NCDOT only accepting comments until June 30, 2010

Why should taxpayers spend more money when the Cost of Natural 540/64 By Pass and No Superstreets is:   $-0-

• Save your Community from Un-Necessary Road Construction and Un-Necessary Expenses of your Tax Dollars!

  NCDOT’s Plan did not factor the completion of 540 into their study and plan.

  Projected cost of NCDOT’s open corridor initiative within Apex and Cary is:

• Short term: Temporary “Super Streets”  $22.6 million

             (No left turns, right turn only, make U turns; + 8 more stop lights)

• Long Term High Way from Pittsboro to US 1: $325 million

PETITION KICK-OFF   Saturday June 12^th @ Kroger Foods in Lake Pine Plaza 10AM   

PETITION DRIVE WILL BE FOR THE NEXT 3 WEEKENDS AT KROGER FOODS IN LAKE PINE PLAZA and/or you can sign the petition any time at the Customer Service Counter at Kroger’s or go to WWW.SAVE64.ORG download a petition, get signatures and drop it off at Kroger Customer Service counter.

PUBLIC COMMENT re US 64 Corridor Study ends Wed. June 30

email NCDOT

June 1st, 2010

SAVE64.ORG thanks you for your support.

ALERT! The Apex/Cary community is under siege and you must act NOW to preserve and protect the integrity of your community. danthomas@ncdot.gov needs to hear from you ASAP, before June 30.

US 64 CORRIDOR STUDY DRAFT was made available to the public by NCDOT on May 5^th You can view the study at Eva Perry Library in Apex or see it on line at:  www.ncdot.gov/~us64study   The study does not take in to account that 540 would be completed by 2014. Is the NCDOT 64 Corridor Study fundamentally flawed?

If NCDOT were truly listening to the community they should have realized by now that the community is opposed to their “Open Corridor Initiative”. The ultimate “Long Term” goal of the Open Corridor Initiative is to provide a non-stop route between Raleigh and Charlotte.

CAMPO (Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization) held a public hearing, Wednesday 5/19/10.   Three community representatives made comments suggesting that changes are still needed in the US 64 Corridor Study.  Both the towns of Cary and Apex are voting members of CAMPO and both towns are now studying the most recent DRAFT.

CARY’S TOWN COUNCIL on May 27, 2010, DIRECTED THE Cary staff to work with the Apex staff to “prepare a “unified response” to the US-64 Corridor Study Draft Final Report. Ideally, this “response” would take the form of a joint resolution, position statement, memo or other format advised by staff. The overarching objective of this effort is to identify the elements of common ground and formulate a “unified response” for the CAMPO/TAC members to consider prior to voting on the Report’s adoption. The respective governing boards (Cary and Apex) would consider the proposed “unified response” for adoption prior the August 2010 timeframe. The joint response would include only items where consensus exists or is achieved. Positions or concerns that are not “jointly shared” could be addressed outside of the joint response, however a collective response would facilitate any action requested of TAC when it considers adoption of the Report and its recommendations.

If you were not aware of CAMPO public hearing you are not alone!  However, the communities’ concerns are being heard and CAMPO will not act on the Study report until after the Comment period has ended, June 30, 2010. 

We believe that both our goal of preserving our existing community and NCDOT’s “Long Term Goal” of efficient flow of traffic can be achieved.

540 will provide the perfect By-Pass. The State can save millions of dollars by not needlessly transforming 64 into a “Super Street”.

NCDOT’s public comment period ends on June 30^th.  

Dan Thomas, US64 Corridor Study coordinator, has invited comments re Transportation Improvement Program Project number R-4469 via email/fax/phone:

            Dan Thomas, NCDOT Planning Branch    danthomas@ncdot.gov   

                          FAX: (919) 733-2417       Phone: (919) 715-5482 ext. 389 

Make your voice heard!  What can you do to help?

