NCDOT says Chapel Hill-Durham road plan shouldn’t be a surprise as June meeting set

Tammy Grubb

A controversial concept plan for the New Hope Commons Drive Extension between Chapel Hill and Durham, and upgrades to U.S. 15-501 and the Interstate 40 interchange, will be discussed later this month, officials said Friday.

The proposed “express design” includes some of what Chapel Hill and Durham wanted for the U.S. 15-501 corridor, Doug Plachcinski, executive director of the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization, said in a February 2023 letter provided to the MPO’s regional transportation board Wednesday.

But it doesn’t preserve an identified natural heritage forest at the northwest corner of U.S. 15-501 and I-40, a key piece of the wildlife corridor between rural lands to the north and Jordan Lake, local officials said. It also doesn’t include a bridge expected to cross I-40 east of U.S. 15-501, between East Lakeview and Danziger drives.

The express design is “not the final word on a project’s design,” NCDOT spokesman Aaron Moody told The N&O on Friday.

UNC Health’s 25-year plan would add six new medical buildings (blue) to the Eastowne campus off U.S. 15-501 and four new parking decks. The only construction planned outside the loop -- on 20 acres of natural resource land -- would be a parking deck, if needed.
UNC Health’s 25-year plan would add six new medical buildings (blue) to the Eastowne campus off U.S. 15-501 and four new parking decks. The only construction planned outside the loop -- on 20 acres of natural resource land -- would be a parking deck, if needed.

The freeway conversion, from I-40 to the U.S. 15-501 Business split in Durham, would create a diverging diamond interchange, which quickly moves more traffic within the same space by letting drivers temporarily cross over to the left side of the road, eliminating left turns. The plan also extends New Hope Commons Drive to Eastowne Drive and links the new road to a complex ramp system.

The express design routes U.S. 15-501 over bridges at Mt. Moriah Road and Garrett Road, and creates a new, at-grade interchange at Southwest Durham Drive. A new road north of Southwest Durham Drive would intersect with Mt. Moriah Road behind New Hope Commons shopping center. Anticipated express bus stops and a future Chapel Hill-Durham bus-rapid transit route are not shown.

In his February letter, Plachcinski said the MPO would set aside regional draft plans for a pedestrian and bike bridge across I-40 west of U.S. 15-501 and a bridge for cars east of the highway, to work with NCDOT on the freeway conversion.

Plachcinski asked NCDOT officials in his letter to seek local input and keep in mind a need for safe bus, bike and pedestrian routes.

UNC Health Eastowne campus

The proposed extension also affects UNC Health Care’s Eastowne medical campus expansion, which the Chapel Hill Town Council could vote on Wednesday. UNC Health can still build its campus, but the future of the 20-acre forest is now unknown.

The Eastowne expansion would add 1.1 million square feet, including multiple buildings and parking decks inside the Eastowne Drive loop. UNC Health had tentatively agreed to preserve half the forest, using the rest if future parking is needed.

Mayor Pam Hemminger and council members expressed surprise when interim Town Manager Chris Blue shared the express plan with freeway ramps in the forest in a May 31 email. Town staff has been working with UNC Health and NCDOT staff since 2017 to plan car, pedestrian and bike access around the medical campus.

Highway changes affecting the forest have not been part of the public conversation.

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

UNC Health officials told The News & Observer they are still reviewing the plans and do not comment on other state agencies.

Local officials will meet NCDOT staff on June 27 in Hillsborough, Hemminger said. The town has until June 30 to submit comments.

A draft plan shows a new road across Interstate 40, connecting Eastowne Drive in Chapel Hill to New Hope Commons Drive in Durham. The road would have new on- and off-ramps, allowing NCDOT to create a diverging diamond interchange on U.S. 15-501.
A draft plan shows a new road across Interstate 40, connecting Eastowne Drive in Chapel Hill to New Hope Commons Drive in Durham. The road would have new on- and off-ramps, allowing NCDOT to create a diverging diamond interchange on U.S. 15-501.

Competing transportation visions

An express plan is a concept plan, used to estimate project design and costs, and followed by studies, engineering studies and public comment. But it needs local support by later this year to be eligible for funding in the 2026-2035 State Transportation Improvement Program, Moody said.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise, he said in a June 9 email.

The corridor update has been in the works since 2017, when plans to convert U.S. 15-501 east of I-40 to an expressway were added to the STIP, which prioritizes projects for funding, Moody said. Planning was delayed by NCDOT’s pandemic-related funding issues.

Hemminger said the MPO voted before the COVID shutdown to pull the connector road, since “we all agreed there wasn’t any point in doing that, so we were a little shocked when they put a full-blown one out there.”

The New Hope Commons extension appears in other regional and state planning documents, but only as a pedestrian-bike connection or a local road. A 2019 express design, showed at the May 18 meeting, shows the new road intersecting the I-40 ramps at traffic signals.

The 2017 Comprehensive Transportation Plan described the road as a “Cross Section” type 3C, which is defined in an NCDOT project design guidebook as two travel lanes, a middle turn lane, bike lanes and sidewalks, with speeds of 25 to 45 mph.

The U.S. 15-501 Corridor Study, completed in 2020, could support that plan, but wasn’t approved because of Chapel Hill’s disagreement with Durham city and county over the location of the road relative to the forest, according to Plachcinski’s February letter.

MPO officials met with NCDOT in late 2022 to talk about the express plan, according to a June 13 memo provided to the MPO board.

US 15-501, I-40 traffic growing

U.S. 15-501 is a critical transportation corridor between Chapel Hill and Durham, moving 44,000 cars a day between Eastowne Drive and the I-40 east on-ramp and over 50,000 a day east of the interstate, according to 2022 NCDOT traffic counts.

The area between I-40 and Mt. Moriah Road had the most traffic congestion, with 57,000 cars a day passing through the area. More traffic also was heading east, with 11,000 to 13,000 drivers a day using the I-40 ramps east of U.S. 15-501, and between 5,000 and 6,000 using the ramps on the western side of the highway.

Those numbers are consistent or down slightly from pre-pandemic traffic volumes, data showed. But they could climb by 2050.

Moody provided The N&O with a March 17 freeway express plan study Thursday that estimated just over 47,000 cars a day could drive between Eastowne and the I-40 interchange by 2050, with roughly 65,000 to 85,000 cars traveling on U.S. 15-501 east of I-40.

The study, which is not available online, appears to be the first time the reconfigured ramps for U.S. 15-501 and I-40 were added to the existing plan. NCDOT staff and project engineers got an update at a May 18 meeting, according to documents that Moody provided.

Chapel Hill and Durham officials did not attend the meeting, but Plachcinski was there and asked NCDOT staff to meet with Chapel Hill and Durham officials about future bus, bike and pedestrian access, according to a report from the meeting.

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