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Eno Drive shuffle continues |
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By C.D. KIRKPATRICK : The Herald-Sun DURHAM -- After years of debate and with little resolved about Eno Drive, a regional committee voted Wednesday to approve a long-range transportation proposal that includes the controversial road and to open a 42-day public comment period. Several of the members stressed they remain opposed to the most recent Eno Drive proposal. The Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee, which sets transportation priorities for Durham, Orange and Chatham counties, approved the public comment period because the region is facing a federal deadline. If the deadline is missed for too long, it could threaten federal funding for some road projects and the Chapel Hill bus system, which survives on a federal subsidy, said Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy. As it stands now, the long planning process is three months behind schedule. The committee also voted to have Durham officials create a final, acceptable alignment for Eno Drive, which has been known by several names over the years. At the meeting, another road project also came under fire. The committee voted to consider scaling back the Elizabeth Brady Road Extension in Hillsborough from four lanes to two lanes. Some Orange leaders have criticized the four-lane road project as dangerous for the Eno River and disruptive to some historic and cultural sites, such as the old Orange County Speedway. But they also realize the need for traffic relief in downtown Hillsborough, which is being used as a cut-through by truck traffic. That project is designed to divert congestion off Churton Street and onto U.S. 70. "We’re absolutely sensitive to the incredible congestion on Churton Street," said Orange County Commissioner Alice Gordon, who serves on the regional committee. The 2025 transportation plan proposal is now available for a 42-day public inspection and comment period. The committee will hold a public hearing Dec. 4 at City Hall and meet again to vote on a final plan Dec. 18. Adding to the complex Eno Drive issue are the recent objections from Orange County governments to the latest proposal. Orange Commissioners, with the Chapel Hill Town Council and Carrboro Board of Aldermen in agreement, recently passed a resolution opposing the latest alignment of Eno Drive, which was suggested by the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce several years ago and revived by transportation staff two weeks ago. Orange County officials say they fear the alignment could ultimately threaten the rural quality in northeast Orange County, especially on St. Mary’s Road, which runs northeast from Hillsborough into Durham County to Treyburn Corporate Park. The most recent Eno Drive recommendation, also called the "revised Northern Durham Parkway," would use the original northeast alignment of Eno Drive from I-540 near the airport north to I-85 near Glenn School Road and then cut through with new road to Old Oxford Highway. The road would then run northwest along Old Oxford and Snow Hill Road and end at Roxboro Road, where it would face a relatively undeveloped area of Orange County. "I don’t consider a vote in support of putting this out for public comment the same as voting for this alignment," Foy told the committee. "I plan to vote against this alignment." Whatever the plan contains, if it gains local approval on Dec. 18, the federal government would then assess the plan from an air quality standpoint. The current plan will expire on Feb. 28 about three months before the new plan is approved, officials estimate. The lapse puts some federal road work at risk of delay, and the Chapel Hill bus system at risk of having its funding delayed, Foy said. But a three months lapse is manageable, they said. Any further delay, however, could seriously crimp the bus system’s finances, said Chapel Hill Town Council member Ed Harrison, who sits on the regional committee. The 2025 plan is not written in stone. It only allows road projects to move forward in the future if the state and local government decide together they should be a high priority. After deciding a road should be built, the state would add the project to its Transportation Improvement Program and schedule it for the various stages of right-of-way acquisition and road construction. Only roads in the long-range plan can be built and so keeping any version of Eno Drive off the vast blueprint would assure, at least for three years, the victory for the road’s opponents. The 2025 long-range plan also includes networks of mass transit corridors and bicycle and pedestrian pathways. The northeast section of Eno Drive is already in the
hopper and is scheduled for right-of-way acquisition in 2006-2007 and
initial construction in 2008. |