Email and/or call the following:

Dan Thomas: NCDOT Transportation Planning: 919-715-5482 ext. 389 danthomas@ncdot.gov

Peter Trencansky, PE,URS Corp. (consultant to NCDOT’s US64 Corridor Study): 919-461-1332  peter_trencansky@urscorp.com

CAMPO Director, Ed Johnson:  919-993-4390 Ed.Johnson@campo-nc.us

NCDOT Secretary, Gene Conti: 919-733-2520 gconti@ncdot.gov

Let them know: 

•  You demand that the integrity of your existing community be preserved along the   Apex/Cary 64 Corridor;       
• You demand that 540 between US1 & US 64 West be designated as the 64 BYPASS.
• You demand that US64 be renamed Tryon Boulevard/Business 64 and that “Super Streets” not be constructed along the current US64 in Cary and Apex.
• That you demand that there be no toll between US 1 and US 64 via the 540 By-Pass.
• That you believe that the US64 Corridor Study is flawed because it never took the 2014 completion date of 540 into account

DOWNLOAD THE PETITION FORM HERE ON SAVE64!

In fact download many and give them to your neighbors and friends and get signatures to back it up.  You can deliver your completed Petitions to the Kroger Customer Service Desk in Lake Pine Plaza (Lake Pine Rd/ US64) in Apex beginning May 19, 2010.

THANK YOU Kroger Foods! You are a COMMUNITY ASSET and we appreciate you!, Thank you for agreeing to accommodate us again in our efforts to guard, protect and preserve OUR COMMUNITY!

Thank you,

Save64.org

Through your voices & signatures and emails in 2009, we were able to make sufficient progress, (the elevated highway has been eliminated from the plan), but, our voices have not been completely heard.

ALERT! CAMPO (Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization) is holding a public hearing, TODAY Wednesday 5/19 at 4PM. [http://www.campo-nc.us/index.html]

If you were not aware of today’s CAMPO public hearing you are not alone!

CAMPO is proposing that your right to voice your opinion be cut off on June 16^th!

The Apex/Cary community is under siege and you must act NOW to preserve and protect the integrity of your community.

On May 5^th NCDOT published the 64 Corridor Study (you can view the study at Eva Perry Library in Apex). The study does not take in to account that 540 would be completed by 2014. Is the NCDOT 64 Corridor Study fundamentally flawed?

If NCDOT were truly listening to the community they should have realized by now that the community is opposed to their “Open Corridor Initiative”. The ultimate “Long Term” goal of the Open Corridor Initiative is to provide a non-stop route between Raleigh and Charlotte.

We believe that both our goal of preserving our existing community and NCDOT’s “Long Term Goal” of efficient flow of traffic can be achieved.

540 will provide the perfect By-Pass. The State can save millions of dollars by not needlessly transforming 64 into a “Super Street”.

NCDOT’s public comment period ends on June 30^th.

Make your voice heard!  What can you do to help?

Download a copy of our petition and gather signatures, drop completed petition pages to Kroger Foods in Apex (Lake Pine/64), at the customer service desk.

Call and or email the following:

Wake County Commissioner: Stan Norwalk 919-363-4685 stan.norwalk@wakegov.com

CAMPO  Director Ed Johnson  919-993-4390 Ed.Johnson@campo-nc.us

NCDOT Gene Conti NCDOT 919-733-2520 gconti@ncdot.gov

Let them know:You demand that the integrity of your existing community be preserved along the Apex/Cary 64 Corridor;

You demand that US64 be renamed Tryon Boulevard/Business 64 and that you don’t want “Super Streets” in your backyard

That you believe that the US64 Corridor Study is flawed because if never took the  2014 completion date of 540  into account.

That you believe there should be no toll between US 1 and US 64 Via the 540 /64 By-Pass.

Click here to download the Petition (PDF file).

In fact download many and give them to your neighbors and friends and get signatures to back it up.  You can deliver your completed Petitions to the Kroger Customer Service Desk in Lake Pine Plaza in Apex beginning today May 19, 2010.

THANK YOU Kroger Foods! You are a COMMUNITY ASSET and we appreciate you!, Thank you for agreeing to accommodate us again in our efforts to guard, protect and preserve OUR COMMUNITY!

Thank you,

Save64.org

Through your voices signatures we were able to make sufficient progress, however, our voices have not been completely heard.

While we are somewhat encouraged in the Study Team recommending solutions at Laura Duncan  to improve the safety of pedestrian traffic we remain concerned by the lack of true commitment to the 64 By-Pass.

NCDOT’s press conference portrayed the fact that they were no longer recommending elevated components for the long term solution as if they were listening to us loud and clear.

The fact remains that NCDOT removed the elevated option as a viable option before the Stake Holders Work Shop began over six months ago.

