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13 <br /> Attachment 2 <br /> US 15/501 Public Comment Summary and DCHC MPO Staff Response <br /> Segment#1—Ephesus Church Road to 1-40(Chapel Hill) <br /> 1. Chapel Hill—Recommended Cross Section for Segment 1 is "bicyclists and pedestrians to safely and <br /> comfortably cross, and too car-centric." <br /> a. DCHC MPO Staff—Consultant recommended cross section accommodates transit, walking and <br /> cycling. However, a large portion of the growth will go to automobiles given the ample parking <br /> lots and structures within the new development. <br /> i. Orange County Transportation Planning comments- New development includes— <br /> Wegman's supermarket (construction complete), multi-story apartment in Blue Hill <br /> District (construction almost complete), redevelopment of Blue Cross Parcel <br /> (construction in-process) and UNC Healthcare facilities, all approved by Chapel Hill. <br /> b. DCHC MPO Staff-Staff has discussed the addition of a single bus-only lane in each direction (i.e., <br /> resulting in two travel lanes and one bus-only lane in each direction). <br /> i. It would not address expected increase in vehicles trips; travel delays will also increase <br /> on corridor as well as Erwin Road, Ephesus Church Road, Old Chapel Hill Road and <br /> regional corridors like NC-86. <br /> ii. Additional single travel lanes were also discussed. However,this alternative is not <br /> sufficient for high capacity transit services along the corridor. <br /> iii. Orange County Transportation Planning comments—similar to the NC-54 Phase 2 study, <br /> increased congestion along Chapel Hill's portion of US 15/501 will cause increased <br /> congestion and safety issues on adjacent and parallel routes like NC-86, which already <br /> has multiple crash hotspots in Orange County. <br /> 1. Whether it is car, bus only or both travel, additional lanes will be required <br /> simply because of the increased local—residential &economic—development <br /> constantly occurring along the corridor. <br /> 2. Chapel Hill currently has a STIP project U-5304—Capacity Improvements from <br /> NC-86 (South Columbia St.)to 1-40—funded by Statewide Mobility with ROW <br /> 2029. NCDOT will widen all of US-15/501 as a function of this.The study <br /> provides local jurisdiction with leverage as to how widening should take place. <br /> 2. RED Transit Lanes—Consultant recommended an option for"outside bus-only lanes as RED transit lanes, <br /> which allow all vehicles to use that lane to access driveways and make right-turns, and for emergency <br /> vehicle use." <br /> a. DCHC MPO Staff—this is an Operational Solution that can be implemented once the <br /> recommended infrastructure [Widening] in the US 15-501 Study is constructed. <br /> b. Orange County Transportation Planning comments—Like NC-54 Corridor, NCDOT will not invest <br /> in Operational Improvements on ANY corridor when they may end up widening it anyways later. <br /> i. NCDOT considers Operation Improvements as short-term solutions and will not be <br /> implemented, especially for corridors that currently or will require widening in the <br /> future. <br />