Minutes-09-19-2023-Business Meeting

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26 Commissioner Greene said that it is a lot of it. Chair Bedford said yes but also at the MPO she would say that they should not put any points on the project because they want to wait and work with their partners. A motion was made by Commissioner Richards, seconded by Vice-Chair McKee, to approve the NC 54 Multimodal Corridor Study in Orange County. Commissioner Hamilton said she would like to not vote on it tonight, but have it brought back within a reasonable timeframe. She said she wants to read it over with what she is learned today to make sure she understands what the study says. She said she does not understand the process well enough. She said that if it is a safety thing, she would rather the study be approved. Commissioner Portie-Ascott said as they continue to wait, the roads will continue to be overcapacity and overburdened. She said there is still an increased risk of serious injury and the disproportionate impact on minority residents. She said she is ready to move forward. Commissioner Greene said she would have been okay with a condition on the multiuse paths. She said that she is not sure they can condition it on that. Nish Trivedi said they have a complete streets policy, and they can use that for leverage. Commissioner Greene said when they were considering the school site off of Hwy 70, they were told that a complete streets option was not available because there was not enough development in the road. Nishith Trivedi said that was previously in 2019 and it is different now. Commissioner Greene asked if the policy was not available just a few months ago. Nishith Trivedi said that the complete streets policy was adopted by the county in October 2022. Commissioner Greene said they just heard the school program this year and clarified that this was part of the Lawrence Road project. Nishith Trivedi said that they provided comments when the TIA was done for Lawrence Road and used the complete streets policy to provide comments during the TIA review to address bike-ped and other issues along that area. He said that they do not have a corridor study for US 70 yet. Commissioner Greene said that the school was within the site and not on the road. Nishith Trivedi said that they are providing sidewalks on site. Commissioner Greene said that they are providing sidewalks within the site but not on the road. Nishith Trivedi said that is because they do not have a study for Hwy 70 yet that would allow them to push for them to accommodate it. Commissioner Greene said she is concerned this will end up being a widened road without the other modes and that it will ultimately create more traffic. Vice-Chair McKee said the map on slide #2 says a lot. He said that TARPO is a rural area organization. He said the reason for the 4 feet bike shoulder in southern Orange County was because during his tenure on TARPO he negotiated with Moore and Lee County that he would vote for some of their projects if they would help him get the bike shoulder. He said this is not the prettiest way to make it happen but that is what happened. He said that this is likely more than a decade of process. He said he understands Commissioner Greene's concern, but they may end up with the same outcome if they do not approve the study. Commissioner Greene said the plan they have is not called a multimodal plan. She said that the 10 feet bike and ped lanes are not mentioned in the plan. Nish Trivedi said that it is the shared use path (SUP) that is in the recommendations for the study. He said that during the alternatives analysis there was the possibility of a SUP in the median itself but because of the public meetings and workshops they prefer that it be done on the north side. He said that the shared use path is a critical part of the study.