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Agenda Item 6.a. 94 Orange County & NCDOT Highway Luncheon Division 7 and District 1 March 31 , 2021 12:00 p.m. - Dawn: If you're not going to go through the STIP process, it's going to be a smaller, lower-cost fix. Maybe if realignment seemed required, it could be added to the STIP at a later date. This is not, technically, an HSIP project yet; right now, it is being studied. NCDOT will do the investigation, provide recommendations to the County and will then seek out a funding source to fix the problem (with the potential safety/mobility problem). C. NC-54 at Dodson Crossroads (NCDOT) Orange County Staff submitted this intersection for potential safety improvements to be evaluated and implemented by NCDOT through their SPOT Safety/Mobility or HSIP program; current analysis has determined it does not qualify. NCDOT Division 7 Traffic Engineering staff is investigating low- cost countermeasures that may be implemented by NCDOT staff without requiring a full project. Status: NCDOT to provide any updates. - Dawn: We're looking at the possibility of looking at loop locations and back plates on traffic signals. Those are two items that we're looking at doing for those locations. - Jamezetta Bedford: What's a backplate? - Dawn: The back of the signal is black to help enhance that there is a traffic signal there and helps you better see that there is a red/yellow/green signal. - Renee: Is there a timeline for this? - Dawn: Probably by the end of April. D. Braided Intersection between Exits 160 and 161 on 1-40/1-85 (NCDOT) With the developer no longer pursuing the construction of Efland Station, questions remain about the process to change the "braided intersection" that falls between Mt. Willing Road and the US 70/1-85 Connector as well as any plans for widening that section of I-40/1-85. Status: NCDOT to provide any updates. - Chuck Edwards: Buc-ee's was proposed to go into the Efland interchange. There was a lot of discussion about the traffic impacts of that development (around 30,000 vehicle trips a day). One of the major things being looked at was removing the Exit 160 (Mt. Willing side). If you put a lot of traffic on that type of interchange, there are operational problems with that "weaving" scenario. One idea was to reconfigure the interchange. Public seemed to have questions about this. With no Buc-ee's, there's no major changes. The CTP for the area does show that the 1-85/US 70 Connector interchange has been identified as "needing improvement." As traffic grows sufficiently (either background or because of a project), it will need to change. With all of that being said, there's nothing on the current TIP to modify that interchange. - Renee: Are you going to look at the US 70 Connector? - Chuck: The Connector has had a few SPOT projects on the list (since you can only go to and from the East on it currently). Last time it went on SPOT, it didn't score well enough to get programmed. It should continue to be sought out in the SPOT process. - Tom A: A couple of reasons why that project hasn't scored well is because of the very high- capacity of the four-lane, divided section of the Connector. It's also an expensive project. Recommendation was to remove above-grade interchange to at-grade, and that's expensive and does not score well. Eventually, that bridge will need to be replaced or removed, but some things, like cost savings of removal vs replacement, are not factored into that process. In our discussions with NCDOT, we did feel like there was interest from NCDOT in the project, but SPOT is objective and we all must play by the same rules. Eventually getting it to a full movement, at grade, intersection would be beneficial. - Chuck: As SPOT has evolved, there's an "express design" (high-level feasibility study). Informs the process. We can do an express design if that helps. 2