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ORANGE COUNTY PLANNItiG DEPARTMENT <br />306F REVERE ROAD 4b <br />HILLSBOROUGH, NORTH CAROLINA 27278 <br />NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON <br />THE FEASIBILITY OF WIDENING N.C. HIGHWAY 54 <br />IN THE RURAL PORTIONS OF ORANGE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA <br />Pursuant to the direction of the Orange County Board of <br />Commissioners, notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be <br />held in the District Courtroom of the Old Chapel Hill Post Office, <br />Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on Tuesday, January <br />22, 1991, at 7:30 p.m. for the purpose of giving all interested <br />citizens an opportunity to comment on the following matter: <br />FEASIBILITY STUDY - N.G. HIGHWAY 54 WIDENING PROJECT <br />The N.C. Department of Transportation ( NCDOT) has prepared a <br />study regarding the feasibility of widening a 20 -mile section of <br />N.C. Highway 54 from I- 40/I -85 in Burlington to the N.C. Highway 54 <br />Bypass in Carrboro and Chapel Hill. Although the project is <br />included in the 1990 -1996 N.C. Transportation Improvement Program <br />for study, it is not currently funded for right -of -way acquisition <br />and construction. NCDOT has circulated the feasibility study and <br />asked for comments on the project. <br />According to NCDOT, N.C. 54 is classified as a minor arterial <br />on the County Functional Classification Plan. In the Orange County <br />Transportation Plan, N.C. 54 is classified as a principal arterial <br />on the rural portion and as a major thoroughfare on the urban <br />(Chapel Hill) portion. <br />The existing N.C. 54 is a two -lane, 24 -foot paved road with <br />12 --foot shoulders, located in a 120 -foot right -of -way. A four-foot <br />section of the shoulders on either side is paved. The existing <br />speed limit in the rural portions of Orange County is 55 mph. The <br />volume of traffic using the route ranges from 6,000 vehicles per <br />day (vpd) at the Orange County line to 13,000 vpd near Carrboro. <br />Volumes are expected to increase to 12,000 - 17,000 vpd by 2010. The <br />capacity of the existing road is 5,000 vpd. <br />The proposed project is divided into three sections: A, B, and <br />C. Section C comprises the majority of the Orange County portion, <br />extending eight miles from Stanford Road (SR 1100) to the Carrboro- <br />Chapel Hill Bypass. The total cost of Section C is $20.8 million, <br />with $8.8 million earmarked for actual construction. The remaining <br />funds would be used for right -of -way acquisition and relocation <br />expenses. <br />