Agenda 11-02-23; 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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10 1 The City of Graham approved the study prior to the Phase 2 report while the Burlington-Graham 2 Metropolitan Planning Organization in collaboration with Alamance County approved the study in 3 its entirety with phase 2. These entities submitted the western portion of the corridor for the State's 4 Strategic Prioritization of Transportation (SPOT) 6.0 and will do so again for 7.0. Orange County 5 received the report, as did the Triangle Area Rural Planning Organization (TARPO) and the 6 Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO). Both regional 7 agencies defer to the County respectively. In Fall 2019, the Town of Carrboro Town Council 8 unanimously approved a resolution unconditionally opposing the study. 9 10 While Orange County continues coordinating and collaborating with all its local and regional 11 partners along the corridor since the study's completion, traffic on NC 54 has returned to pre- 12 covid levels, serious injuries and fatalities continue at increasing rate, and development pressure 13 increase in southern Orange County. Orange County continues to collaborate with the North 14 Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), which updated its Complete Street Policy and 15 Implementation Guide in 2019, revamping State highway projects for a more comprehensive 16 benefit for all users. The State also grants local government the ability to adopt transportations 17 plans and implement them through Comprehensive Plan and Unified Development Ordinances. 18 19 State's New Process— Complete Streets (link) 20 Over the past three years, NCDOT has made significant progress is advancing the policy and 21 improving its implementation through its Project Delivery Network (PDN). All highway projects 22 now go through a comprehensive "complete" use assessment. The Comprehensive 23 Transportation Plan (CTP) is the governing document for the State's new Complete Street Policy 24 and its implementation. Per the new policy, "during the Comprehensive Transportation Planning 25 process, bicycle, pedestrian, transit, and other multimodal usage shall be presumed to exist along 26 and across certain corridors." NCDOT recognizes that an individual user is a pedestrian, bicyclist, 27 transit rider, EV/gas vehicle driver, etc., and often times in the same day. Therefore, the policy 28 dictates "Consideration of multimodal elements will begin at the inception of the transportation 29 planning process and the decisions made will be documented." 30 31 Local Authorization— UDO and Collector Street Plans 32 The Orange County Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) in section 2.5.3.(V), includes the 33 requirement that applications for site plans demonstrate compliance with adopted transportation 34 plans. This may include reserving or dedicating right of way or requiring road construction listed 35 in locally adopted Transportation Plans or on the Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP). 36 Specific mention is also made in North Carolina General Statute (NCGS) § 136 66.2 and § 136 37 66.10 regarding the reservation or dedication of right of way based on the concepts shown on the 38 CTP and locally adopted transportation plans. Orange County currently has three locally adopted 39 transportation plans: 40 • Efland-Buckhorn-Mebane Access Management Plan 41 • Orange Grove Road Access Management Plan 42 • Eno Economic Development District Access Management Plan 43 44 Approval of NC 54 West Multimodal Corridor Study would be a fourth locally adopted 45 transportation plan and will demonstrate the County's commitment to multi-mobility, transit 46 access, and safety of the transportation as an important local priority, followed by the US 70 47 Multimodal Corridor Study which is anticipated to be completed Fall 2023. It will also demonstrate 48 to local, regional and state partners that the County, like NCDOT's Complete Streets, sees the 49 road network as equitable for all travelers, not favoring one over the other, and acknowledges that 50 a traveler throughout the course of the day will walk one place, ride another, drive to and from a 51 third, and bike yet another.