I-540 tolls: Good for Wake, great for East End Connector

Good news on Durham roads from an unusual place yesterday: Wake County, more specifically the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO).

CAMPO on Wednesday approved a plan to build the next segment of I-540 -- the Western Wake Expressway portion -- as a toll road, despite the grumbling and "no" vote of Apex mayor Keith Weatherly. For many Wake commuters, this means the next leg of I-540 will be built within their lifetimes, or at least during their career. The next segment of I-540 will now open around 2011, as opposed to 2032 without the toll plan.

Why is this good news for Durham? Tolls won't pay for more than 75% of the new road's cost, so the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro MPO (DCHCMPO) agreed to support about $20 million per year as an ongoing subsidy from NCDOT District Five funds to support debt service on the remainder. In exchange, CAMPO has supported ongoing funding for Durham's East End Connector project, which is in line to open a couple of years after the new segment of I-540 does.

The EEC has $98 million allocated to it as of March's Board of Transportation meeting. The gap funding still needed ranges between $37 million and almost $100 million more, depending on final alignment chosen.

Comments

[KeepDurhamDifferent!]

This is a bit off topic, but I represent the landowner of a large parcel of land in RTP that may be affected by the NC 147 extension.

From the N&O article:
"The turnpike authority voted Wednesday to call the new 18.6-mile road the Triangle Expressway. It combines an old plan to extend N.C. 147 south through the center of RTP with a section of the Outer Loop from RTP south to Holly Springs."

Does this mean the old plan is dead? From the previous maps circulated (page 2 of http://www.ncturnpike.org/pdf/Western_Wake_CIW_Handout.pdf) I don't see how they're going to extend NC 147 to 540 (with intersections at Hopson and Davis) without affecting the EPA, Eisai, or other landowners.

I searched the DOT site without any more success than that noted above. I also emailed Bruce Siceloff. Can anyone else help?

[Michael Bacon]

Here's my read on it: it looks like the map they're using is a USGS base map, and was probably updated with the addition of the EPA campus. There's something decidedly wrong with that map -- there's way too much space between Jenkins Rd. and the EPA. My guess is that the USGS base map was wrong in this regard (not terribly surprising for minor roads like that), and that the dashed Triangle Expressway dashed line is just roughed in, not laid in with an explicit GIS layer. The whole thing doesn't look like it was done by someoen with a huge amount of GIS experience, or else they were in a hurry. (The two disagreeing north arrows on the Western Wake Expy map above it are kind of a giveaway.)

A much better indication, I'd say, is looking at the parcel maps for Durham county. There's a swath that runs in a very road-like fashion straight out from the tail end of the Durham Freeway, almost to the Wake Border, that's owned by Research Triangle Foundation. This thing has been planned for years, and so I'm pretty sure EPA wouldn't have built their brand new shiny campus right in the middle of where it was going.

If you want a more sophisticated and complette GIS analysis, I could probabaly do it for my standard fee... ;)

[KeepDurhamDifferent!]

Thanks. Unless your standard fee is a beer and a hot dog, I'm going to spelunk around GIS myself. When I emailed Bruce yesterday I got a quick phone call -- apparently the company that owns the EPA/NIHS childcare center is very concerned about this issue (loss of land, noise, pollution, etc.).

I'll dig out our title docs and take a gander at the Durham Co. parcel maps.

[KeepDurhamDifferent!]

I don't know why I didn't Google this earlier; a betting man would say that they're simply going to cannibalize Jenkins Rd. The intersection with Davis could be on Hopson, behind the office park w/ Kennedy Covington, or just to the south.

[Michael Bacon]

Beer and a hot dog buys the value package...

