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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF ADEQUATE BRIDGE LENGTH AND <br />VERTICAL CLEARANCE FOR <br />US 15/501 CROSSING OF NEW HOPE CREEK <br />WHEREAS, the State of North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) <br />in TIP Project U-4012 plans to expand US 15/501 to six lanes between Mt. <br />Moriah Road and Garrett Road and such expansion will require removing and <br />rebuilding the bridge across New Hope Creek in this area; and <br />WHEREAS, the State of North Carolina Department of Transportation has <br />issued an Environmental Assessment dated July 7, 2002 in which the <br />recommended bridge alternative has a height of 8 feet, a length of 205 feet and a <br />width of 122 feet; and <br />WHEREAS, Orange County has adopted the New Hope Creek Corridor <br />Preservation Plan and such plans anticipate the portion of the New Hope Creek <br />corridor crossed by the bridge will provide both recreation trail and wildlife <br />corridor amenities; and <br />WHEREAS, the New Hope Creek Corridor is recognized as providing a <br />regionally significant wildlife corridor in the Piedmont by the State of North <br />Carolina's Natural Heritage Program; and <br />WHEREAS, the NCDOT-recommended alternative combination of bridge length, <br />height and width provides a wildlife crossing that is less protective than <br />other bridges NCDOT has under construction in the New Hope Creek <br />watershed and provides less wildlife protection than that called for in the most <br />recent scientific literature; and <br />WHEREAS, the NCDOT-recommended alternative is less protective than that <br />recommended by the State of North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, <br />the City of Durham, Durham County, the Town of Chapel Hill, the New Hope <br />Creek Corridor Advisory Committee, the Durham Chapel Hill Carrboro <br />Metropolitan Planning Organization Transportation Advisory Committee and <br />others (the Durham Open Space and Trails Commission and the New Hope <br />Audubon Society); and <br />WHEREAS, the NCDOT-recommended alternative bridge height is below that of <br />the existing bridge, is below the recommended height for trail crossings <br />in the Federal Highway Administration Enhancement Program as well as the <br />standards of the American Society of Transportation Officials, is below the height <br />of NCDOT's 1-40 crossing of New Hope Creek that is presently under <br />construction, is below the height recommended by the organizations mentioned