The Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) for the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO) adopted the the Southwest Durham/Southeast Chapel Hill Collector Street Plan at their meeting on April 11, 2007. A copy of the street network is available.
Status of Collector Street Project
DCHC MPO Adopts Collector Street Plan
The Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC), which is the board of elected officials that makes policy decisions for the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO), approved the Southwest Durham/Southeast Chapel Hill Collector Street Plan at their meeting on April 11, 2007. The development community will use the Collector Street Plan in their development designs and local staff and citizens will use the Plan to evaluate proposed development plans. A copy of the Collector Street Plan street network is available at the link directly below. The complete Southwest Durham/Southeast Chapel Hill Collector Street Planwill report, as well as a handy brochure and small scale map, will be available on this Web page in the next few days.
The documents and information used in the public process that preceded the Collector Street Plan adoption are available in the "Questions and Answers" section below.
Questions and Answers
What is a Collector Street?
The primary function of a collector street is to draw traffic from local streets and expedite the movement of this traffic in the most direct route to an arterial or other collector street. Collector streets, thus, form the intermediate link between local (or, residential) and arterial streets in the roadway network. Most of us intuitively head for a collector street as we drive away from our house because the collector street tends to have fewer stop signs and is the most direct connection to an arterial road.
What is the Collector Street Plan?
The collector street plan is to provide citizens, the development community and government staff with an easy-to-understand and rational document to guide collector street location and design. They must be able to rely on this plan to make future decisions on the location of collector streets in a variety of land use types and densities, and they must be confident that adherence to the plan will produce the safest roadways and highest level of service possible while achieving the goal of connectivity.
Why is the Collector Street Plan Needed?
The southwest Durham and southeast Chapel Hill area has grown rapidly over the last few decades, and this rapid population growth is expected to continue into the future. The result of this rapid growth has been reduced driving safety, deteriorating congestion conditions and limited transportation access. The lack of adequate collector streets often contributes to these negative conditions by creating a circuitous road network that does not provide connectivity among existing and new developments and by forcing much traffic onto a few congested arterial roads.
What is the Study Area for the Collector Street Plan?
The study area will be, more or less, the area enclosed by the New Hope Creek wetlands and U.S. Army Corps of Engineer property, NC 54, US 15-501 and the Durham/Orange County line. Click here (146 KB) to download a map of the study area.
Who is in Charge of the Collector Street Plan?
The Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO), which is staffed at the City of Durham Transportation Division, has dedicated staff and hired a consultant to complete the Collector Street Plan. The consultant is Kimley-Horn Associates. The City of Durham , Durham County and Town of Chapel Hill, which have planning jurisdiction for various parts of the study area for the Collector Street Plan, will be charged with implementing the completed plan.
Completed Activities
Results from 1st Public Workshop
The 1st Public Workshop was held October 11, 2005. The Workshop discussed the need for a collector street plan and gathered input from the public. Click Survey Responses (58 KB) and Participant Comments (59 KB) to view or download a record of this input.
Results from the 2nd Public Workshop
The 2nd Public Workshop was held Tuesday, January 10, 2006. Participants viewed maps and information on collector street network alternatives and provided their comments to staff. You can provide your comments to us by sending an e-mail with your comments to the e-mail address below. The following sets of links provide materials that were distributed for the 2nd Public Workshop and summaries of the public comments that have been submitted.
The 3rd public workshop was conducted on March 21, 2006. Citizens reviewed the draft Recommended Collector Street Network, the central element of the report, and the various chapters from the draft report, and provided comments. Links below provide summaries of the public comments, and maps and report chapters as presented at the workshop (thus, these copies do not reflect any changes that might occur based on public comments from the workshop). You can submit comments to the contact listed at the bottom of this page.
The Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) is the decision-making board of elected officials for the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO). At their May 10, 2006 meeting, the TAC received a short presentation on the Southwest Durham/Southeast Chapel Hill Collector Street Plan, asked staff questions concerning the Plan, and listened to comments from citizens who attended the meeting. The TAC voted to set a public hearing to hear citizen comments on the Collector Street Plan for their June 14, 2006 meeting. Additional information is presented in the "Public Hearing" entry below.
The proposed Southwest Durham/Southeast Chapel Hill Collector Street Plan report is available on the following links:
TAC Conducts Public Hearing and Requests Revisions
The TAC conducted a public hearing at their June 14, 2006 meeting to hear citizen comments on the recommended Collector Street Plan. Click this highlighted text to access the agenda and materials for this meeting. Based on citizen comments, the TAC requested that the Technical Coordinating Committee (staff advisory board to TAC) revise the recommended Plan and present the revised Plan at the August or September TAC meeting. In addition, a TAC member presented a Resolution from the Town of Chapel Hill requesting that the TAC defer action on the Collector Street Plan until the Town Council conducts a public hearing on the Plan. This public hearing is scheduled for October 18, 2006, 7PM, in the Chapel Hill Town Council Chambers.
Copies of the revised Southwest Durham/Southeast Chapel Hill Collector Street Plan and relevant TAC meeting information will be posted on this Web page as it becomes available.
The following links provide copies of public comments that were received in relationship to the Public Hearing:
The TAC reviewed the Revised Southwest Durham/Southeast Chapel Hill Collector Street Plan at their September 13th TAC meeting and voted to forward the Plan to the Town of Chapel Hill for their public hearing. In addition, the TAC requested that staff conduct another public workshop to collect citizen input on the Revised Plan.
Final Public Workshop
The Final Public Workshop was held October 10, 2006 to receive comments on the Revised Collector Street Plan. Maps of the Revised Collector Street Plan, the full report, and workshop related materials are available at the links below. These are the most up-to-date documents for this project.
The Town of Chapel Hill conducted a public hearing on the Southwest Durham/Southeast Chapel Hill Collector Street Plan on October 18, 2006. The Chapel Hill Town Council also addressed the Collector Street Plan at their meetings on November 20, 2006 and December 4, 2006. For more information on these two activities, go to the Town of Chapel Hill Web site, www.ci.chapel-hill.nc.us, or contact David Bonk, Transportation Planner, Town of Chapel Hill, (919) 969-5064, x-347,
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Will the Southwest Durham Drive Corridor be Moved?
The corridor for the Southwest Durham Drive, which runs through the middle of the collector street plan study area, has been adopted in the 2030 Long Range Transportation Plan (2030 LRTP) for the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitian Planning Organization (DCHC MPO). Changing this minor thoroughfare corridor is beyond the scope of the collector street plan, and therefore the collector street plan will assume the current corridor as designated in the 2030 LRTP.
How will the Intersections on NC 54 be Designed and Configured?
The details of designing and configuring the NC 54 intersections within the study area are beyond the scope of the collector street plan. Thus, the collector street network map shows street connections to NC 54 without designating the intersection design, e.g., traffic signal, median. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has short-term plans to: 1) widen the loop off of I-40 to add an additional lane, carry that lane on NC 54 westbound through the Farrington Road intersection, and end that lane at Falconbridge Road; 2) install a median at Falconbridge Road that will not allow lefts (or throughs) from the side streets, but permit lefts from NC 54 to Falconbridge Road on the south and to Celeste Circle on the north; 3) add a traffic signal at Hunting Ridge Road.
The NCDOT will continue to study the NC 54 corridor and will likely consider mid-term improvements to improve traffic flow without implementing a significant construction project. Long-term improvements will likely involve a major reconstruction of the I-40/NC 54 interchange.
How Can I Get More Information or Provide Comments?
You can contact:
Andy Henry Transportation Planner City of Durham Transportation Div. Telephone – (919) 560-4366 Fax – (919) 560-4561 E-mail – Mail – 101 City Hall Plaza, Durham, NC 27701
