bvelliquette@heraldsun.com; 419-6632
CARRBORO — In response to a draft of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro 2035 Long Range Transit Plan that left Carrboro disconnected from rapid transit, the aldermen voted unanimously on a resolution asking for some revisions.
When the plan was presented in October by Steve Spade, director of Chapel Hill Transit, and David Bonk, Chapel Hill’s long range and transportation planning manager, Carrboro residents learned the plan called for park and ride lots on the edge of town to attract commuters as they drive into Carrboro and then use express buses to take them to key areas such as UNC Chapel Hill, Carolina North and other employment hubs.
The main transit corridor would be Martin Luther King Jr., Boulevard, which could be widened or modified to allow buses to move quickly between UNC and downtown Chapel Hill to Carolina North and northern Chapel Hill.
What the plan didn’t do was connect Carrboro residents to a regional rail system or to the MLK bus rapid transit (BRT) system, forcing them to use other types of transportation, such as neighborhood feeder buses, to reach them. The plan seemed more like a way to move commuters through Carrboro than to serve the people living in Carrboro.
The aldermen’s resolution asks that light rail or another higher-order transit service be analyzed in future planning processes; that the plan include information and data on energy use, fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from the various transit options; and that the plan consider regional transit service that begins at park and ride lots farther away from Chapel Hill and Carrboro rather than at lots at the borders of the towns.
The Carrboro Planning Board also submitted its own review the plan, which will be attached to the resolution.
“The Planning Board does not find that the Long Range Transit Plan (LRTP) supports Carrboro’s vision and long-term interests,” the review stated. “The LRTP projects and accepts that Carrboro will be excluded from direct access to both a regional rail service and bus rapid transit and thus the town faces a substantially auto dependent future with the environmental and quality-of-life challenges that brings.”
“The plan contradicts the Carrboro BoA’s desire for rail service penetrating into downtown Carrboro and continuing to Carolina north along the existing rail corridor…,” the review added.
The review also noted that the rapid bus transit would serve Chapel Hill and Carolina North but would leave Carrboro residents to use slower feeder bus service to access them.
“Thus we would get none of the economic benefits that come with direct, regional transit access,” the review said.
Commuters coming into Carrboro would be served by large and expensive park and ride lots at the edge of town, which would encourage sprawl to the north and west of town, the review said.
It recommended that the Board of Aldermen support high-quality regional transit access and push aggressively for rail into downtown Carrboro.
