Calendar Details:
Saturday, October 24
9:45am - Gantt Center Dedication, 551 S. Tryon Street PLEASE NOTE TIME
Sunday, October 25
North Carolina League of Municipalities Annual Conference, Greenville, NC
Monday, October 26
North Carolina League of Municipalities Annual Conference, Greenville, NC
3:30pm - Transportation Committee, CANCELLED
Tuesday, October 27
North Carolina League of Municipalities Annual Conference, Greenville, NC
Wednesday, October 28
3:30pm - Transportation Committee, Room CH-14. AGENDA: Non-Residential Street Program; Staff Recommendations for MUMPO's 2035 LRTP; Connectivity Policies
5:30pm - Metropolitan Transit Committee Meeting, Room 267. AGENDA: Blue Line Extension Locally Preferred Alternatives; MTC Rules of Procedures; FY2010/2011 Legislative Priorities
Thursday, October 29
12:00pm - Restructuring Government Committee, Room 280. AGENDA: Boards and Commissions; Develop a Sponsorship Policy; Improving Citizen Stakeholder Process; Reschedule November 26 Meeting
Information Items:
Traffic Plan for Get Motivated! Business Seminar / Time Warner Cable Arena
Resource:
Joseph Yanicak, CDOT, 704-336-5531, jyanicak@ci.charlotte.nc.us
CDOT expects heavy traffic Uptown during the morning and evening rush hours on Thursday, October 29 associated with the Get Motivated! business seminar. This event is scheduled from 8:00am – 4:45pm at the Time Warner Cable Arena. It is an all-day motivational session with high profile leaders speaking throughout the event. Unlike typical sell-out arena events, Get Motivated! has an early start during the workweek and attendees are less likely to carpool. Staff expects that this will strain the capacity of Uptown streets and parking.
The event sponsor has secured remote parking locations for shuttle buses at Bojangles Arena and The Metrolina Expo to help reduce the number of vehicles entering Uptown. They have also encouraged the use of the Lynx Light Rail. CDOT staff has coordinated its communication efforts to provide information in advance with the Bobcats, Get Motivated! personnel, Center City Partners (to notify Uptown employers and property managers), local press, the "Street Use Notice" (SUN) bulletin, CDOT's "Hot Report" to the City Manager, as well as NCDOT message boards on the interstates. Staff will activate the City's traffic management plan for major arena events to manage vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
Park Road Sidewalk Project Update
Resources:
Vivian Coleman, CDOT, 704-353-0481, vcoleman@ci.charlotte.nc.us
Sonji Mosley, E&PM, 704-336-3214, smosley@ci.charlotte.nc.us
This memo updates the status of the Park Road sidewalk project and addresses inaccuracies included in a recent newspaper article on the project. The article stated:
- "...the tree canopy would be eliminated." The project will not be removing all trees. The construction will remove nine trees of various sizes and one hedgerow. The design has been completed after extensive study of the engineers and the City Arborist to minimize the impact to existing trees. For example, in some areas, the typical design of providing a planting strip is being adjusted to place the sidewalk adjacent to the curb to avoid some larger trees. The project includes a tree replacement plan to restore the tree canopy where trees are planned for removal.
- It will be "an eight-foot sidewalk." The sidewalk varies from five-feet where there is a planting strip to seven-feet where it is located at the back of the curb.
The City's sidewalk program implements a policy adopted by the City Council in 2005, designed to address safety for pedestrians along thoroughfares by placing sidewalk on each side of the roadway. The policy, which was developed with the help of a citizens' stakeholder committee, includes criteria for prioritizing the locations that lack sidewalk. The factors that make this segment a priority are:
- This section is one of the last missing gaps in a large pedestrian network along Park Road.
- Average weekday traffic volumes are 27,000 vehicles per day. The speed limit is 35 MPH. Operating speed is higher.
- There is significant pedestrian activity in this area. There is a worn path along a portion of the project and significant pedestrian generators served, including:
- A CATS bus route and bus stops
- An elementary school
- A middle school
- Sedgefield Park
- EB Moore Park
- Freedom Park
- Little Sugar Creek Greenway
- There is strong support in the neighborhood for this project. City staff has received emails from board members of the Sedgefield Neighborhood Association and the Dilworth Community Development Association in support of this project.
