
{"id":3430,"date":"2008-09-11T08:26:46","date_gmt":"2008-09-11T16:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=3430"},"modified":"2008-09-11T08:26:46","modified_gmt":"2008-09-11T16:26:46","slug":"board-talks-transport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/09\/11\/board-talks-transport\/","title":{"rendered":"Board talks transport"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Susan Dickson<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Carrboro Board of Aldermen grappled on Tuesday with long-term transportation plans for Carrboro and the surrounding areas, including the possibility of highway, fixed guideway, bike path and other improvements, as well as how to pay for them.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nThe Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO), which includes all of Durham County and the urbanized parts of Orange and Chatham counties, is developing the 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan. For the plan, transportation and local government officials are considering transportation projects to address future needs. <\/p>\n<p>Board members weighed in on preferred transportation projects, encouraging improvements to bus and fixed-guideway options, rather than intensive highway projects. <\/p>\n<p>Board member Joal Hall Broun said the DCHC MPO should work with other local MPOs to connect bus routes, especially from Alamance County. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a plethora of people coming in from Mebane and that area,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The fact of the matter is, there are people who get in their cars every day to come to [work at] the hospital.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\nBoard member Dan Coleman pointed out that UNC is already looking at transportation options from Alamance County to Chapel Hill. <\/p>\n<p>Andy Henry, representative from the City of Durham and the MPO, said the local MPO does work with other MPOs to connect transportation. <\/p>\n<p>Broun and other board members also emphasized the importance of considering light rail or another type of fixed guideway.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever propose a fixed guideway, then no one is going to consider it, no matter how much it costs,\u00e2\u20ac\u009dboard member Broun said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We know that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re running out of oil, both domestic and foreign.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153People never thought hat light rail would start in Mecklenburg County,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she added. <\/p>\n<p>Board member Randee Haven-O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Donnell questioned the possibility of a passenger train from Carrboro to Hillsborough. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Folks in Carrboro for a really long time have been interested in a rail spur from Hillsborough,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Haven-O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Donnell said. <\/p>\n<p>However, Carrboro transportation planner Adena Messinger said the university plans to keep the use of the rail line in Carrboro for transporting coal for the university\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cogeneration plant. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that a guideway couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be run parallel to [the university\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s line],\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Haven-O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Donnell said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I just think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important for us to connect that way.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Board members also considered different methods of funding the project, including a fuel tax, vehicle registration fees, a sales tax and a rental-car tax. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think the sales tax is going to be a popular suggestion, but I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very regressive,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Coleman said. <\/p>\n<p>Mayor Mark Chilton said he anticipated that it would be difficult to get all the different parties of the MPO to agree on a revenue source, and said the board shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t eliminate a sales tax as a possible funding source. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sort of difficult enough already to get an agreement on the least controversial type of tax,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The service that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s to be provided by subsidizing public transportation with a sales tax is a progressive-enough type of service.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Broun said she would discourage use of a fuel tax because revenues go down as people drive less and cars become more fuel efficient. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u009dWe need to think of a revenue source that is somewhat more stable,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<br \/>\nSome funding will come from the federal and state level, but projects must be included in the long-range plan in order to receive that funding. <\/p>\n<p>After collecting input from the municipalities, the MPO intends to develop a draft of the plan by December for federal approval in June 2009.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Susan Dickson Staff Writer The Carrboro Board of Aldermen grappled on Tuesday with long-term transportation plans for Carrboro and the surrounding areas, including the possibility of highway, fixed guideway, bike path and other improvements, as well as how to pay for them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3430\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}