Carolina North included in future transportation plans

Chapel Hill residents are advocating for bike routes and sidewalks to be clearly incorporated into the town’s long-term transit plans.

Connections between the University’s main campus and the planned satellite research campus, Carolina North, were their main concern at the public hearing at Monday’s Chapel Hill Town Council meeting.

Carolina North will be located about two miles north of the main campus.

David Bonk, long range and transportation planning manager, presented council members with a basic summary of the proposal, known as the 2035 Long Range Transit Plan.

“The plan itself is a framework in which we believe the town of Chapel Hill, Carrboro and the University can look at options for future transit service,” Bonk said.

He said the plan focuses on expanding transit on major thoroughfares like N.C. 54 and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

The plan did not include a bicycle network — an expressed concern of residents.

“There doesn’t seem to be a bicycle advocate,” said Glenn Parks, a spokesman for the Neighbors for Responsible Growth group that is pushing for a bike connection between Carolina North and the main campus.

“Where is all this stuff knitting together?”

Former council member Julie McClintock also mentioned to the council the need for bicycle routes that would connect the University to Carolina North.

“If bike connections are not incorporated into the Short Range Transit Plan, we won’t have them,” she said.

The planning department identified two investment scenarios to improve traveling conditions. The pricier investment is the installation of a light rail that would serve about 102,000 riders per day.

The less costly one would employ a system called Bus Rapid Transit, which would serve about 99,000 riders per day.

The Bus Rapid Transit proposal includes higher-capacity buses, separate bus lanes and the use of technology such as the NextBus system, said Steve Spade, Chapel Hill Transit director.

“Bus Rapid Transit is a technology that’s been employed for the last 10 years,” said Spade. “It takes the concept of a light rail and adapts it for less capital use.”

In order to help meet the goals of the 2035 plan, the policy committee developed the Short Range Transit Plan — a step by step guide for the longer plan.

 Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt suggested the policy committee develop a graphic and narrative form of the regional, local, and corridor planning so that residents can better understand the concepts.



Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.