Chapel Hill hit by surprise state road plan as vote on UNC Health’s expansion nears

A proposed road with a bridge across Interstate 40 has caught many people in Chapel Hill by surprise and brought plans to preserve a forest to a full stop.

Information about the road, which would run parallel to U.S. 15-501 and cut through the natural heritage forest on UNC Health’s Eastowne campus, was sent to interim Chapel Hill Town Manager Chris Blue in a May 31 email, which he then forwarded to the mayor and Town Council.

The new road, between Eastowne Drive and New Hope Commons Drive, would also include new on- and off-ramps to I-40.

They would replace the ramps at U.S. 15-501, which would be reconfigured using a “diverging diamond interchange,” according to the email from town Planning Director Britany Waddell and transportation planners.

N.C. Department of Transportation officials have given the town until June 9 to respond to the plan, which would mark “major changes” for the I-40 and U.S. 15-501 interchange and the future of UNC Health’s Eastowne campus expansion, which the council is scheduled to vote on June 21.

“Comments will be reviewed by NCDOT, but there is no guarantee that any changes will be made to the project,” according to the email sent to council.

Chapel Hill mayor: Eastowne vote will go on

Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger said Wednesday the vote to approve or deny the Eastowne master plan will go on as scheduled. UNC Health will submit more detailed plans for approval as each piece is built, which should let them adapt to NCDOT’s plans, she said.

Hemminger sent a letter opposing the plan Wednesday to the N.C. Department of Transportation board and its Chairman Michael Fox.

“UNC Health Care’s not happy about this proposed plan either because it dumps the exit ramp stuff right into their medical campus,” Hemminger told The News & Observer.

“There’s no room for pedestrians and bicycles that’s safe. They’ve got them actually crossing over exit ramps without a light,” she said. “It’s very weird.”

UNC Health Care spokesman Alan Wolf said the university still needs to review the plans.

“UNC Health has not yet taken a position on the DOT proposal, but we certainly plan to review it,” Wolf said in an email statement. “As a state entity, we generally don’t take positions related to proposals from other state agencies.”

NCDOT officials said traffic studies showed the new road will move traffic more quickly and efficiently between Chapel Hill and Durham. The 10-lane 15-501 highway is often congested, coming to a standstill during morning and evening commutes.

The email to Blue noted that NCDOT studies found cars traveling to Durham would have to wait 156 seconds on average at the I-40 East ramps and 85 seconds at the I-40 West ramps if no changes were made. With the changes, officials said, the wait fell to 40 seconds for traffic at the eastbound ramps and 32 seconds for traffic at the westbound ramps.

‘For us, it’s disastrous,’ Hemminger says

Hemminger said she does not know the plan’s origins, only that it was recently drafted, has no funding yet, and still needs a lot of work. The express design will let NCDOT get cost estimates for the bigger plan, which includes changes to the U.S. 15-501 corridor at Mt. Moriah and Garrett roads.

“The Durham City Council’s probably thrilled about the other parts,” Hemminger said. “But for us, it’s disastrous on this site for what it does to the Eastowne situation.”

She noted that the proposed road was removed from a corridor study previously because of concerns about the road alignment and how it would affect the natural heritage forest. It doesn’t meet the regional plans and goals laid out since 2018 for the Chapel Hill-Durham corridor, including in the 2050 Metropolitan Transportation Plan, the town’s Future Land Use Map, and the transit plans for Orange and Durham counties, she said.

Further, it eliminates a long-planned connection across I-40, south of U.S. 15-501, between North White Oak Drive in Chapel Hill and Mt. Moriah Road in Durham, she said.

The Orange-Chatham Group of the NC Sierra Club also has sent a letter to NCDOT opposing the proposed changes.

Hemminger said NCDOT officials want to get regional support for the plan by September, which is an unusually fast timeline for a process that can take years and even decades. The regional Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization will discuss the proposal at next week’s meeting, Hemminger said.

“And it’s budget season. They know that. They know it’s a really bad time to drop anything on anybody,” she said.