Agenda - 05-05-2016 - 5-g - Resolution to Endorse Orange County’s Priority Transportation Project Lists for the DCHC MPO, TARPO, and B-G MPO

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3 be submitted to the respective MPO/RPO to conduct their internal prioritization process and will then be submitted back to NCDOT for funding consideration. MPO/RPO Prioritization Process The procedure for prioritizing projects using local input at the MPO/RPO level is different for each of the three MPO/RPO organizations in Orange County. However, each organization takes the likelihood of receiving funding into account (consideration of historic funding levels, amount of current funding available, etc.) and includes some measure of local goals and priorities. Additionally, coordination with the NCDOT Division Engineers is paramount in determining that projects are broadly supported by both the public and the Division. This will help ensure that projects have the highest likelihood of receiving funding. Staff Project Ranking Process History The starting point for staff in generating these lists at the beginning of the SPOT P4.0 process in Spring 2015 was to carry forward those projects submitted as the County's project priorities to all three transportation planning organizations in the 2013 iteration of the SPOT Prioritization process (P3.0) and add new projects based on public input. For the DCHC MPO, a total of nine (9) highway projects and eight (8) bicycle and pedestrian projects were submitted to DCHC for consideration, as recommended by the OUTBoard and BOCC in May and June of 2015. DCHC, in taking the County, municipality, and division input into account, ultimately submitted 14 projects to SPOT P4.0 that fall within the Orange County jurisdiction of the MPO, of which six (6) are related to interstate improvements. Seven (7) of the projects that were endorsed by the BOCC at the June 2, 2015 meeting were not carried forward due primarily to the need for a 20 percent local match, but also for their low scores in the prioritization tool and the large number of other eligible pedestrian and bicycle projects in the DCHC MPO jurisdiction. These projects are listed below. 1) Eubanks Road bike lane installation 2) Mt. Carmel Church Road Bike/Pedestrian Improvements 3) Orange High School Road/Harold Latta Road Sidewalk Improvements 4) Orange Grove Road/I-40 Pedestrian Bridge and Supporting Sidewalk Improvements 5) Dairyland Road paved shoulders 6) Trail Connection from English Hill Lane to Buttonwood Drive 7) Trail Connection from Patriots Pointe to Timbers Drive For TARPO, the OUTBoard and BOCC approved nine (9) projects in all modes in the TARPO jurisdiction of Orange County for ranking and submission to the SPOT P4.0 process. Following the internal TARPO process, the list was reduced to eight (8) projects, with the deletion of the Buckhorn Road (SR 1114) Widening project. That project is included with the B-G MPO list. Segments of NC 54 account for four (4) of the projects. It is important to note that NC 54 was split into multiple projects and submitted to the SPOT P4.0 process as both a widening project as well as an operational improvement project. This was the result of extensive discussions between Orange County, NCDOT Division 7, TARPO, and the Town of Carrboro and allows for the evaluation of the scoring of both potential options by TARPO staff. The projects that were not carried forward in the TARPO process are listed below. 1) Orange Grove Road Paved Shoulders (From NC 54 to Arthur Minnis Road)