan Orange County received a Safe Routes to School Action Plan Service Award in July 2008 for planning assistance to prepare an Action Plan for Grady A. Brown Elementary School, Cameron Park Elementary School and C.W. Stanford Middle School. The North Carolina Department of Transportation, in 2009, contracted Greenways, Incorporated and Greene Transportation Solutions to work with County staff, local agency representatives, School Team leaders and principals of the three schools to identify non-motorized infrast~ucture improvements that enhance safety. An adopted plan will provide greater opportunities for Orange County and the Town of Hillsborough to obtain Safe Routes to School (SRTS) grant funds for the implementation of the Action Plan. A draft Plan has been completed, reviewed locally, and comments submitted to Greenways, Incorporated for inclusion in the final draft. Once a final draft has been completed and returned, Orange County Schools, Orange County, and the Town of Hillsborough will be asked to adopt the Plan. More information on this program is available at: http://www.ncdot.qov/proqrams/safetv/. Darcy Zorio, Transportation Planner, said that there is not a lot of update on this item. The final plan has not been received yet. e) Mobility Fund (ADDED) Eric Hallman said that there is a bottleneck when I-40 and I-85 narrow down from 6-8 lanes to 4 lanes in Orange County. This was discussed last year. It is in the Transportation Improvement Plan, but it competes with local road improvements. During the last MPO meeting, there was a call for projects for the Mobility Fund, which was set up about two years ago to create a separate pot of money that does not go through the individual DOT divisions