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~1~II ~' ° '~ ~~ . <br />Brief Background 1 <br />Homestead and High School Roads Safety Task Force <br />Orange County created the Homestead and Nigh School Roads Safety Task <br />Farce in December 2003 in response to a petition from a citizens group to attain <br />improvements far pedestrian and bicycle access to Chapel Hill High Schaal, <br />Smith Middle School and Seawell Elementary School from adjacent residential <br />neighborhoods, The task force met in spring of 2004, and concluded that, with <br />existing and planned pedestrian and bicycle facilities, an additional section of <br />sidewalk along the north side of Homestead Road from Camden Road to Rogers <br />Road and a short extension of the existing sidewalk on the east side of Rogers <br />Road would complete a safe pedestrian access from the surrounding <br />neighborhoods to High School Road, <br />Officials and staff from Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Orange County met June 1, <br />2004, with the Division 7 Board of Transportation member to discuss local <br />requests for the 2006-12 Transportation Improvement Program, At that meeting <br />the local officials requested funding for the Homestead Road sidewalks, and the <br />BOT member said that he would contact the Division of Public Transportation, <br />The BOT member subsequently contacted Carrboro to inform the Town that <br />NCDOT would provide funds in the second year program for NC Moving Ahead, <br />The NCDOT representative, at the June 22, 2004, meeting of the Homestead <br />and High School Roads Safety Task Force, reported that NCDOT would provide <br />funds in the NC Moving Ahead program to construct the sidewalk from Camden <br />Road to Rogers Road and the section of sidewalk an the east side of Rogers <br />Road, and that NCDOT must obtain 10 feet of right-of-way to constnict the <br />sidewalks in a manner to accommodate the Transportation Improvement <br />Program (TIP) project on Homestead Road anticipated for future construction. <br />NCDOT noted that the scope of the project was too large (approximately $0,5- <br />million) to be included in the contract for the current Moving Ahead project (to <br />provide 2-ft. paved shoulders, turn lanes at Seawell School Road and Rogers <br />Road, and resurfacing from Old NC 86 to beginning of curb and gutter section <br />near NC 86), and gave an anticipated delivery date in 2005 for the sidewalks and <br />intersection improvements at Homestead and High School Roads, <br />The location of the sidewalks, in the Joint Planning Area Transition Areas of <br />Carrboro and Chapel, presented a problem regarding maintenance of the <br />sidewalks. Resolution of legal issues concerning Orange County granting <br />permission to the Towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill to maintain sidewalks <br />outside their municipal limits, but within their planning jurisdictiens, caused some <br />delay in the process, but the County and Towns completed necessary tasks in <br />December 2004 to allow Carrboro and Chapel Hill to enter into municipal <br />agreements with NCDOT. <br />NCDOT had to let second year Moving Ahead projects by .January 2005, <br />NCDOT did not include the Homestead and High School Roads project in the <br />Moving Ahead program and there had been no communication between the <br />C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Seltings\Temp\DackgroundforAOGMCeting_I floc <br />