Agenda - 02-17-2003-10a - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 I. Background The Orange Grove Access Management Plan is being created by a joint effort between the Town of Hillsborough and Orange County to address development pressures in the Orange Grove Road corridor and corresponding impacts to the safety of bicycle and pedestrian traffic in the corridor. Providing safe access for school children traveling to Grady Brown Elementary School and Cedar Ridge High School and bicycle and pedestrian traffic crossing the bridge over Interstate 40 was a major factor in the appointment of the Joint Orange Grove Road Transportation Group by the Hillsborough Town Board and the Orange County Board of Commissioners. The commissioners, at a joint meeting of the two boards on May 6, 2002, agreed to appoint two commissioners from each jurisdiction to study transportation issues in the Orange Grove Road corridor and prepare a recommendation on ways to address those issues. The group's recommendations are contained in this access management plan for the Orange Grove Road corridor. The study area for the corridor extends along Orange Grove Road from Churton Street to New Grady Brown School Road and includes the largely undeveloped area bounded by I-40, I-85 and Oakdale Drive. Orange Grove Road is a two-lane, twenty-foot wide shoulder section road. Bicycles must share the 10-foot travel lanes with motor vehicles and there are no sidewalks. The North Carolina Department of Transportation does not own nor have aright-of- way easement throughout the entire corridor for the currently proposed sixty-foot right-of-way. In the last few years, there have been several proposals for multifamily residential development in the corridor. The Heritage, a 171-unit multifamily development in the corridor, was approved January 2000. The Town of Hillsborough, since then, has received several applications for multifamily developments and anticipates making decisions on applications for two developments totaling 516 units between December 2002 and February 2003. Roadway improvements in the corridor will be needed to accommodate new development. Development applications that impact the corridor should address dedication of right-of-way, construction of turn lanes, intersection improvements, bicycle and pedestrian needs and other deficiencies that may be exacerbated by the new development. This document provides guidance for the improvement of the corridor with recommendations regarding road connectivity, road cross section and bicycle and pedestrian access, and land use controls.