At an Assembly of Governments meeting in Chapel Hill on Thursday, Cary Mayor Glen Lang presented the Regional Transportation Strategy for the Research Triangle Region of North Carolina.
Lang presented the strategy on behalf of Durham Mayor Nick Tennyson, Raleigh Mayor Paul Coble, Chapel Hill Mayor Rosemary Waldorf and himself. The mayors collaborated to come up with a plan to try to alleviate some commuter stress by identifying and addressing the transportation concerns of the area.
"We all recognize that we have a problem, and we need to find a way to solve it," Waldorf said.
The strategy, which was initiated in August 2000, calls for improving and adding freeway and street systems, forming high occupancy vehicle lanes and expanding mass transit. Lang said the plan will include the development of additional pedestrian and bicycle trails.
One of the principal concerns is that the air quality in the area has fallen to very low levels, Lang said. The federal government is threatening to stop area growth if the problem is not properly addressed.
Lang also said the best possible solution to that problem would be to increase the amount of mass transit.
Lang indicated that by 2025, the projected population growth in the Triangle will far exceed the projected freeway growth. The original planning did not include these projections, and it could appear as if nothing is being done about the transportation problems.
"Doing nothing, in the eyes of the four mayors, is not an option," Lang said.
But doing something inevitably costs money, Lang said. He said the projected cost for additions to the transportation system would require an extra $10.1 billion.
