Chapel Hill considers purchase of Franklin Street from NCDOT

[Dirt Roads]

Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill is the historic route of NC-54 and part of US-15/501.  It is still maintained by NCDOT and is one of the busiest routes into downtown, campus area and neighboring Carrboro.  For some time now, the Town of Chapel Hill has been considering a number of traffic calming measures, likely designed to permanently accommodate the frequent bonfires held on the street after major basketball wins (and the rare major football victory). 

In local news [yesterday], WPTF reported that the Town of Chapel Hill is now considering purchasing Franklin Street from NCDOT.  I didn't find any articles related to that news report, but the student newspaper put out an article a few hours ago.

https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2022/10/city-franklin-street-renovation-survey

It turns out that the Town of Chapel Hill had previously requested that NCDOT transfer ownership of Franklin Street to the town.  It appears that the main issue is a desire by the town to widen the sidewalks to accommodate quaint sidewalk dining, similar as what can be found in nearby Hillsborough.  This would likely require the removal of much of the on-street parking.  There are a couple of related articles from back in January 2022:

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2022/01/20/chapel-hill-leaders-seeking-to-buy-franklin-street
https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2022/01/city-franklin-maintenance-extended-sidewalks

A key issue is whether NCDOT should continue with its planned regular repaving of Franklin Street, which is currently scheduled for Summer 2023.  It's too late to absorb the rest of the story, but I will read everything again whenever I come back fresh.

[wdcrft63]

Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill is the historic route of NC-54 and part of US-15/501.  It is still maintained by NCDOT and is one of the busiest routes into downtown, campus area and neighboring Carrboro.  For some time now, the Town of Chapel Hill has been considering a number of traffic calming measures, likely designed to permanently accommodate the frequent bonfires held on the street after major basketball wins (and the rare major football victory). 

In local news [yesterday], WPTF reported that the Town of Chapel Hill is now considering purchasing Franklin Street from NCDOT.  I didn't find any articles related to that news report, but the student newspaper put out an article a few hours ago.

https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2022/10/city-franklin-street-renovation-survey

It turns out that the Town of Chapel Hill had previously requested that NCDOT transfer ownership of Franklin Street to the town.  It appears that the main issue is a desire by the town to widen the sidewalks to accommodate quaint sidewalk dining, similar as what can be found in nearby Hillsborough.  This would likely require the removal of much of the on-street parking.  There are a couple of related articles from back in January 2022:

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2022/01/20/chapel-hill-leaders-seeking-to-buy-franklin-street
https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2022/01/city-franklin-maintenance-extended-sidewalks

A key issue is whether NCDOT should continue with its planned regular repaving of Franklin Street, which is currently scheduled for Summer 2023.  It's too late to absorb the rest of the story, but I will read everything again whenever I come back fresh.

I'm not understanding the word "purchase." If CH takes over Franklin Street, it relieves NCDOT of the maintenance coast, including the substantial cost of periodic repavings. NCDOT should pay CH to take over the street, not the other way around.

[US 89]

The city probably has to pay NCDOT to complete certain upgrades or maintenance of some sort before the state dumps it. At least that is how jurisdictional transfers generally work in Utah, where I am most familiar...

[Dirt Roads]

I'm not understanding the word "purchase." If CH takes over Franklin Street, it relieves NCDOT of the maintenance coast, including the substantial cost of periodic repavings. NCDOT should pay CH to take over the street, not the other way around.

I may have not understood correctly, but it appears as if NCDOT has refused the offer by the Town of Chapel Hill to take over maintenance of Franklin Street.  From the news reports I've read, that all happened in the months leading up to those articles I posted from January 2022.  The news report on WPTF yesterday stated that "the Town of Chapel Hill was considering purchasing Franklin Street from NCDOT" in order to make the proposed streetscape changes.  I've never heard of such a thing, but after all, "Everything in Rome has a price".

Now that I can absorb the information, it looks like the Town of Chapel Hill has already allowed some businesses to expand the sidewalks in front of their restaurants into the space reserved for on-street parking.  (Gee, I was just on Columbia Street a few weeks ago and didn't notice).  The repaving project slated for Summer 2023 will need to remove all of the "stuff" that extends into the paved portion of the right-of-way, and then repave.  Sometimes, this work includes reworking the storm sewage drains and generally includes raising/replacing utility manhole covers.  Affected businesses are complaining, probably moreso about the project occurring in the Summer months when foot traffic is slow.  Some may be complaining about repaving at anytime, which is still going to be needed if Chapel Hill takes over the maintenance.