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

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24 1 Nishith Trivedi said there are multiple phases that it would still have to go through. 2 Chair Bedford said this is for 2045 so there is still a lot to discuss and plan for. 3 Commissioner Portie-Ascott asked for more information on the information that Southern 4 Orange County is disproportionately affected by existing transportation and said that it seems this 5 is mostly people of color that are being affected. 6 Nishith Trivedi said that Southern Orange County has seven different census block 7 groups. He said those blocks are analyzed by demographic and socio-economic makeup. He said 8 that this measures against the county's thresholds. He said that some of the census blocks are 9 minorities or elderly with no cars. He said there is a need for improvements and service in that 10 area. He said that there is zero investment in Southern Orange County for transportation. He said 11 that there are projects in urban areas, but rural Orange County has no benefit but has great needs. 12 He said that he has a video that he wanted to show that shows a transit driver onto 54 out of 13 driveways. 14 Commissioner Fowler asked if bike-ped was included in 2019. 15 Nishith Trivedi said yes. 16 Commissioner Fowler said that transportation buses used to take this route but now they 17 take 1-40. 18 Nishith Trivedi said that they would come back if the roads were widened but not until 19 then. He said that is why Alamance is also improving their roadways. 20 Commissioner Hamilton said that she had not seen this before. She said that it is tough to 21 follow the alphabet soup with transportation planning. She asked about the big picture of a study 22 like this. She said that the document has the NC54 Corridor study but does not have the term 23 multimodal in it and asked if it mattered. 24 Nishith Trivedi said no. He said the name is not what determines the study. He said that 25 is determined after being studied. He said that the NC98 study was done and not called a 26 multimodal study. He said that the study recommended multimodal, but the title does not make 27 the difference. 28 Commissioner Hamilton asked if there is a possibility of changing aspects of the findings 29 or do they have to do exactly what the study is recommending. 30 Nishith Trivedi said that the study is simply recommending that they divide the road to 31 address the demand. He said while that is being done, transit improvements can be made. He 32 said that the details of the recommendations can be shaped and modified throughout the process. 33 He said that right now it is about getting the project approved so that it can be funded. He said 34 that NCDOT would continue to have more public meetings and discussions before a project is in 35 final design stages. He said that there is still an environmental impact analysis that would also 36 have to be done. 37 Commissioner Hamilton said that her understanding is that approving the study is saying 38 they agree with the analysis that there needs to be improvements and increased capacity and 39 that they agree that the addition of bike-ped is important. She said that the details of how that 40 happens will be determined in the next steps. 41 Nishith Trivedi said that is accurate. He said that it can even be broken down into additional 42 steps. 43 Commissioner Greene said that while there is mention of park and rides, there is no 44 mention of shared use paths on either side in the report. She said that this is the first step to a 45 four-lane highway, and she is having trouble seeing the environmental justice issue because they 46 are bringing more cars. She said that transportation is the word being used but it seems to mean 47 "highways." She said that she is signed up for a meeting with the MPO next week and that this 48 feels it is the cart before the horse. She said that she is happy to accept the report but not ready 49 to adopt it because she has too many questions and some she cannot even articulate at this point. 50 Commissioner Fowler said the bike-ped and PART buses returning to the route are two 51 aspects that seem inviting to her. She said this would increase the ability to use public transport.