I'm not sure if this link will work into the Durham GIS site, but give it a try anyway...

http://gisweb2.ci.durham.nc.us/scripts/esrimap.dll?Name=sdx1&Cmd=Redraw&Left=2034145.28394077&Right=2049945.96173296&Bottom=769133.791911661&Top=781142.809388024&mclick=zoomin&ilayer=&dlayer=10&dlayer=2&dlayer=1&dlayer=0&dlayer=39&City%2BBoundary=Multi%2BSymbol&dlayer=22&FEMA%2BFlood%2BZones=Multi%2BSymbol&Development%2BTiers%2B%28UDO%29=Multi%2BSymbol&PAC%2BDistricts=Multi%2BSymbol&Downtown%2BDistricts=Multi%2BSymbol&dlayer=5&Water%2BSupply%2BWatersheds=Multi%2BSymbol

If I were a betting man, I'd take the other in that bet. They might partially cannibalize Jenkins Rd., but again, look at the very long road-like string of parcels that run SSE from the Durham Freeway. All owned by Research Triangle Foundation.

As we've seen with the East End Connector, the fact that DOT or another friendly party holds a right-of-way doesn't necessary mean it's going to be used, but it's usually a factor.

[KeepDurhamDifferent!]

Very cool! Come claim your beer and hot dog at a Bulls game of your choosing (I'll throw in admission to boot). I loved this little nugget:
* Parcel No. (PIN): 0737-03-30-6964
* Parcel-ID (6-Digit): 204616
* Tax Map No. (Obsolete): 543 -02-009 -
* Polygon Acreage: 4.82
* Front Dimension: 0
* Total Acreage: 4.82
* Land Use Code: 350
* Land Use Description: VACANT INDUSTRIAL
* Subdivision: N/A - NO SUBDIVISION
* District Code: 27
* Deed Book / Page: 004889 / 000534
* Plat Book / Page: 000168 / 000094
* Owner Name: RD PURCHASING LLC
* Owner Address:
11 MADISON AVE 14TH FL NEW YORK NY 10010
* Property Address:
0 LOUIS STEPHENS DR

Who is "RD PURCHASING LLC", you might ask? No idea, but they happen to have the same address as my employer. In fact the 14th floor of "EMA" (as we call it -- otherwise known as the Metropolitan Life Tower) just happens to be where the Corporate Real Estate department lives.

[Magnus]

Not so great. This went from a road that was funded to being defunded to force tolls upon us. They ought to put the toll booths on I-95 and I-85 at the state borders and leave the local roads alone. 540 should have been built as a complete loop free of tolls. Now it's going to be 540 part of the way around and "Tri-X" the remaining part? Hmmm... Tri-X...TriX...Tricks! Yes! Tricks are what the DOT and the NCTA are pulling on Wake County commuters.

[David]

I fail to see any correlation between the toll plan for 540 (which btw, will no longer even be called 540 if the tolls go through) and the Durham East End Connector. The NCTA was charged with making certain roads tolled, NOT to research NC and decide where tolls could be viable for this great State. I believe CAMPO made a rash, uneducated decision in their move to support tolling in this area. For more information, please see http://www.notollson540.org. Apex Mayor Weatherly stood firm to what his town council agree upon. The NCTA simply cannot answer important questions with enough detail to satisfy they have even earned the right to say "toll road or no road". Also, NC has one of the highest gas taxes in the nation... a toll is simply another way of saying taxation. The NCDOT has sqaundered money through missmanagement of their projects. The recent I-40 repaving between 147 and 15/501 is a perfect example of the failure of the NCDOT.

btw, I'm a Raleigh native. Raleigh is the Capital city of NC and justly remains #1. People who call this area "Raleigh-Durham" or "Durham-Raleigh" simply irritate me. They are 2 distinct cities with unique cultures. This is the "Triangle Area" of NC... that means Raleigh, Durham AND Chapel Hill plus all the surrounding towns. Also, I love the Blues festivals in Durham, and I think you all host one of the premiere beer tasting events as well. :) Either way, Raleigh is #1. Tough luck we have RDU and not DRU for our Airport name. Get over it. Thanks. :)