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in the previous paragraph, will impair trail maintenance activities, will preclude <br />use of the trail for equestrian activities in the future; and <br />WHEREAS, the public and private investments to protect the New Hope Creek <br />Corridor have exceeded $4.5 Million; and <br />WHEREAS, an increase of bridge length of 100 feet could protect public and <br />private preservation investments of over three times the additional construction <br />cost of a longer bridge; and <br />WHEREAS, the original bridge construction over New Hope Creek used large <br />amounts of fill across the New Hope Creek floodplain which impacts the natural <br />hydrologic and wildlife functions of the corridor; and <br />WHEREAS, the NCDOT Environmental Assessment does not consider the <br />potential ecological and recreation advantages that could accrue were the new <br />bridge to be constructed to remediate these extensive and previous <br />environmental impacts; and <br />WHEREAS, the NCDOT Draft Transportation Improvements Budget (TIP) for <br />2004-2010 budgets $7,325,000 for this construction project, while current <br />NCDOT construction estimates total only $6,850,000 for the project; and <br />WHEREAS, there presently exists an estimated $475,000 in the TIP project <br />budget which could fund approximately one-half of the requested additional <br />bridge length without impacting the project budget; and <br />WHEREAS, the NCDOT proposes to cross one of the most important natural <br />corridor in the Triangle with a bridge that limits the New Hope Creek corridor's <br />trail options and threatens the public and private investments made to establish a <br />wildlife corridor in cooperation with City of Durham, Durham County and the <br />Town of Chapel Hill; <br />NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD <br />OF COMMISSIONERS requests the North Carolina Department of <br />Transportation revise the Environmental Assessment to give due consideration of <br />alternatives that provide better remediation of past environmental degradation <br />along New Hope Creek; are more protective of Orange County's plans for use of <br />the New Hope Creek Corridor, more protective of the public and private <br />investments made to protect the corridor and more attentive to the environmental <br />improvements associated with a longer bridge length; <br />FURTHERMORE, the Board of Commissioners expresses its support for bridge <br />alternatives with lengths longer than the NCDOT-preferred alternative that would <br />be more cost-effective, protect previous public investments in the corridor, <br />provide more environmental protection for wildlife, and permit trail uses that are