By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
The Carrboro Board of Aldermen voted 6 to 1 on Tuesday to return plans to widen and build sidewalks along Smith Level Road to the state Department of Transportation, asking DOT officials to remove a planned four-lane segment from the design.
Mayor Mark Chilton cast the only dissenting vote, saying that while he didn’t support widening the road to four lanes, the town could be forced to wait a very long time before sidewalks are built on Smith Level Road if it didn’t accept DOT’s proposal.
“I’m frustrated because there was an awful lot of rhetoric here tonight that suggests that this current situation is somehow safe, that the current situation is somehow acceptable, that it would be OK to wait another 20 years to have pedestrian improvements on Smith Level Road and Culbreth Road,†Chilton said.
A Tuesday night public hearing on the project was standing room only, and while many residents spoke out against the project, not a single member of the public spoke in favor of the plan.
The plan
The project dates back to 1985, when DOT identified Smith Level Road as a primary arterial in need of widening and recommended widening the road to a four-lane cross section with a median. Since then, the project has evolved to include sidewalks and bike lanes, as requested by residents and town officials who said the improvements would be vital to the safety of children walking to school along the road.
The $6.6 million proposed project would widen Smith Level Road from just south of Ray Road to the Morgan Creek bridge and add a roundabout in front of Carrboro High School at the intersection of Smith Level and Rock Haven roads. The plan includes a three-lane section from the roundabout to Culbreth Road, a four-lane section from Culbreth Road to BPW Club Road and a divided four-lane section from BPW Club Road to the Morgan Creek bridge. Sidewalks and bicycle lanes are planned along the length of the 0.8-mile project.
Many residents said that while the road needs sidewalks and bike lanes, widening the road to four lanes would make the road unsafe for children walking to school. Three schools are located in the project’s vicinity: Carrboro High, Frank Porter Graham Elementary School and Culbreth Middle School.
Board members said they realized that if they rejected the DOT’s proposal, it could be years before the town would get sidewalks and bike lanes along Smith Level Road. However, several board members said that they would not widen the road in order to get the sidewalks.
“Where I come down on this is that I think that the four-lane segment is wrong,†board member Dan Coleman said. “It’s a waste of money for the state. It’s dangerous. It doesn’t prioritize the safety of the school children.â€
Board member Jacquie Gist said widening the road would only encourage more people to drive and not to use public transit or other modes of transportation.
“I just think if you plan for things to continue as they are, things will continue as they are,†she said. However, she added, “We do need [pedestrian improvements], so we’re going to have to really push DOT to give us the money for sidewalks at least.â€
Chilton said he agreed that the four-lane segment was unnecessary, but felt that the need for sidewalks was too pressing for the board to reject the DOT’s proposal and risk losing the money for the project altogether.
“I think the idea of having a four-lane road through there stinks … but I also think that it’s totally unnecessary and totally unacceptable to go on for untold years on into the future having no sidewalks and no bike lanes along those roads,†Chilton said.
Particular concern
Lisa Stuckey, chair of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education, said board members were particularly concerned about the proposed roundabout in front of Carrboro High, which does not include a pedestrian signal.
“[DOT officials] told me that a pedestrian signal would be inappropriate,†she said, adding that the only option for stopping traffic would be a crossing guard, costing $10,000 a year.
In addition, Stuckey said if the road is widened to four lanes, adding sidewalks would not enable them to increase the walk zone for Frank Porter Graham Elementary.
“We would never have elementary school students crossing a four-lane road,†she said.
Several residents also criticized the design’s use of data that didn’t take into account bus ridership and the widening of U.S. 15-501.
“I don’t think anybody here has been able to understand the need for this project,†Jason Henning said. “There’s actually been a decrease in traffic on Smith Level Road…. The debilitating congestion that the DOT has projected for the past 10 years simply has not come to pass.â€
Members of the Carrboro Transportation Advisory Board also urged board members to reject the DOT’s proposal, saying that any safety gained by building sidewalks and bike lanes would be negated by increases in traffic brought by widening the road.
DOT staff will review aldermen and public comments at a meeting on Tuesday.
Smith Level/Greensboro serves important destinations including Carrboro High School to the south and Weaver Street and Farmer’s Market to the north. This section will also intersect with the future MORGAN CREEK GREENWAY. The greenway underpass will make it easy to cross safely. It is important that roadway improvements in this section be planned to safely interchange bike & ped traffic with the future greenway–e.g. to allow safe ped crossing where necessary, discourage “wrong way” cycling, and facilitate easy, efficient and safe access for all travelers.
On a steep downhill, bikes often approach the speed limit and cyclists need to be able to utilize greater lane width, especially if the lane edges are obstructed by litter, foliage, ice, salt, bad pavement, etc.. For this reason, wide outside lanes (no stripe) are preferable to bike lanes on steep descents. Furthermore, it is never a good idea to put a bike lane on only one side of a two-way street, because that would encourage wrong-way cycling. Wide lanes with Sharrows would be the appropriate treatment for the hill on Smith Level Road.
I disagree with the previous commentary; a bike lane versus no bike lane is always preferable. It is up to individual riders to use both the motor vehicle lanes and bike lanes according to the law and with safety in mind.
I’m very dissapointed in our alderman and the those short-sighted individuals who chose to comment against this project.
I’ll be riding my bike to the polls to vote against all present aldermen in future elections.
Bruce, I strongly support some kind of accommodation for bikes on Smith Level (and many other places), whether it is wider shoulders or full bike lanes. But I also understand why the aldermen made this decision, and if I were in their shoes, I would have voted similarly. The DOT was trying to ram an unnecessary four-lane down the community’s throat. The DOT are stuck in the paradigm of ever more pavement for ever more cars – they are clueless that the world has actually changed, and that this mode of thinking is 30 years out of date. I think the aldermen chose between the lesser of two evils, but neither choice presented to them was good. The only way “good” could come out of this is if the DOT wakes up to the realities of the 21st century. Maybe they’ll get there by the time we’re in the 22nd century.
I think the whole thing is sad, and yet hilarious. NCDOT offers to pay for almost all of a road improvement and the all knowing people of Carrboro turn it down. They know so much more about roadway needs than Professionals.
Maybe Carrboro can build goat trails instead of bike paths and roadways. Much greener. LOL!
Speaking of LOL!
Individual decides not to protest construction of toxic waste dump next to said individual’s home because toxic waste company will pay for almost all of the dump and they know so much more about toxic waste dumps than the individual.
LOL!