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Approved 11/19/14 Chuck Edwards: That reflects in the list. Abigaile Pittman: The next topic on the agenda is a discussion of the status of any state discussions /projects related to the feasibility of using existing triangle region railway infrastructure for commuter rail purposes as part of a multi - modal transportation system. Ms. Pittman showed the Board a copy of the 2008 commuter rail capacity study done by HNTB. Chuck Edwards: I tried to get information about this topic before tonight's meeting and failed. Paul Guthrie: I was on the task force that looked at the Hillsborough Rail Station. There was a lot of conceptual planning about the railroad right -of -way. Is anyone paying attention to the fact that we have a 300 -foot right -of -way through the county that could be used for transportational purposes? Ed Lewis: I had an opportunity to attend the TSS (Traffic Separation Study) workshop. Paul Guthrie: At some level, this project is not going to move because you ask but for a lot of other reasons. As this position comes out, this could be a good time for an opportunity that this could become the key ingredient in beginning an integrated transportation system in this county. Alex Castro: The Research Triangle Foundation which is doing a revamping of the RTP, in their presentation, they have two commuter rail stations, one which will provide shuttles to RDU airport. Abigaile Pittman: The next topic of discussion is issues related to private street conversions for acceptance into the state maintained system. Typical issues are people in subdivisions with private streets and the burden of maintaining that over years, and then they decide they want the state to take over maintenance of the state. Chuck Edwards: The process starts when the developer has to make a decision as to whether he wants to pursue state maintained or privately maintained roads. The bottom line is if they choose state maintained, it has to be designed by our standards. DOT is involved in the beginning. Once we sign off, the developer will take it, develop it and sell homes. Once he meets a certain threshold of a certain house count per mile he can petition the road for state maintenance. There are times when usually the homeowners want to pursue state maintenance for a private road. The issues are the private roads have a private right -of -way so it is not eligible for that alone. So there has to be a conversion. The typical issue that we deal with is school stops. School buses won't go down a private road. There are moderate subdivisions that are built to the design and construction standards of a state maintained road, it is a matter of replating the private to public but we have learned that can create issues with the county as to whether that developer was trying to circumvent the subdivision regulations. Abigaile Pittman: There is problem if the road has been constructed to our Class B standards and they have to overcome issues such as the placement of utilities, road widening, ditching, and encroachments. It is almost impossible to overcome and sometimes the maintenance cost on those roads becomes a huge burden on the property owners. Chuck Edwards: The Class B road, we sometimes refer to those as a glorified driveway and it is not be feasible to bring them up to our standards. Abigaile Pittman: Another topic for discussion is if there are available resources for minor improvements at problem sites /intersections within the county. I have been in discussion with Orange County School Districts regarding several sites. There are issues with intersections to their driveways, where they need minor improvements to help the flow of traffic. We have a list of improvements, what do I do with that list and are there any available funds? Chuck Edwards: There is a group within our traffic engineering branch called Municipal School and Transit Assistance (MSTA) and their purpose is to help school systems solve existing problems and avoid future ones. Funding is fairly low at this point but there are ways to get funding and you need to ask. Ted Triebel: One that comes immediately to mind is the Cameron Park Elementary and St. Mary's Road; has that been looked at?