The Town of Chapel Hill is seeking input on traffic calming measures for a project along Fordham Boulevard.
The local government shared a new survey for the Fordham Boulevard Sidepath project, aiming to get feedback on several designs for pedestrian protection off the busy thoroughfare.
The project seeks to connect an existing bike path near Cleland Drive to Willow Drive by creating a new path parallel to Fordham Boulevard. By doing so, the path would need to cross over two streets: Ridgefield Road and Walnut Street. Town staff is seeking community members’ thoughts on two separate designs to help protect pedestrians using the path cross those sections. The proposed designs include raised pedestrian crossings and traffic diverters that prevent vehicles from turning right off Fordham.
Questions on the survey include whether you prefer a certain traffic calming feature or not, reasons why you visit the area and any additional features the town should consider.
Community members expressed concerns earlier this year about the construction of the sidepath, which would eliminate most trees and vegetation lining Fordham Boulevard and shielding properties from noise. During a Chapel Hill Town Council meeting when the project was advanced, one condition was a study of the types of trees in the area. With the release of the survey, the town also shared the study completed by an arborist that also includes suggests for what new species to plant along the stretch of road.
According to the town, input from the survey will be used in a public meeting this fall when considering recommendations for the traffic calming concepts and elements. It is taking input from the survey until August 21.
To fill out the survey about the Fordham Bouelvard Sidepath Project, or see the latest designs for the project, visit the Town of Chapel Hill’s website.
Photo via Town of Chapel Hill.
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Regarding the traffic calming concept plans, there is a significant error in the Concept 1.2 drawings that show the “Proposed Traffic Calming Island” as “RIGHT TURNS ONLY”. This is an obvious error, as it would only allow entry to the heart of the neighborhood on Walnut. The design should be redrawn and the survey re-released.
Regarding the arborist report, it appears as though someone requested a report with any possible justification to cut the buffer. Are there a few dead trees in the buffer? Yes. Otherwise it is a mature landscape that could easily be maintained by removing and replacing single trees as they die, and possibly converting the bamboo area to more easily maintained vegetation. One of the justifications to cut the buffer is that these are non-native species, but then the arborist goes on to suggest example replacements, with 2 out of 3 being non-native species. There are definitely native overstory and understory species in the buffer, and it’s not all in immediate danger of dying as you would be led to believe.
All that being said, if the sidepath is going through, it’s better to be honest about the extent of the trees that will die within 2-3 years of the project completion due to root compaction, severance and suffocation because of the extensive cut and fill profiles in the sidepath plans. But don’t tell us the whole buffer is diseased and non-native and that’s why it has to go.