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Approved 11/28/18 2 Resident: I live in the Cheeks Crossing community and I noticed the intersections around where I live are congested; 57 I see congestion isn’t mentioned. Were there any studies done at the intersections of South Frazier and Buckhorn 58 Rd, East Washington Street Extension and Buckhorn Road? Those are highly congested areas. We have had 59 several accidents there. It really needs improvements. Also, what are the specific plans in terms of extending of 60 those roads on Buckhorn beginning on Exit 157 off I-85/40 going along Buckhorn Road toward US 70? That’s the 61 community I live in; what were the specific plans; what were the studies and what were the results in those areas? 62 63 Nish Trivedi: We have Cy Stober from Mebane. 64 65 Cy Stober: My name is Cy Stober and I’m the Development Director with the City of Mebane. To answer your 66 questions, in May of this year the NC Railroad conducted a study recommending improvements in the exact area you 67 are talking about for what they call grade separation, a bridge over the railroad tracks. I have sketches there is not a 68 public process; no designs have been done. The project is not funded. It was the only project in this plan that was 69 not funded. There are a number of safety improvements that are being done from Gibson Road in Mebane all the 70 way through town. The Buckhorn Road project is estimated to be around 8.5 million dollars and so it would have to 71 be funded and done by the state. There are 3 sketches in here, Mr. Jones came by the office this morning and got a 72 copy of the plan. We have more copies of the plan and it’s available on our website. I would be happy to talk with 73 you after the meeting and show you some of the safety improvements suggested for that very area. In addition, the 74 City adopted its own transportation plan. The limit of our jurisdiction is Buckhorn Road. Widening of Buckhorn for 75 safety improvements including intersection improvements is identified in this plan as a priority project. The City 76 cannot afford to do that project, it is well beyond our means. We would have to rely on state funding and again this is 77 an unfunded project that we would like to pursue that would be entirely separate process from what Nish is doing 78 here this evening or that Orange County is considering. These are unfunded projects that would have to have a 79 totally separate public participation and design process that would come in the future should the project be funded. 80 81 Resident: So what is long range goal here in terms of the future? 82 83 Cy Stober: We actually had a meeting yesterday about how to acquire state funds to do these two projects. Best 84 case scenario would be that the projects would be nominated for state funding in spring 2019. That will be a one 85 year process of consideration by the state so we won’t even know for over a year. After that point, should they be 86 funded, there would be a design and public participation process that last another year to 2 years and then 87 construction would begin. The first year of construction, the public doesn’t see anything, nothing happens. The 88 fastest track that we could see anything would be 4 years from now roughly. The soonest you would hear something 89 is 18 months from now about whether the state has funded anything and if it is this project, how you can participate to 90 make sure your concerns are heard. We know there are concerns about impacts to the churches on Buckhorn and 91 of the 3 sketches that have been done so far, avoid the churches there. 92 93 Resident: What about the homes? 94 95 Cy Stober: There is one sketch that avoids all homes and then two others that do not. We need your input to help us 96 decide the best sketch. We don’t have a favorite, Orange County has two sketches that they don’t like and the one 97 they do like is the one that does not impact any homes. They sent us a letter to that effect. 98 99 Resident: It still would be an impact, noise, getting out of their homes with a bridge. How close would it be near the 100 homes. There would be some impact. So as a homeowner there I would like to know now what would be the 101 foreseen impacts if I remain there. 102 103 Nish Trivedi: Right now it is not in the plan, if it is funded by the state it is in a ten year window. If within the first five 104 years it is guaranteed to be built. 105 106 Resident: I’m not asking about the process about when it will be built, I am asking about the study. If you did a study 107 and it was a holistic study then you should know the impact it would cause. You have 194 people in the Cheeks 108 Crossing Township that you are going to impact. What were the results in terms of if you did this, what would be the 109 impact on the people who remain living in that community? 110 111 Cy Stober: We simply cannot answer that question at this time because a design has not been determined. 112