In this Herald Sun Article report Tammy Grubb explains how Chapel Hill and Hillsborough were outvoted at the Feb 14th regional Metropolitan Planning meeting and found to their chagrin that funding for their local transit projects was denied in favor of a train to Duke, the Durham Orange Light Rail Transit (DOLRT). This project will cost local tax payers far more than the 100 million first projected last year. This is money that is gone if this project does not receive federal funds, and that is far from certain.
The Durham County Commissioners may think the DOLRT serves as the spine of a Durham County system, but the rail route in Orange County circumvents all the existing economic centers except for the UNC campus.
Meanwhile thanks to a grant, the Triangle Transit Authority’s high paid consultant is building fairy tales plans of robust economic development and lots of affordable housing around each transit stop, ignoring the miles of wetlands along East 54, the fact that most of the Orange County rail stops are located on UNC land where town planning does not apply, and the town’s tight fiscal year budget.
Many Chapel Hillians believed that the bus rapid transit technology makes far more sense as it could be installed on major routes such as 15-501 and MLK at a much lower cost. Chapel Hill Transit thought it made sense too, but the Commissioners were only luke warm over the needed improvements. Instead, they fell fin love with the idea of light rail, when in fact the BRT would move far more people along a major artery inside our county. The MLK BRT route in particular would serve Orange County by connecting, Obey Creek (or south to Chatham Park) on up to Hillsborough. This route actually traverses our economic centers, not circumventing them.
Yet last year our elected Orange County commissioners sold us into bondage to pay the debt on this dated rail technology all the way to 2062. For Chapel Hill, there is no relief in sight to the traffic congestion the 2030 mobility plan predicts. Read Tammy’s article here.
Pictured here is the Bus Rapid Transit concept.
