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8 <br />ORANGE COUNTY UNIFIED TRANSPORTATION BOARD <br />COMMENTS REGARDING THE <br />DRAFT 2007 -2013 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM <br />The Orange Unified Transportation Board (OUTBoard) is concerned that many <br />transportation projects programmed in the Draft 2007-2013 Transportation <br />Improvement Program (TIP) have been delayed from the programmed schedules in <br />previous TIPs. The OUTBoard acknowledges that cuts in appropriated federal <br />transportation funds to North Carolina coupled with the rapid increase in construction <br />costs necessitate some delays. However, the board notes that the Draft 2007-2013 TIP <br />delays most Orange County projects that are funded in the current 2006-2012 TIP. <br />The OUTBoard would also like to comment on two projects proposed in Orange <br />County's Priority List for the 2007-2013 TIP. The first project is within the Durham- <br />Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Area Boundary (MAB) and is included in the Draft <br />2007-2013 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP). The second <br />project is a bicycle project outside the MAB. The OUTBoard requests that: <br />The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) proceed without delay <br />to execute a feasibility study for TIP Project E-4980 to construct a pedestrian bridge <br />on Orange Grove Road over I-40. The existing bridge over I-40 is too narrow <br />to accommodate a pedestrian walkway. The Orange County Priority List for <br />the 2007-2013 TIP lists this project as it number 1 priority and the project is also <br />listed as number one on the DCHC MPO Regional Priority List for Division 7 <br />Ranking by Local Priorities. The Orange County Schools' Transportation <br />Information Management System Data Coordinator calculates there are currently <br />131 students at Grady Brown Elementary and Cedar Ridge High School that live <br />within aone-mile drive of the schools that live east of the I-40 overpass and there <br />are 238 students that live within one-mile radius east of I-40. School enrollment <br />from this area is expected to increase as recent residential developments on <br />Oakdale Drive and Orange Grove Road become fully settled. Also, many residents <br />living in this vicinity on the west side of I-40 walk or bicycle along Orange Grove <br />Road to access commercial areas on South Churton Street, which are a little over <br />1.25 miles and 1.5 miles .from Orange Grove Road west of the bridge over I-40. <br />2. The NCDOT Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation consider funding for <br />paved shoulders along Dairyland Road to accommodate bicycle traffic from Union <br />Grove Church Road (SR 1111) to Orange Grove Road (SR 1006). This area <br />experiences high levels of bicycle traffic from Carrboro and Chapel Hill to rural <br />routes. This route is a portion of the number 3 priority listed in Orange County's <br />Priority List for the 2007-2013 TIP for projects outside the MAB. The entire project <br />would connect the urbanized areas of Carrboro and Chapel Hill to Efland and <br />Mebane via Dairyland Road, Orange Grove Road, and Buckhorn Road. The portion <br />from Union Grove Church Road to Orange Grove Road is part of a loop that, along <br />with Old NC 86, has been proposed as a North Carolina Scenic Corridor. <br />