bus
I attended the "Special Topic: Making Transportation Decisions at a Local Level" presentation a smaller section of the larger "Sketching Chapel Hill" Series, and I thought that I'd share some details that were discussed by Martin/Alexiou/Bryson Consulting. The firm presented a 50 minute PowerPoint concerning both the CTP for the greater area, the Long Range Plan and the shorter 7 Year Transportation Plans for the area, followed by Q&A. Also, on the consulting firm's website, there are some interesting bike lane sharing plans for NCSU that are pretty cool to check out.
Carrboro (and West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill) are arguably the most mass transit friendly developments in the entire region, if not the entire state. And yet direct bus and rail connections have yet to be established connecting these dense centers of work, entertainment, and population to the rest of the Triangle. Furthermore, Carrboro rail and bus discussions have been
markedly/noticeably absent from the most recent regional
planning processes.
Triangle Transit is proposing service changes for the 15-501 corridor between Chapel Hill and Durham. I (and others in the region) believe that these service changes should include regional transit service through downtown Carrboro so that residents can take a direct bus to Durham.
Carrboro has the highest transit ridership per capita in North Carolina (9%) without even having a direct bus service out to places where many residents work and hang out (namely downtown Durham, RTP, etc.). At the same time, Carrboro is building up and not out, which means that our land use supports increased transit services. We have the highest density of all large towns and cities in NC with high transit ridership. Finally, I think that economically, increased transit service to Carrboro would very much benefit both downtown Carrboro and West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill by allowing riders from Durham a much faster way to get to our stores and food offerings.
I just left a public information session put on by the Town of Chapel Hill about the Chapel Hill/Carrboro/UNC Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), as discussed on the Town's website. Chapel Hill's plan includes the assumption that the LRTP of the Durham-Chael Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO) will be adopted and that light rail will be a reality along the NC 54 corridor and on some of US 15/501. Other than that admittedly optimistic assumption, the plan is extremely feasable. Don't get me wrong, I desperately hope that light rail will implemented, but it is far from assured.
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