Contact: Hillsborough Planning Director Margaret Hauth, 732-1270 Ext. 86 or margaret.hauth@hillsboroughnc.org
Hillsborough Senior Planner Tom King, 732-1270 Ext. 73 or tom.king@hillsboroughnc.org
Rail Station Task Force Seeks Input on Suggested Hillsborough Sites
HILLSBOROUGH — The Rail Station Task Force wants the public’s input on suggested rail station sites in Hillsborough and the task force’s criteria for rating the sites.
The task force — appointed in the fall by the Hillsborough Town Board and Orange County Board of Commissioners — will host an open house from 4 to 9 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Big Barn Convention Center. The advisory committee will discuss a number of suggested rail station sites and the rating criteria it will use for formally recommending a site to the two boards.
A presentation will be given at 5:30 p.m. and repeated at 7 p.m. The information also will be available on a drop-in basis.
During the open house, the task force also will seek feedback about the relative desirability of the suggested sites and comments and suggestions about changes to the rating criteria. Participants will be able to give their feedback verbally or in writing.
The advisory task force, which first met in November, was created to define the criteria for selecting a train station site and to recommend a location. It also is charged with investigating the established funding criteria and procedural steps to proceed with development of a station and with describing a schedule of tasks to be accomplished prior to initiation of service.
The task force includes representatives of the Hillsborough Planning Board, the Orange County Unified Transportation Board, the Orange County Transportation Services Board, the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough, the Orange County Economic Development Commission and the Walkable Hillsborough Coalition and three citizens.
An Amtrak and N.C. Department of Transportation analysis, completed in the summer, indicated a rail stop in Hillsborough could be financially viable, with an estimated net gain of about $56,000. Hillsborough Mayor Tom Stevens had formally requested the study on the possibility of a rail stop on behalf of a number of citizens.
Based on costs at that time, construction was estimated at about $1 million for a platform with lighting and a canopy and $5 million to $6 million for a station building.
The task force is expected to report on the site selection Feb. 19 at the joint meeting of the Hillsborough Town Board and Orange County Commissioners. Its work is expected to be completed by the end of May. Further opportunities for comment will be made available as the selection narrows.
The Big Barn is located at 388 Ja Max Drive. Minimal refreshments will be available.
The N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition has submitted its request for money from the federal and state governments for infrastructure projects. I’ve mapped the requests made for the town of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. No requests were made by Hillsborough.
See the raw Chapel Hill data here. See the full spreadsheet of requests here.
APOLOGIES, THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO A CONFLICT OF SCHEDULING BY THE STATION AT SOUTHERN RAIL
Today the President announced loans for bailing out the automotive industry. While it is important to save jobs, fuel efficiency improvements and safeguards for consumers and the environment
have not been a part of any of the failed legislation considered by
Congress up until now, and much less by the administration in today's
announcement. With this bail-out our government is demonstrating once again, as with the financial bail-out,
a catastrophic shortsightedness. We are missing a great opportunity
for retrofitting our highly carbon intensive infrastructure. We could
be dealing with global warming and peak oil while at the same time
priming the real economy.
CANCELLED: the Carrborogreenspace (The WITT in exile) will be
presenting 'Who Killed the Electric Car" at the Station at Southern
Rail (201-c East Main Street), Carrboro. The auto-industry has
actively continued to ignore all the signs that would have lead to a
saner predicament then the one that they find themselves in today.
This movie demonstrates the complicity that we are inheriting as our
govenment throws money away to an industry that could be made to do
better.... come out, inform yourself, and hold your Representative accountable to the highest standards. Discussion to follow after the movie.
Location:
The Station at The Southern Rail, 2201-c East Main St., Carrboro
Twin stories in this morning's CH News from Mark Schultz on the front page: "UNC Pledges Cooperation on Airport" and inside: "UNC Gave State Airport Bill Language." Kudos (or the candy of choice) to Schultz for digging away at the behind-closed-doors stuff - e.g., just who from the Univ. was talking to the legislature, seeking the eminent domain provision, etc.; and kudos for going after some actual numbers. Would expect, however, that assurances of cooperation will be received by citizens with the usual and appropriate skepticism - keep those cards and letters coming...
Three irksome aspects of the stories, at least for me:
A. The attrition theme - the persistent suggestion that AHEC participants will opt out if they don't like airport location.
As noted on the Endangered Pedestrians thread, Chapel Hill is testing an "exclusive pedestrian" traffic signal phase at the Columbia (NC 86) & Cameron intersection, a configuration of traffic signals and pedestrian "walk" displays that will allow those on foot to cross in all directions at once, including diagonally across the street. This video (also below) demonstrates such a crossing in Los Angeles.
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