OUTBoard minutes 021617 - Laserfiche WebLink

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157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 Approved 3/1/17 added that he included some basic history of the congestion on Churton Street, along with numerous proposals for bypasses that were shot down in the Board's packets to give a better idea of what has been tried and why they were unsuccessful. Alex Castro had concerns with all the new developments that are only going to make traffic worse. Heidi Perry stated that she thinks the Orange Grove Road extension will help but doesn't think the added lanes are needed. Max Bushell also informed the Board that the intersection improvement and the extension will happen first and that the widening of Churton Street has fallen off the process and will not be funded. He added that that's a decision that will come back before the Board again if they want to add that to the DCHC MPO projects. Jenn Sykes also had concerns in regard to doing work on both ends and nothing in between. Alex Castro added the concern of the road not being compatible with BRT operation with the way it is. Alex Castro also spoke about the lack of incentive for people to carpool, and thinks there should be more local incentive and have it advertised appropriately so that people are away of those incentives. Max Bushell informed the Board that Duke, UNC, and Go Triangle offer similar incentives, but it's just now commonly known. Heidi Perry suggested having a separated bike path instead of widening the road for a bike path because it's not an ideal road for a bike path due to it being narrow and winding. She also added that with the school, and parks along that area a separated bike path would be a great economic development tool for tourism. Her second suggestion was that adding capacity with the four lanes is only going to make the congestion worse. She decided to send a private letter to the BOCC in regard to that concern. Max Bushell stated that he would add it as well. Alex Castro asked if they had calculated the anticipated traffic density as a change, if they took into account all the new developments that were coming, and if they were accurate. Max Bushell answer that yes; they go through a very vigorous and detailed process to get those calculations and he believes they are more accurate that ones that were done in the past as they are using newer tools starting in 2012. Heidi Perry asked if they looked at the decrease in the number of the amount of car ownership among millennials. Max Bushell confirmed that they do try to include some element of that in the scenario planning. Jenn Sykes asked about minimizing traffic through the middle of downtown by going to the south and around; getting off 40 and going down Oakdale, hitting Orange Grove and using that to get to other parts of downtown. She added that that's the area to look into building out and looking for paths through those residential areas. Max Bushell replied that he thinks there was a western bypass considered in that region that was shot down because of the critical watershed and possibly neighborhood opposition. Jenn also added that the neighborhoods dead end but they could build a connector through someone's property. Max Bushell concluded his presentation with a few more information items, and asked everybody to send him their comments and feedback. He also informed everybody about the public open house at the Orange Public Library on February 16 from 5:30 -7:30. AGENDA ITEM 7: BOARD COMMENTS There was discussion about moving the meeting date in March. No date was set. AGENDA ITEM 8: ADJOURNMENT OUTBoard meeting was adjourned by consensus. Heidi Perry, Chair