Planning & Transportation
On Monday evening, 11/5, NCDOT held a "Citizens Informational Workshop" on the Smith Level Road "improvement" project. Turnout was, to be kind, sparse. Now we enter the "public comment and public hearing" phase, the last stop before the asphalt meets the roadbed. The current DOT project plan for Smith Level (the section between Rock Haven Road and the Morgan Creek bridge) could best be described as resembling MLK Blvd.
Does the Town of Carrboro really want a multi-lane monstrosity within the town limits? Aristotle had a phrase for DOTs proclivity to seek to relieve congestion by adding travel lanes: reductio ad absurdum. At a moment of fatigue (discussion on this issue began back in 1986) the Board of Aldermen gave DOT the green light to continue planning based on the current project plan. Now here we are.
Two actions seem to be required to turn this project from boondoggle to actual improvement:
Those who traverse Estes Drive Extension regularly may have noticed some delays from paving work going on. But wait, before you curse your fate for being stuck in traffic, take note: Those wide paved shoulders are going in right now to make biking on Estes safer!
A month ago, Eric Muller, asked 'Will Chapel Hill/Carrboro Ever Be Bike-Friendly?' Collaboration between the Carrboro Board of Aldermen and the Chapel Hill Town Council is leading to new paved shoulders on Estes Drive Extension – and a whole lot more!
Saw this in an article about the Little Red Bike Cafe in North Portland, OR:
Drive-thru windows at fast-food restaurants and banks are a significant source of air pollution, because as determined by the EPA, drivers use more gas when idling than while in motion. A number of cities in the U.S. and Canada are considering drive-thru window bans. Santa Cruz, California, has already banned the creation of new drive-thru windows since 1979.
This been tried or considered in OC?
I very nearly bit the dust this morning on Dairyland, about 1/2 mile west of Old 86.
While on my morning bicycle ride, minding my own business along the road's virtually nonexistent shoulder, a driver whipping past me clipped my left hip and the edge of my left handlebar. Miraculously, I was not injured physically, although I am pretty shaken up. Two more inches and I wouldn't be here to type this right now.
I mention this out of a growing frustration with the gaping disparity between the image that this area has of itself (as a place that facilitates active, healthy lifestyles and encourages alternative transportation methods) and the reality of our local roads, which are for the most part very unfriendly to bikes and pedestrians.
I think of the often-expressed desire to limit parking spaces at Carolina North in order to encourage other modes of transport, and then I think of my experience this morning, and I ruefully laugh. The truth is that we do not have the road infrastructure to support anything other than cars and buses on our roads, and, so far as I know, no comprehensive plan to change that.
At tonight's Chapel Hill Town Council meeting they will be reviewing the Northern Area Task Force Report, which proposes a large number of significant changes to limit development and encourage more pedestrian-oriented growth. I still haven't spent as much time as I'd like digging into it. What do y'all think of the recommendations?
Also, I think the Rogers Road neighbors and their friends will be petitioning the Council. I don't know what their request is, but it may be about the Transfer Station which will be before the Council for a Special Use permit soon.
The Chapel Hill News wrote up a nice overview of the northern area suggestions, I'm posting the whole thing because I'm in a hurry.
GOAL 1: A landmark gateway that "announces" Chapel Hill at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Weaver Dairy Road.
Objectives:
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