bvelliquette@heraldsun.com; 419-6632
HILLSBOROUGH -- In 2025, it will take a person driving a car on Churton Street more than a half hour, maybe even 45 minutes, to get through the downtown area, according to N.C. Dept. of Transportation projections.
That's one of the reasons why Jim and Scott Ray, who own the Occoneechee Golf Course on Lawrence Road, believe the elected officials of Hillsborough and Orange County are making a great mistake by rejecting a DOT plan to build a new road that will run from the intersection of N.C. 86 and U.S. 70 north to St. Mary's Road and the 70 Bypass to help remove the congestion in downtown Hillsborough.
The proposed project is called the Elizabeth Brady Road Extension.
The Rays say the town of Hillsborough and the Orange County Commissioners are rejecting all of the Elizabeth Brady Road Extension options that the DOT has proposed and asking the DOT to accept the "No-Build" option.
The Rays, whose family has lived in Orange County since the 1700s, say they've been watching and studying the issue of an Elizabeth Brady Road Extension for years.
They can pull out documents they saved in boxes for more than two decades that show the progress of the thought and planning behind the extension plans and the DOT's projections.
If nothing is done, Churton Street will become so congested that cars and trucks will sit at nearly a standstill spewing out exhaust fumes for thousands of hours every day, they said, pointing to DOT projections.
The study was done in 2005, with projections made to the year 2025. The traffic delay on Churton Street at Margaret Lane and King Street is expected to increase by more than 700 percent, with the delay at Tryon Street expected to increase by more than 4,000 percent, according to the DOT.
"What this means for motorists is, it takes six to eight minutes in 2005 conditions to travel 1.2 miles of Churton Street through downtown Hillsborough, whereas it is projected to take 36 to 48 minutes to travel the same distance in 2025," if no other roads are built to reduce the traffic on Churton Street, the DOT states.
Opponents of the Elizabeth Brady Road extension say building a new bridge over the Eno River would disrupt the environment of the river and spoil the pastoral area near Ayr Mount, a Federal-style plantation house built in 1815 on St. Mary's Road, and around the old Occoneechee Speedway.
The Eno River Association and other environmental groups favor the no-build option, saying the town doesn't need a multi-lane road and a new bridge that cuts a swath through the forests just so developers can build more houses north of Hillsborough.
The Rays worry that if nothing is done, people will seek alternative routes including driving on Lawrence Road, where they live and work. Lawrence Road is a two-lane road that includes several big hills that make it difficult for people pulling out of their driveways to see cars coming their way, said Scott Ray, the son of Jim Ray.
If Lawrence Road and all the other roads mentioned as possible alternative roads, such as the Efland-Cedar Grove Road, Eno Mountain Road and Pleasant Green Road, are eventually widened to accommodate the increase in traffic, it will affect the homes of many residents on those roads, not just the few who would now be affected if Elizabeth Brady Road is extended to Bypass 70.
The Rays say they are trying to educate people of just what the ramifications would be for residents living on Lawrence Road and the other alternate roads and for those traveling on Churton Street if the Elizabeth Brady extension project is rejected for good.
The DOT is accepting comments on the project until Friday.
"We've got until Friday to get the people to write the DOT, e-mail the DOT and fax the DOT their ideas on this thing and to let DOT know there are some people in town and outside of town that think Elizabeth Brady Road is a better solution than to doing nothing," Jim Ray said.
The Rays are distributing letters explaining the possibilities of the future transportation routes in and around Hillsborough, along with several pages of information that the DOT has prepared about the Elizabeth Brady Road Extension options.
People may pick up a copy of the information at the Occoneechee Golf Course.
WANT TO BE HEARD?
Anyone wishing to make a comment to the DOT about the Elizabeth Brady Road Extension may do so by sending a letter to: Mr. Jamille A. Robbins, NCDOT - Human Environment Unit, 1598 Mail Service Center, Raleigh NC 27699-1598, by faxing him at (919) 431-2002 or e-mailing Robbins at jarobbins@ncdot.gov
