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<br /> <br /> <br />Planning Staff to provide recommended next steps at its February 15 meeting, to be <br />reviewed and forwarded along with the project list in the form of a resolution. <br /> <br />Orange Grove Road Access Management Plan <br />Concerns regarding pedestrian safety along Orange Grove Road were first formally <br />addressed in the Orange Grove Road Access Management Plan (AMP), which was the <br />product of the Joint Hillsborough/ Orange County Transportation Group that met from 2002- <br />2004. In 2003 the BOCC approved the recommendations of the Transportation Group as <br />stated in the AMP. Multiple recommendations of the Plan were embraced and included in <br />other plans, including the SRTS Plan. An online link to the plan is provided below: <br />http://www.orangecountync.gov/departments/planning_and_inspections/Orange%20Grove <br />%20Road%20Access%20Management%20Plan.pdf <br /> <br />Both the Orange Grove Road AMP and the SRTS Plan recommendations identify the need <br />for pedestrian improvements on Orange Grove Road and New Grady Brown School <br />Road. These recommendations have been discussed and identified many times since; <br />including a pedestrian bridge over I-40, but the project did not score well under the <br />quantitative process to evaluate regional transportation funding priorities. <br /> <br />Cedar Ridge High School Expansion Project <br />The NCDOT has encouraged the County to continue efforts to create a pedestrian network <br />beginning at the schools and extending to I-40 and farther along Orange Grove Road, as <br />an initial step to advancing the pedestrian bridge project. NCDOT has indicated that the <br />needed pedestrian walkway on the bridge will not occur until the bridge is replaced in the <br />future. There are currently no plans to replace the bridge. If and when it is ever replaced, in <br />order to have pedestrian accommodations on the bridge there must be receiving sidewalks <br />on either side of the bridge. <br /> <br />A potential opportunity to create a portion of the pedestrian network may be provided with <br />the upcoming planned expansion and improvements at Cedar Ridge High School. This <br />project may offer an opportunity to include the installation of sidewalks along the frontage of <br />the school campus up to I-40, on school property. <br /> <br />Next Steps <br />The OUTBoard and Planning Staff have identified a number of actions that can feasibly be <br />undertaken at this time. These actions are included in the attached Resolution (Attachment <br />1), prepared by Staff for the OUTBoard’s consideration, and ultimately, the BOCC’s. These <br />next step activities acknowledge the current limited project funding, the evaluation criteria <br />which prioritizes highway projects, and the current lack of local matching funds. These <br />actions will demonstrate the County’s commitment to the adopted SRTS Plan and the <br />projects along Orange Grove Road and Grady Brown Road; and will serve to advance the <br />future NCDOT bridge pedestrian project, which scored poorly in the SPOT P3.0 (2016- <br />2025) STIP Process and was subsequently not carried forward to SPOT P4.0. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> 8