In an effort to improve pedestrian safety in downtown Carrboro, the Town Council will be continuing discussion of an idea in development for nine years.
During their virtual meeting at 7 p.m. tonight, the Carrboro Town Council is set to hold a conversation about a downtown “Slow Zone” concept. The idea, which was first considered by the Town’s Transportation Advisory Board in 2012, would create a clearly-defined section of downtown with a speed limit of 20 mph.
“We’ll be continuing that discussion and hoping to gain some traction on it,” Carrboro Town Council member Barbara Foushee said to 97.9 The Hill. “It’s a pretty important discussion for our bicycle community as well as pedestrians and just everybody that moves around in the downtown area in Carrboro.”
The proposed boundaries of the Slow Zone would extend as far east as the intersection between West Main Street and Hillsborough Road, as far north as the intersection between North Greensboro Street and Estes Drive Extension, as far south as the roundabout on South Greensboro Street, and as far west as South Merritt Mill Road.
Over the last decade, the TAB has continued compiling feedback from the Town Council and the community as they’ve developed the idea. In 2020, interest in the idea was reinvigorated after the North Carolina Department of Transportation expressed concerns to the town that setting speed limits lower than 25 mph would exacerbate issues with speed limit compliance.
On March 19, town staff met with the NCDOT to further discuss the downtown Slow Zone along with other pedestrian safety issues. During this meeting, the NCDOT explained dangerous conditions can be created for pedestrians when speed limits are reduced but drivers aren’t compliant. While the lowest speed limit allowed by the North Carolina General Assembly is 20 mph, the NCDOT argued 25 mph is more practical because drivers can typically only use cruise control once this speed is reached.
In addition, the NCDOT suggested a series of solutions for Carrboro to explore outside of reducing speed limits downtown. These included modifying intersections to give pedestrians more of a head start before drivers are allowed to turn through crosswalks and reducing the width and number of lanes in certain streets to encourage slower driving.
The NCDOT said if the Town of Carrboro is to develop a Slow Zone policy, it would need to clearly identify the boundaries as well as fund and maintain the signage.
Speed data collected by the town government over the last two and a half years was also shared at the meeting with the NCDOT. Of the locations monitored, the two on streets with 20 mph speed limits experienced the worst rates of driver compliance. Both of these locations are included within the proposed boundaries of the Slow Zone, and both featured drivers traveling over an average speed of 31 mph.
The renewed interest in improving pedestrian safety comes amidst efforts by Chapel Hill to increase its monitoring of busy roads following recent pedestrian-involved collisions.
The full agenda for tonight’s meeting can be found here. The meeting can be viewed live on the town’s YouTube channel or on Cable TV Channel 18 in Carrboro. Email publiccomment@townofcarrboro.org in order to speak at the meeting.
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The post Carrboro Town Council to Continue Discussion of Downtown “Slow Zone” appeared first on Chapelboro.com.