Residents have the opportunity to opine on Orange County's Transit Plan tomorrow night during the Orange County Commissioners meeting in Hillsborough.

Commissioners will get public feedback during its first hearing on the transit plan that would expand bus service, bring a light rail line to the county connecting UNC-Chapel Hill with Durham at Alston Avenue, and build new transit facilities like park and ride lots and a train station.

This is the first of two hearings on the issue, the second one is scheduled for April 17 at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill. 

The plan outlines how the county would spend money from a half-cent sales tax that would be brought before voters in November. Commissioners will hold a separate hearing on May 1 for the public to weigh in on whether a sales tax should be on the ballot in November.

Durham passed a half-cent sales tax last November, and is waiting to see if Orange County passes one too before it is enacted.

The public hearing tomorrow is at 7p.m. at the Department of Social Services at Hillsborough Commons.

The InterNeighborhood Council is considering whether to weigh in on the Alston Avenue widening controversy.

Alston Avenue, a.k.a. N.C. 55, is a major corridor north-south corridor through East Durham. NCDOT considers the street congested and has plans to widen it from the Durham Freeway to Holloway Street.

But neighborhood groups and others interested in the long-depressed area's revival see DOT's plan as splitting their neighborhood in two.

"A four-lane highway is just a wall lying on its side," INC President Tom Miller said at the council's meeting this week.
 

NCDOT is holding a "Citizens Informational Workshop" Tuesday afternoon on its Alston Avenue widening plan. The drop-in session starts at 4:30 and runs until 7.

"There is no formal program," said NCDOT spokeswoman Beverly Robinson. "Just drop in and ask questions and hopefully get some answers. And leave us some comments."

DOT plans to widen Alston Avenue, or N.C. 55, from the Durham Freeway north to Holloway Street from its current three lanes to four, with dedicated right- and left-turn lanes at some intersections, and to build sidewalks and new cubs and gutters. State highway authorities have redesigned the proposed 100- to 120-foot right-of-way to protect the Los Primos supermarket at Alston and Main Street.

Read more about the project in this Sunday's Durham News. To see the original and revised project maps, go to www.durhamnc.gov/departments/transportation/alston_ave.cfm.

View Durham Freeway Pedestrian Bridge in a larger map

Construction of a footbridge over the Durham Freeway near Alston Avenue will require overnight detours for freeway drivers on three more nights: Tuesday and Wednesday this week, and Monday next week.

The work had been scheduled earlier but was postponed because of wet weather, the city of Durham said today [updated 3/29/10].

Freeway traffic in both directions will be rerouted via Briggs and Alston avenues on each of the three nights from 11 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.... [MORE]