 If NCDOT were truly listening to the community they should have realized by now that the community is opposed to their “Open Corridor Initiative” (in which they propose a non-stop route between Raleigh and Charlotte) that they continue to pursue.

We see the wisdom and continue to support the Town of Apex Mayor Keith Weatherly’s By-Pass concept that he clearly expressed to NCDOT (and is a matter of public record documented in the first round of stakeholder’s meetings).

The Mayor had the foresight and vision to understand that 540 would be built (currently 540 will be complete by 2014). 540’s route would create a natural bypass and that the NCDOT could easily and effectively move traffic via 540 between US1 and US64. Best of all is no additional funding would be necessary to do so unlike the other By-Passes needed to complete the Open Corridor Initiative. If NCDOT was really interested in working with communities along the route that would have been and still remains as the best possible option.

The By-Pass would both preserve the integrity of the community and accomplish the speed and mobility NCDOT was seeking in its quest for an additional uninterrupted route between Raleigh and Charlotte.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that this is only the Study Team’s recommendation’s, it is not funded and it still needs to go before our elected officials.

Dan Thomas of NCDOT has assured us that the public comment period would be open until June 30^th, 2010, despite NCDOT’s web site stated as of yesterday that the public comment cut off was June 15^th, 2010.

We encourage the members of the community to voice their opinion on this very important matter.

Thank you,

Save64.org

Thank you for your  support in preserving the 64 corridor in Cary and Apex.

As a result of our communities and Save64.org’s efforts a series of “Stake Holders” meetings were held with NCDOT and the “Study Group”.

We are pleased to announce that the Study Group and NCDOT has in fact recommended that a by-pass be created via US 1 and 540, and that they were dropping the elevated Free Way aspects from the Study.  

The Regional Transportation Alliance has been working with both Cary and Apex Chambers of Commerce and have asked that we present the below draft to our fellow citizens. The purpose is to judge the publics opinion on there draft on this very important issue.

Feel free to post any of your thoughts or questions on our web site, or to contact your local officials or NCDOT.

Thank you,

Save64.org

Draft position on US 64 West corridor

We recognize that US 64 is a critical corridor for both transportation and economic development for our region and state.  We also understand that US 64 West also serves our local community in southwestern Wake County and is critical for mobility; access to offices, merchants, parks, and schools; and overall quality of life.

We applaud NCDOT, the Capital Area MPO, the Towns of Cary and Apex, and other partners for their shared efforts at exploring multiple options in order to identify a balanced solution from a community, regional, and statewide perspective.  After engaging in the extensive community outreach process during 2009 with the corridor study team, we offer the following comments:

• We support the study team’s recommendation to pursue signing US 64 bypass along NC 540 in order to inform through travelers of the availability of a nearby freeway-quality facility and to encourage long-distance travelers to use that routing
• We request that dynamic message signs that highlight travel time differences between the existing 64 corridor and the 540 freeway routing be installed along the lines of the electronic travel time sign examples shown in the new 2009 MUTCD in order to further inform longer distance travelers of the availability of the bypass routing
• Given the continuing and projected population and travel growth in the Triangle, we support efforts to preserve or enhance the mobility along the existing corridor between NC 540 and US 1
• Given the character of the Cary/Apex community and the existing US 64 corridor, any proposed mobility improvements to the existing corridor should sustain or improve its aesthetics, maintain a boulevard feel, and preserve or enhance connectivity between land uses north and south of the corridor
• We fully support the study team’s recommendations to install Carmel, IN-type aesthetic roundabout interchanges at Lake Pine and Laura Duncan and their potential for significant capacity improvements, travel time savings, safety improvements, north-south multimodal connectivity enhancements, and boulevard aesthetics preservation
• Given the potential benefits associated with the proposed grade-separated interchanges at Laura Duncan and Lake Pine, we encourage consideration of focusing resources to accelerate one of these interchanges in lieu of spreading funding around on multiple smaller projects
• We encourage NCDOT to conduct a speed study on the existing corridor once NC 540 opens to see if speeds are appropriate
• We encourage the Town of Cary to consider further study of the area near the US 1 / US 64 interchange in order to explore potential opportunities for improved access, connectivity, mobility, and aesthetics along both US 1 and US 64
• Given the boulevard feel of the corridor and the capacity improvements that grade separations afford, we encourage preserving the existing corridor footprint at four lanes (two through lanes per direction), either indefinitely or at a minimum until multiple interchanges are installed, travel flow is observed, and further community engagement is undertaken

 We thank NCDOT and the study team for the tremendous outreach and engagement efforts that have been undertaken as part of this study.

