Grant funds to aid roads, trails

Jul 28, 2010 — The Cary News

Jordan Cooke

Jul. 28, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- CARY -- The town has been chosen to receive eight grants from the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization that will help Cary complete various transportation, parks and infrastructure projects.

Each project will be funded with federal dollars handed down to CAMPO this year from the Federal Highway Administration's Surface Transportation Program.

The federal program allows for funds to be used to build upon local service roads, state highways and U.S. highways. Other eligible projects include bridges on public roads and greenways and other pedestrian walkways.

CAMPO is a regional road-planning agency that evaluates transportation needs of towns and determines which projects should get priority when it comes to funding from the FHWA.

Federal dollars will pay for 80 percent of approved projects. Local governments, meanwhile, will have to cough up the remaining 20 percent.

The $1.47 million in grant funds awarded to Cary will help pay for the following projects:

Expansion of the town's fiber optic traffic signal system. Grant funds will pay for all but $50,000 of this $250,000 project, which will extend the existing fiber optic network to the southern and western portions of Cary and improve upon connections to new and existing traffic signals in those areas.

An extension of Morrisville Parkway and a related interchange with N.C. 540. A $200,000 grant will help Cary begin the preliminary engineering work during the final phase of this three-phase capital project, which is currently under way. The town must fork over the remaining $20,000 to complete this work.

Acquisition of right-of-way for the White Oak Creek Greenway west of Green Level Church Road. The grant handed down from CAMPO will fund $400,000 of the $500,000 needed to obtain access to properties surrounding the future trail segment.

Cary and Apex have partnered on this project, which was started in 2005 with the completion of a stream restoration project and plans for the greenway. That plan was completed in 2007 and was approved by elected officials in both towns.

The total estimated cost of construction for the greenway project is $3.4 million; however, no funding currently exists for the construction of the 1.9-mile trail, which would run from Green Level Church Road to the Wimberley subdivision in Apex.

Development of a regional trailhead and parking lot along Old Reedy Creek Road. The $80,000 awarded to Cary for this project, which carries a total cost of $100,000, will pay for a preliminary engineering study.

The study will evaluate the feasibility of building a 50-car parking lot to provide access to the Black Creek Greenway, Lake Crabtree, Umstead State Park and Raleigh's Capital Area Greenway System.

According to Cary's website, a coalition of agencies, including the N.C. Department of Transportation and Wake County, has been exploring the idea of the trailhead and parking lot to keep trail users from parking along Old Reedy Creek Road.

Construction of an addition to the Southbridge Greenway. Cary received $200,000 for this project, which will cost $250,000.

The town plans to use the funds to build a 0.3-mile trail linking the existing Southbridge Greenway to a 1.9-mile trail surrounding the lake in the Cary Park subdivision.

Additional bike lanes and signs along Lake Pine Drive. This project includes the re-striping of the current four-lane, undivided section of Lake Pine Drive from Cary Parkway south to Versailles Drive.

Under the new striping pattern, the 0.7-mile stretch of road would be reduced to three lanes with a center turn lane and striped bike lanes for cyclists.

The new bike lanes will connect to the existing Tarbert Loop bike route on Lake Pine Drive north of Cary Parkway and Kettlebridge Drive.

The total project cost is $60,000. Cary is responsible for $12,000.

Installation of automated passenger counters and electronic fare boxes for C-Tran. This grant provides for the purchase, installation, software, electronic passes and training associated with four automated passenger counters and thirteen electronic fare boxes.

According to the town, C-Tran is currently the only transit system in the region that does not utilize these technologies on its buses.

The total cost of the project is $287,000. Grant funds will pay for all but $56,800 of that amount.

Installation of flashing beacons at existing greenway crossings on highly-trafficked regional trails. Three of the four flashing signals will be installed along a 14-mile corridor between Umstead State Park and the American Tobacco Trail.

The fourth signal will be installed at the American Tobacco Trail crossing on Morrisville Parkway.

Cary will pay for $30,000 of the total project cost of $150,000.

Other towns in western Wake County also have sought and received funding for transit-oriented projects.

In Apex, for example, town leaders plan to use more than $500,000 in grant funding to begin the planning and environmental impact phases of a planned realignment of Lufkin Road.

A portion of those funds also will help the town fill in long gaps in public sidewalks along and near Old Raleigh Road.

Morrisville will use $98,000 of the federally-designated funds to build sidewalks along Chapel Hill Road between Lichtin Boulevard and the westbound exit ramp from N.C. 540.

jordan.cooke@nando.com or 919-460-2609

Newstex ID: KRTB-0268-47399278