Minutes-09-19-2023-Business Meeting

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