Agenda - 05-19-1987 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The thoroughfare planning process began in Chapel Hill and Carrboro in the early 1960's. A plan was adopted in 1965 and revised in 1968. After a number of unsuccessful attempts to update that plan, in 1979, the two Towns entered into an agreement with NCDOT to take the lead role in developing an updated thoroughfare plan for the community. This effort was concluded by the mutual adoption of a new thoroughfare plan in 1984. Mandate of 1980 Census The 1980 Census showed that Durham and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area had grown into one large urban area based on population density and proximity of develop- ment. As such, the Bureau of the Census declared that Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and parts of southern Orange County were part of the Durham Urbanized Area (UZA). This designation invoked the requirement that the all transportation planning should be carried on for the entire urban area. This required that the TAC and TCC be expanded to include representatives from Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Orange County. The reason behind the expansion of the transportation planning process to include the entire urban area defined by the census was logical. Many thousands of daily trips were made between the cities, and Chapel Hill and Durham were rapidly growing together. The mandate for joint cooperation presented a challange, however, since a new Memorandum of Understanding was necessary to establish membership and voting rights of the jurisdictions represented on the committees. The new Memorandum was adopted in 1983. The Current Study The current study has been developed as a joint effort of the staffs of NCDOT and the five local jurisdictions in the urban area within the framework of the TCC. The TAC has provided input and direction to the process by reviewing land use and population data collection efforts and future projections, forecasts of travel demand, and the deficiency analysis. The area included in this study covers most of Durham and Orange Counties and portions of Chatham and Wake Counties. The Research Triangle Park and RDU Airport are included in this large area. The study area extends well beyond the boundaries of the Urban Area in order to include areas of future growth. The study began in 1985 with the collection of housing and employment information for each of the 600 traffic zones in the study area. These data was used in developing the computer model of existing traffic on the existing street system. Projections of future population and employment applied to this model generates future traffic volumes. Projections for 2000 and .2010 were made as target dates for this study. This process will be described in detail later in this report. 1.2