Agenda - 06-07-2016 - 5-a - Minutes

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12 1 2 Potential Outcomes of BRT Investment 3 4 Benefits of North-South Corridor BRT 5 • provides regional connections 6 • improves reliability of the whole system 7 • Reduces CHT fleet age 8 • Funds bikes/pedestrian investments 9 • Designed for expansion 10 11 Without BRT Investment in the North-South Corridor... 12 • Transit trips will take up to 9 minutes longer— and will likely get worse as congestion 13 increases 14 • Traffic congestion will increase — driving through the corridor will take longer 15 • Buses will become more crowded and less reliable as they're stuck in traffic 16 • Additional parking spaces will be necessary throughout the corridor 17 • Development patterns will be less transit-supportive 18 19 Chapel Hill Town Council Action 20 • On April 27th 2016 the Council adopted the North-South Corridor Study Locally Preferred 21 Alternative (LPA) as recommended by the Chapel Hill Transit Public Transit Committee 22 and the Study's Technical and Policy Committees, and authorized staff to submit the 23 LPA to the Durham — Chapel Hill — Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization 24 (DCHC). 25 26 Questions, Comments, Discussion 27 28 Commissioner Rich asked if dedicated lanes would use express buses, or buses with 29 stops. 30 Mila Vega said there could be both, but with a center lane, local service buses would 31 have to exit the center lane with more frequency. She said buses may require exit doors on 32 both sides as well. She said there are trade offs with each option. 33 Commissioner Price asked if the expanded roadway will require the purchasing of 34 easements. 35 Mila Vega said each intersection will need to be confirmed, but it does not seem that 36 additional right of ways will be needed. She said some of the options considered before did not 37 include connection to the hospital or the light rail; however, these connections will now exist due 38 to overwhelming feedback from stakeholders. 39 Chair McKee referred to a bottleneck area in downtown Chapel Hill and asked if any 40 thought has been given to acquiring more rights of way. 41 Mila Vega said downtown is tight, and there is little right of way left to acquire without 42 knocking down buildings, which would be very unpopular. 43 Chair McKee said downtown always has a bottleneck, not just during peak hours. 44 Commissioner Jacobs said if he was part of the decision-making group, he would 45 advocate seeking funding for a change in the signalization system. He said this would allow 46 flexibility to change the traffic signal patterns during peak hours. He said he has been surprised 47 over the years that Chapel Hill has done so little to anticipate traffic patterns during peak times, 48 such as football games, etc. 49 Mila said she is not an expert on signals, but she will refer the suggestion to the 50 consulting team.