Agenda - 05-15-1990 (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

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� r I•F areas of the County as evidenced in the Highway Classification System Map. Major roads throughout the County provide access to and link the rural areas of the County with the Towns of Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro. The newly - completed Interstate 40, NC 86 and SR 1009 (Old NC 86) link Hillsborough with the Chapel Hill- Carrboro urbanizing area. In addition to providing intra- county service, inter - county service linking Orange County residential areas with employment centers in Durham, Research Triangle Park and Raleigh is facilitated along I--40, US 15/501, NC 54, NC 1737 (Erwin Road) and NC 1718 (Mt. Sinai Road). As Orange County is characterized by a negative net commutation pattern, with Orange County residents employed outside the County numbering more than non - residents employed in Orange County, the adequacy of the road network providing access to these employment centers is particularly important. In turn, the existing road network influences and encourages residential /workplace dispersion, both within Orange County and between Orange County and adjacent counties containing important employment centers, by facilitating such commutation patterns. Already, Interstate 40 has significantly impacted the existing traffic patterns by providing greater access to major traffic generators and encouraging potential development in areas adjacent to the route. The relationship between residential and commercial uses throughout the County is a bit more problematic, particularly in the fringe areas just outside the urban and urbanizing portion of the County along heavily-traveled-roads. These roads are subject to the sprawl of commercial activities in an unsightly manner along long stretches of the road. In rural areas, however, the provision of commercial activities in appropriate locations to serve the needs of local residents is important to satisfy quality of life concerns and minimize the adverse effects of the relative isolation of these residents from major population centers in the County. The goals and policies of the Orange County Land Use Element seek to focus commercial activities in a concentrated manner at and near the intersections of important highways and roads, thereby providing for the needs of the local residents and minimizing the inconvenient, land consuming and unsightly sprawl of such uses along the transportation system. Certain important intersections in the County have been designated activity nodes at which non - residential development of various types and varying levels of intensity would be permitted within a given distance of the intersection. In essence, the transportation system would serve to provide good access to these activities and would support the land use policies directed at achieving the pattern of development desired in the County. ORANGE COUNTY HIGHWAY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM In order to' assess the capacity of the existing transportation system to accommodate existing and future land use in term of access and mobility, a highway classification system is required. The highway classification system describes the roads comprising the transportatio network by a functional hierarchy; that is, the level of service provided. in the classification, the higher the road classification, the greater the access provided to land uses; the lower the road 2.6 -2