OUTBoard minutes 111908 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Approved 2/18/09 2 for commuter rail, and is not a market study. NCRR is a private corporation owned completely by the State of North 56 Carolina. 57 58 Paul Guthrie pointed out the route structure and shared route information and that the big challenge is the connector 59 feeder lines that support the infrastructure. 60 61 Alice Gordon advised that the consultant was asked to work with the two MPOs trying to get a seamless interface 62 and they agreed. That could really be important to get something concrete, something on the ground then you could 63 protect the corridor. 64 65 Nancy Baker updated the Board on the Safe Routes to School and advised she and Karen Lincoln had met with the 66 consultants and the consultants are working out the scope of work details with DOT. Once that is done they can start 67 planning some meetings. 68 69 Karen Lincoln announced that the Board of County Commissioners adopted the Comprehensive Plan with revisions. 70 Also, the commissioners approved all the reappointments to the OUTBoard. 71 72 Alice Gordon shared the reasoning behind the changes to the OUTBoard’s proposal and that she hopes that they 73 feel that all the good work was still there. She let everyone know how much she appreciates the hard work. She 74 explained about the paperwork used for the MPO and the criteria dealing with environmental impacts. 75 76 IV. Approval of Minutes 77 78 The approval of minutes was deferred to the next OUTBoard meeting. 79 80 V. Comments regarding four (4) fiscally constrained options to be considered for the Preferred Option 81 for the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro (DCHC) Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) 2035 Long 82 Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) 83 84 Karen Lincoln gave a handout on the four options. The first transit option is an intensive bus system having no fixed 85 guideway service but lots of local bus system expansion with peak headways of 10-20 minutes and off peak 86 headways of 15-30 minutes. This would also included expansion of the express buses and regional bus expansion 87 to more communities and employment center circulators. The second option is commuter rail. It would have the 88 same intensity as bus transit and would have more bus feeder service to the commuter rail stations, with commuter 89 service from Hillsborough to downtown Durham to RTP to downtown Raleigh and eastward. Paul Guthrie interjected 90 that there was equal emphasis going westbound to Burlington/Greensboro. Karen Lincoln added that some of the 91 bus services are also looking into that area. The commuter rail from Durham to Carrboro would be via the spur at 92 university station that runs southwest to Carrboro. This option also includes bus rapid transit from downtown 93 Durham to UNC Chapel Hill, but no light rail. The fourth option is the Special Transit Advisory Commission (STAC) 94 recommendation for the diesel multiple unit (DMU) technology, from Duke to downtown Raleigh in the corridor 95 proposed for the first phase of the “old” Triangle Transit regional rail program with light rail transit from Duke to UNC 96 where there is no existing rail corridor. There is a new alternative, option 4, that is uses only electric light rail for all 97 fixed guideway. An initial analysis indicated much greater ridership in the same corridor for the light rail option than 98 for the split modal option (DMU and light rail). The difference is because you lose riders every time riders have to 99 change mode to complete a trip. 100 101 Alice Gordon added that there was a meeting of the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) of the two MPOs in 102 the Triangle area. The Transportation Advisory Committee is the governing board of the Metropolitan Planning 103 Organization (MPO) and is composed of elected officials. The two TACs met and both governing boards were 104 interested in the new option for light rail. People think it is a good long-range vision and they think that electric is a 105 good vision. The elected officials said they are supporting the light rail/electric option. It’s very likely that the 106 Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro (DCHC) MPO TAC is going to adopt the light rail option the two MPOs thought was 107 best. There are some costs options they were also willing to approve. When it went out for public comment, there 108 were four transit options. Now it looks like the emerging consensus is for light rail. 109 110