The Carrboro Town Council had the first formal conversations this week about a potentially huge change for its downtown: changing East Weaver Street from being a two-way road to a pedestrian and bicycle only block.
The council members heard different ideas and elements to consider from town staff at Tuesday’s work session and shared their thoughts on what seems the most feasible and desirable for Carrboro. Most council members said they favor options that would create a pedestrian plaza with a dedicated bicycle lane, meant to improve ease of access for bicyclists while an area that sees ample foot traffic from visitors to the popular Weaver Street Market and nearby businesses.
While the work session was exploratory for the council and town staff on how to best approach this project, it highlighted how many elements of the community would be touched by this; pedestrian safety, transportation, stormwater control, the business community, and the possibility of a social district were all mentioned within the hour-long discussion. But many of the council members shared interests of how altering East Weaver Street could benefit those aspects and further Carrboro’s long-term planning goals.
“This has the opportunity to be a lab for us in thinking about how we’re reimaging our streets in a larger scale, longer term,” said Council Member Catherine Fray. “If we’re thinking about what we want transportation to look like in Carrboro 70 years from now, it’s not going to be as much pavement as it is [now.] We’re probably going to need an awful lot of stormwater features built in what’s currently right of way. We’re going to need a lot of established, safe bike infrastructure in what’s currently right of way.
“[We can be] thinking about taking that 30-foot curb-to-curb and saying, ‘How do we make this something that is a stormwater utility and a transportation utility and also a nicer space to be than a street full of cars?’ If we’re able to do that, I think this could actually be a great pilot for a largely re-thinking of how we do transportation in Carrboro.”
The staff presentation, delivered by Planning & Transportation Administrator Tina Moon, said the latest mobility report in 2023 highlighted how far fewer drivers use East Weaver Street on a daily basis compared to surrounding roads, while far more bicyclists and pedestrians use it – in part, due to the popularity of Weaver Street Market and other businesses lining the road, which serves as an alternative connector to East Main Street and Greensboro Street. If closed to vehicle traffic, an average of 6,800 daily trips would be rerouted down either Main and Greensboro or Roberson Street just to the south.
A slide from the Carrboro town staff highlighting how shutting down East Weaver Street to vehicle traffic would extend the space currently used by pedestrians at Weaver Street Market, blending the private mall property with the public right of way. (Photo via the Town of Carrboro, NC.)
The rough design of a closed East Weaver Street that garnered the most initial support from council members was this option, which features a dedicated, direct bicycle lane through a pedestrian plaza. (Photo via the Town of Carrboro, NC.)
Citing state Department of Transportation data from 2003, Council Member Jason Merrill pointed to how those downtown roads consistently had higher vehicle traffic than they currently do. He interpreted that data as a sign the surrounding roads could handle more traffic – and added that eliminating East Weaver Street’s vehicle traffic flow could make the area more efficient for drivers.
One exception to preventing vehicle traffic that council members agreed on would be allowing access to delivery vehicles for the businesses along East Weaver Street. Fray floated the idea of using the town’s Century Center parking lot as a staging area, while town staff and others mentioned having the street be accessible to those vehicles only during the morning. Merrill said, though, that he has already scheduled several meetings with business owners in the coming weeks to better discuss their needs.
Another wrinkle council members requested town staff investigate further is what closing East Weaver Street would do for the Chapel Hill Transit service downtown. The F and CW routes use the road, sending between 21 and 35 buses a day down it, which would require re-routing. Moon and Council Member Danny Nowell expressed concern about the buses turning right off East Main Street and onto Greensboro Street, citing a sharper angle and tighter space compared to East Weaver Street.
“That could be the thing to me is just an overwhelming problem for equity and sustainability considerations: if we’re not able to accommodate the bus traffic,” Nowell said. “But, provided that we can there, [this concept] is full steam ahead for me.”
Several council members, as well as Mayor Barbara Foushee, cited the need for further engagement from the community on this idea – not just from business owners and Chapel Hill Transit, but also from residents who could see their neighborhoods impacted by diverted traffic. In her comments during the work session on the concept, Foushee said she believes its imperative to keep in mind other community members beyond those with closer proximity to downtown.
“When I think about the type of space we may want to create, I think about an inclusive space where everyone who comes into that space would feel welcome,” the mayor added. “Those are the types of things that are on my mind as we consider moving forward with this project.”
Moon said the rough cost estimates for an initial construction proposal are $300,000, with funding needing to be identified and costs likely to change depending on the extent of the road work desired in a design of the pedestrian space. She added that the next potential step would be getting updated counts of traffic downtown in the spring before turning that data over NCDOT to run studies on the traffic signals and begin discussions on what changes to the roads would look like.
Council Member Randee Haven-O’Donnell was absent from Tuesday’s work session. To watch the full meeting of the Carrboro Town Council, visit the local government’s website or YouTube channel.
Featured photo via the Town of Carrboro, NC.
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Amazing! I’m so happy to see this!
This is an interesting proposal with lots of considerations and potential challenges for a lot of different folks… I look forward to hearing/discussing more.