Fordham Boulevard

Here is Town Council Member Sally GREENE's report on discussions last night at the Town Council meeting. The potential work to be done on Fordham Boulevard will affect all of us in Southern Village - as drivers on the that road, as walkers and bikers in the area, and - most important - as people concerned about our making wise and environmentally supportive choices about our transportation infrastructure.

"2. The 2035 Long-Range Transportation Plan. Federal regulations require the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO) to update the Urban Area Long Range Transportation Plan every three years. The plan includes all roadway, transit, bicycle and sidewalk improvements that are anticipated for a minimum period of 20 years. Our plan for 2035 is approaching a completion date in December of this year. For the staff report, seehttp://townhall.townofchapelhill.org/agendas/2008/09/08/2/2-staff_memo.htmWe are now in the public comment period. Please see the following write-up by George Cianciolo, chair of our Planning Board, for details of upcoming opportunities to make your opinions known.http://tinyurl.com/6ddmqhThe way the plan works, there are several options proposed for ways to respond to the projected growth in population and traffic: (1) intensive highway, (2) intensive fixed guideway, (3) intensive multimodal, and (4) moderate multimodal. A topic of last night's Council discussion focused on Fordham Boulevard, which, as we all know, is terribly congested at the moment; and as development continues in Chatham County, this road is tending to become even more of a freeway. Please, note that the "intensive highway" option anticipates a widening of Fordham Boulevard, all the way down to the 15-501 exit toward Pittsboro, to six lanes. In my view, this is not a desired outcome! Already we know that Fordham Boulevard has the effect of splitting parts of our community in two. Thanks to the efforts of the Fordham Boulevard Safety Committee, we have identified a need for a pedestrian bridge near the Manning Drive intersection, and that project remains a priority for the Council.If this is an issue that's important to you, please make your opinion known through one of the venues identified in George's posting above. The earliest opportunity is today at the Chapel Hill Public Library, 4-7 p.m."