Transit plans approved

County officials approved the time line of a plan that could turn N.C. 86 into a four-lane expressway, but not before voicing concerns about the project and demanding some changes.

The N.C. Department of Transportation and two local transportation planning organizations presented their comprehensive transportation plan to the Orange County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday.

The commissioners took issue with the department’s choosing N.C. 86 as the site of a future expressway instead of their preference, N.C. 70.

“We were not part of the decision-making process,” said Commissioner Barry Jacobs.

Transportation Engineer Sarah Ezzell said the department chose N.C. 86 based on the amount of traffic reduction needed, but Jacobs said the change would reduce traffic only 16 percent.

Jacobs said the department made their plan without considering commissioner input.

“Once things go on a D.O.T. map … it is very hard to get them off,” Jacobs said. “They kind of reappear like vampires without the stake driven properly through the heart.”

The board also approved the release of a survey to Orange County residents asking them which aspects of local transportation need improvement.

The survey would have been released Wednesday but Commissioner Alice Gordon requested some changes to the language.

One of the questions she suggested changing was the one regarding N.C. 86, mentioning the 16 percent traffic reduction.

Commissioner Mike Nelson said he was pleased when board members called the presentation acronym-heavy and opaque.

“Thanks for pulling the curtain back on the wizard and making some of this clearer,” Nelson said to the board.

The project is set for completion by 2030.


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