Minutes 02-23-2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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11 Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) with Right of Way scheduled in 2020 and construction in 2023. The rail station remains a committed funded project. There are some studies and computer modelling requested by Norfolk Southern and the NC railroad whenever a new passenger station is proposed to determine the potential impacts on freight. The timing and necessity of these studies has not yet been settled among all the parties. The NCDOT Rail staff have suggested that the two new incoming administrations at the state and federal level get settled in the first quarter of 2017 before any further forward motion on this project occurs. It is expected there will be a meeting with Rail Division staff in March to receive an update. b) Ped/Bike issues and strategies (Hillsborough connectivity plan**; sidewalks across jurisdictions*; bikeshare program; Mountains to Sea Trail connections*) The town's connectivity plan addresses bicycle, pedestrian, and transit improvements in town, along with other amenities in the public right of way. The document is a component of our comprehensive plan and is regularly updated. The bulk of this year's updates reflect the recent investments by the towns and others to improve walkability and connectivity in town. The recommended improvements focus on high traffic areas where safety is a concern for mixed modal travel. The town's development code refers to this plan in requiring developers to construct sidewalks. The updated plan is approximately 100 pages long. The document begins on page 34 of this linked plan set (the first 33 pages are pans for Collins Ridge) https://www.hillsboroughnc.gov/media/plans/planning-board-plans-1-19-2017.pdf Commissioner McKee said part of the expanded GoTriangle plan efforts have included the Orange-Durham/Mebane-Durham route and 35,000 additional bus use hours. He said he has seen recently that 25,000 hours of that plan had already been implemented or committed. He asked Craig Benedict if that number is valid. He said he is concerned that many total hours have already been used or committed, because it leaves little for the County. He said he does not know from where funding would come. Craig Benedict said the Orange County Bus Rail Investment Plan (BRIP), which was adopted in 2012, had a series of allocations for different modes of transit: the Amtrak station; bus rapid transit (BRT) in the MLK corridor; light rail (LRT) between Chapel Hill and Durham; and 35,000 hours of bus service to be divided between Chapel Hill Transit, GoTriangle and Orange Public Transportation (OPT). He said of the 34,000 hours, some was to support existing service while roughly 28,000 hours were to support new service. He said GoTriangle has been the first to implement all of their allotted hours. He said Chapel Hill is in the process of implementing their hours, as are OPT with their roughly 6,000 hours. He said the question has pertinence now because those were the hours to be used until 2035. He said the BRIP is being updated currently, and GoTriangle is asking the County if it needs additional bus hours up to 2045. He said all staffs are meeting to discuss potential new needs. He said the new Orange County Transportation Administrator is involved in all these discussions. He said the County is trying to have complementary service to the GoTriangle ODX route, which runs from Mebane to Hillsborough to Durham. He said if there is interest in additional service to support central Orange, he encouraged people to speak to their Commissioners. He said there will be some sort of intergovernmental transit meeting in the next month or so.