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Approved 5/19/10 2 with the local areas as far as the programs so there may be a better chance to have the plan modified. Karen 56 advised that there will be a presentation to the BOCC at a work session and she is working on a pros and cons style 57 chart and will be supplying them with the information they requested at their February meeting. One of the requests 58 from the Commissioners was the reasoning used by NCDOT to designate NC 86 as a strategic highway corridor. 59 Karen advised that David Wasserman, with transportation planning worked on that and basically the strategic 60 highway corridor guidelines are based on goals of mobility, connectivity, interstate connectivity/interstate reliever, the 61 things vital to state and regional interests that serve long distance and/or regional travel whose users may be long 62 haul trucks (they were looking at truck routes and NC 86 is a truck route), tourists and/or motorists passing through 63 the region, and connectivity between activity centers (they also consider the Metropolitan Planning Organizations, 64 MPO, as activity centers). They mentioned all the things that are in the area such as Duke, UNC, the hospitals, and 65 all the destinations here that bring people in from other places. 66 67 Randy Marshall noted that point that gets missed is this is long range planning. The roads won’t be changed until the 68 need arises due to the increase in population and the finances are available. He suggested that the need will be 69 here long before the financing and the state is looking ahead and has outlined what it feels is necessary to have a 70 network of roads to get people from one place to another. He believes it is justified as a strategic highway corridor 71 given the amount of traffic this corridor carries. He noted that NC connects Durham/Chapel Hill and Danville, a 72 length of approximately 42 miles, and people have to get from that area of Virginia down to the triangle area for the 73 resources. Randy added it is not unreasonable that it is designated as a strategic highway corridor and it will not be 74 built soon, it will be built when it‘s justified. What DOT doesn’t want to do is have the County predict when that is 75 going to happen. 76 77 Members discussed the options between the moving forward with designating NC 86 as a strategic highway corridor 78 or trying to get NCDOT to change the designation to a boulevard and what to recommend to the Commissioners as 79 the best option. 80 81 Motion: Randy Marshall made a motion to recommend to the County Commissioners that they endorse the 82 Comprehensive Transportation Plan in its entirety with a provision that it can be changed up until 2035. Seconded by 83 Sam Lasris. 84 85 Paul Guthrie asked that motion if it include a recommendation to the Commissioners that they make a statement to 86 NCDOT that they are concerned about the designation of the character of that road and because of Orange County’s 87 unique character it should be reconsidered on a regular basis up until the time the decision is made to move forward 88 with planning. 89 90 Paul Guthrie noted the need to have some way to say to the state board that we don’t agree with the idea of putting 91 an expressway in and then saying ‘expressway’ has to be ‘a, b, c, d, and e’. That may or may be the case in 20 92 years, 30 years, etc. I think the Board needs to go on record that it’s troubled. 93 94 Randy Marshall agreed to the friendly amendment, with Paul and Karen working on the wording. 95 96 Vote: unanimous 97 98 99 V. Safe Routes to School 100 101 Nancy Baker advised the members that the committee decided to have their public meeting on the same day that 102 The Town of Hillsborough has Walkable Hillsborough Day which is Saturday, June 5 from 9.m. to 12 p.m. with a big 103 meeting at Cameron Park Elementary followed by a walk from Cameron Park to Stanford Middle School. They may 104 also go to Grady Brown. There will be NCDOT, school officials, and the consultants who will bring their current ideas 105 and the public is welcome to come and critique the ideas and give input to the plan. Nancy informed the Board that 106 the consultants went to each school site on one of the coldest days of the winter and met with school team members 107 and walked around the areas surrounding the schools. They observed the traffic and watched to see if kids were 108