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Provide Guidance on Options for Franklin Street Downtown.
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Staff:
Department:
Colleen Willger, Director
Planning
Bergen Watterson, Transportation Planning Manager
Planning
Sarah Poulton, Downtown Special Projects Manager
Manager's Office
Overview: Franklin Street is Chapel Hill's "Main Street", serving as the primary commercial and social hub of the Town. The road is maintained by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and the segment downtown is currently a five-lane road with parallel parking on both sides for the majority of the corridor. Over the past few years, Town leadership and staff have explored various options for reconfiguring the road to better meet our goals and needs. NCDOT will resurface W. Franklin St. in the summer of 2022 and the Town has an opportunity to change the road.
In 2020, Town staff worked with a consultant and NCDOT and has a set of approved pavement marking plans showing a lane reallocation, converting a travel lane in each direction to a buffered bike lane, which was to be implemented in summer 2020. COVID-19 delayed the resurfacing and the Town installed the temporary in-road walkway to support businesses and provide additional space for people walking and rolling downtown. The walkway, especially on W. Franklin St., received positive feedback, causing Town leadership and staff to reconsider the approved plans for the lane reallocation. The resurfacing that was rescheduled to summer 2021 was delayed again due to a conflicting OWASA project, providing another year for the Town to decide what to do with Franklin St. In October 2021, the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership petitioned the Town Council to explore transferring downtown Franklin St. (Raleigh St. to Merritt Mill Rd.) maintenance from NCDOT to the Town.
Recommendation(s):
That the Council provide guidance on the options for Franklin Street Downtown.
Decision Points:
* Should the Town request a transfer of maintenance of Franklin St. between...
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