In an all-day format, twenty-two NCDOT-selected community stakeholders met with NCDOT and affiliated organizations to review the revised short and long term plans for US64. During the meeting, several changes to both the short and long term plans were announced, including but not limited to the following:

==> There is no longer any elevated highway included in the long-term plans for US64 in Cary (this was confirmed by David Wasserman of NCDOT [dswasserman@ncdot.gov] and Ed Johnson of Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization [CAMPO, http://www.campo-nc.us/])

==> All intersections along the US64 corridor in Apex and Cary (from Edinburgh Drive to Laura Duncan Road) are still being targeted for conversion to superstreet-style interchanges, in both the short and long term plans

==> Elevated interchanges are still being considered as solutions for the intersections in Apex (Lake Pine and Laura Duncan)

Further, there seems to be little consideration of the citizen-based proposal to bypass the established Apex/Cary community along the US64 corridor, even though NC540 is fully funded and under construction, with completion slated for 2012.

The questions still stand…why have other towns (like Pittsboro, Zebulon, etc.) been bypassed? Why not grant Apex/Cary the same opportunity to preserve their community as well, by utilizing the natural bypass of US1 and NC540?

For more information
The US64 Corridor Study Website has been updated with the presentations and handouts provided at the October 22 workshop. To learn more about the current short and long term plans for US64 in Apex and Cary, please visit the Community Involvement section of the NCDOT website (http://www.ncdot.org/doh/preconstruct/tpb/SHC/studies/US64/).

Path forward
Continuing to represent the Apex/Cary community, Save64.org and community stakeholders have three goals:
==> Formal recognition and signage of the natural bypass around Cary/Apex, via US1 and NC540, with official renaming of same to “US64″
==> Renaming of existing US64 to “Tryon Boulevard,” from Kildaire Farm Road to NC540
==> Preserving our Apex/Cary communities by creating the bypass, not by creating the superstreet

What can you do?
==> Contact your elected representatives to let them know your stance on this issue
==> Forward this email to your contact list
==> Visit our website ( www.save64.org ) and join the email newsletter list…then invite your friends and neighbors to do the same
==> Volunteer with Save64.org. Write workon64@aol.com to let us know that you’d like to help, and what you’d like to do

Save64.org remains engaged with the DOT and other organizations to develop balanced transportation solutions for US64 and to ensure that our Apex/Cary community needs, resources and futures are protected.

Thank you for your continuing attention to this important community matter.

WHAT – 2009 Cary Town Council Candidate Forum

WHEN – Tonite Wednesday September 23, 2009, 7 PM to 8:30 PM, doors open at 6:30 PM

WHERE – Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church, 200 High Meadow Dr, Cary

Please come hear candidates discuss local public policy issues, including growth, drinking water supply, transit, housing, infrastructure funding and more. Questions from the audience permitted.

From Karen Rindge
Executive Director at WakeUP Wake County

For more information, please visit the WakeUP website here.

WakeUP’s Mission
The mission of WakeUP Wake County is to educate our members, the public and government officials concerning growth and development issues affecting our quality of life now and for decades to come. WakeUP advocates on behalf of our members and is following the actions of municipal governments, the Wake County Commissioners and the state legislature, as they pertain to sustainability.

Do you do the Facebook thing? Support WakeUP on Facebook!

From WWAY in Wilmington comes this article –
Traffic Concerns Driving People Crazy

Hwy 17 (near Wilmington, in Leland, NC) is NCDOT’s flagship superstreet, often cited as an example in the current Highway 64 superstreet debate.

Check out the article and the video below, and see what you think about the accidents that keep occurring on Hwy 17. Are there serious safety concerns with the Hwy 17 superstreet? Are the “severe” accidents that have been happening on Hwy 17 consistent with the data that the NCDOT is promoting to show that superstreets are safer than other alternatives?

Remember, Hwy 17 is in front of a WalMart. Can we risk putting a superstreet in front of Apex High School?

Watch the video and decide for yourself.