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3 <br /> TO: Orange County Commissioners <br /> FROM: Chris Best, Chair, Transportation Advisory <br /> Subcommittee (TAS) <br /> DATE: March 15, 1989 <br /> SUBJECT: ORANGE COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE TRANSPORTATION PLAN <br /> As Chair of the TAS, I appreciated the discussion the <br /> proposed Transportation Plan received at the Commissioner's <br /> meeting on march 13. Your final decision on the contract for <br /> consultant services is scheduled for March 21. I hope at <br /> that time the subcommittee and the Planning Department can <br /> proceed with Kimley-Horn to accomplish the tasks outlined in <br /> Phase 1 of the study. <br /> I want to avoid writing a term paper on the subject of <br /> 'Transportation Planning and Its Importance to Orange <br /> County, ' but I would like to summarize a little on the <br /> history and need for such a plan. <br /> When the Land Use Plan was adopted by the Commissioners in <br /> September 1981, the Transportation Section of the Plan began <br /> with, "While providing a vital service function, the means <br /> and manner by which people and goods are transported <br /> influences the physical development pattern throughout Orange <br /> County. " Realizing that traffic movement and land service <br /> are potentially incompatible functions, it is important as a <br /> planning tool to balance the two functions through an <br /> • integrated, well designed transportation system. <br /> In January 1986, as an ongoing effort to predict the <br /> • transportation needs for a growing county, the Planning Board <br /> passed a resolution requesting that the Commissioners ask <br /> that the Planning and Research Branch of NCDOT design a <br /> throroughfare plan for Orange County. A draft of that plan <br /> which covers existing roads and defines present service <br /> levels has been done. <br /> Now, the Commissioners have set as a major objective in the <br /> approved County budget for FY 1988-89, the completion of the <br /> transportation Element of the Orange County Comprehensive <br /> Plan. The Planning Department is charged with the <br /> responsibility of completing this element of the <br /> Comprehensive Plan, and Kimley-Horn of Raleigh, North <br /> Carolina has been selected to coordinate and complete the <br /> project. Kimley-Horn brings to Orange County a <br /> specialization in transportation planning as well as a <br /> familiarization with NCDOT and other state transportation <br /> policies and programs. <br />