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..--- <br />47 <br />June 13, 2000 <br />Orange County Board of Cornniissioners <br />Orange County Planning Board <br />Subject: Proposed Woodlands Subdivision <br />Last Saturday there was a fatal accident on Janes Ferry Road near University Lake. A <br />car crosszd the center line and hit one of my neighbors and her two young children head <br />on. They were subsequently rear-ended. Ttivo people evcrc thrown from tho other car and <br />' died. I/~Iy neighbor and her children were not seriously injured. <br />Several months ago another neighbor was not as forninate. His truck was involved in a <br />collision on tones Ferry Road at Damascus Church Rbad. As a result of that accident, he <br />suffered spinal chord injuries and may not walk again. <br />Both accidents occurred during the day. <br />:~s I mentioned at the Commissionary meeting June 6, 2000, I have lived in Turkey Run <br />Subdivision since 1988. The increase in traffic an Jones Ferry Road has became very <br />noticeable in the last few years. The traffic flow throughout the day is constant now,= <br />unlike a few years ago. Jones Ferry is a lovely, winding country road, now heavily <br />traveled by speeding cars and dump trucks that frequently cross the center line while <br />negotiating the cunas. The road has become, in my opinion, unsafe for recreational use. <br />although many people soil ride bicycles on it. <br />Of the 15 houses on our street, the occupants of 3 of those homes have bean involved in <br />collisions on Jones Ferry Road within the last year or so - an astonishing 20°~0! That <br />figure dogs not include the man who was so seriously injured in the accident at Damascus <br />Church Road because he liver a few strezts over. It dons include a neighbor who, altar <br />living bare for longer than I, raovad to Bowden Road just prior to his accident. <br />I understand that the current regulations require that a traffic impact study be perfonned <br />for proposed subdivisions with as many as 35 homes. I understand further, that this <br />regul~tjon-wrap enacted after the application for the proposed Woodlands Subdivision was <br />filed. The 41 homes proposed Far the Woodlands would add an additional 80 or so <br />personal vehicles, plus delivery vohiclos, construction traffic and maintenance vehiclos to <br />an already heavily traveled country road. <br />If, as it appears, there is a problem with the current level of traffic on Jonas Ferry Road, <br />must we e~caeerbate the problem by allowing even more development? Is rampant <br />growth inevitable? <br />I havz contacted the State Highway Patrol office in Graham to obtain statistics about the <br />number and pattern of accidents they have investigated on Joney Ferry Road. I am not <br />