N.C. transportation plans rivals town officials' vision

The state recently approved its transportation priorities for the coming years — and in Carrboro they did not quite match up with those of the local governments.

The N.C. Department of Transportation adopted its 2006-2012 Transportation Improvement Program, which addresses construction projects and improvements to roads across the state.

Transportation projects for fiscal year 2006 in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro region include improvements to the Erwin Road intersection and to the public-transit system in Chapel Hill.

But a project that Carrboro officials had hoped would be accelerated did not make the cut for this year’s list of projects.

The addition of a right-of-way to Smith Level Road is not slated to begin until 2007, according to the TIP.

Transportation Planner Dale McKeel said town officials hoped the project would begin earlier because of the construction of a high school near the road.

“The town will continue to work with the state DOT to accelerate that project,” McKeel said.

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools’ third high school is slated to open on Rock Haven Road off Smith Level Road in 2007.

School and town leaders have planned changes to the road in order to accommodate the traffic influx that will likely follow the school’s opening.

McKeel said the school district has planned to take on some of the improvements itself in order to ready the road even if NCDOT does not begin the right-of-way project.

“There are some improvements that the high school is going to make, particularly at the intersection of Rock Haven Road and Smith Level,” he said.

Those include putting in turn lanes and a traffic signal at that intersection.

“But it would be preferable to have the road project complete before the school opening,” McKeel said.

Bill Jones, a spokesman for NCDOT, said officials in the department look at several factors when deciding upon the projects to pursue.

“What they will do is select projects that they think the public would approve which would help transportation in North Carolina,” Jones said.

He said they allot a certain amount of money to each of the 14 divisions in the state and then look at cost and other factors before deciding on a time frame for the projects.

He added that the opinions of local governments and the public are taken into consideration when drafting the projects but noted that not every need can be met each year.

“There’s not enough money to fund all the projects,” he said.

Jones said NCDOT approves a TIP plan every two years, including public input in their considerations.

McKeel said Carrboro staff can include their priorities in the TIP for the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization to try to work with the state to incorporate the projects within its TIP.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.