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Home My WebLink AboutU-5852 DRAFT Scoping Meeting Minutes_2017.08.17.docx Meeting minutes U-5852 – Benjamin Parkway / Bryan Boulevard Add Lanes Project: Internal/External Scoping Meeting Subject: August 17, 2017 Date and time: 3:15 to 5:00 PM NCDOT Century Center Structures Conference Room, Building A Meeting place: Attendees  Patty Eason* NCDOT – Division 7  Ed Reams NCDOT – Utilities  Donnie Huffines* NCDOT – Division 7  Matthew York NCDOT – Hydro  Bryan Lopez NCDOT – Bike & Ped  Paul Schroeder* NCDOT – TPB  Laura Sutton NCDOT – Project Delivery  Representative NCDOT – Trans. Mobility and Safety  Ray Lovinggood NCDOT – Project Delivery  April Norton NCDWR  Nick Lineberger NCDOT – Cong. Mgmt.  Monte Mathews USACE  Herman Huang NCDOT – Comm. Studies  David Bailey* USACE  Verrol McLeary NCDOT – Project Develop  Darren Even Atkins  Beverly Robinson NCDOT – Project Develop  Rob Hanson Atkins  Mark Staley NCDOT – Roadside Environ.  Courtney Taylor Atkins  Jeffrey Hemphill NCDOT – NES * Participated via phone ITEM DESCRIPTION & ACTION DEADLINE RESPONSIBLE 1 Confirm the number of stream crossings along the Complete Atkins Staff corridor. (see update at end of minutes) Meeting Materials  Presentation (attached)  Data Scoping Packet (attached) Summary: The presentation covered the following topics:  Project Location and Description  Project History and Nearby Projects  Environmental Features Map Meeting Invitees Distribution: 09/11/17 Date issued: NOTE TO RECIPIENTS: These meeting minutes record Atkins understanding of the meeting and intended actions arising therefrom. Your agreement that the notes form a true record of the discussion will be assumed unless adverse comments are received in writing within five days of receipt. U-5852 Internal/External Scoping Meeting – 08/17/2017 Meeting minutes  GUAMPO Thoroughfare Map  Traffic  Project Need and Purpose  Project Schedule  Project Challenges Introductions NCDOT PDEA Project Manager, Verrol McLeary, opened the meeting and welcomed participants. Each attendee introduced themselves. (see above for list of attendees). Project Overview Atkins Project Manager, Darren Even, provided an overview of the project for participants new to the project. NCDOT STIP Project U-5852 proposes to add lanes on SR 2085 (Benjamin Parkway/Bryan Boulevard) from SR 2254 (Wendover Avenue) to Holden Road in the City of Greensboro. The project is approximately 1.2 miles. A State Environmental Assessment/Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is anticipated to be completed in 2018 with Right of Way (ROW) in 2020 and a construction let date in 2022. The project corridor is split approximately into thirds, the northern third is classified as a freeway typical section, and the southern two-thirds is a principal arterial/major thoroughfare. Annualized Average Daily Traffic (AADT) along the corridor for 2015 ranges between 29,000 and 34,000 vehicles. The project is needed to due to insufficient traffic capacity. By 2035 the corridor is projected to be near or over capacity. In 2014 and 2015, traffic on portions of the corridor were unable to travel at the posted speed limit of 45 mph. The proposed improvements are needed to relieve congestion to achieve a minimum Level of Service (LOS) D. Both the traffic forecast request and traffic crash analysis request have been submitted. The traffic forecast is scheduled to be complete in December, 2017. Traffic counts will be taken after schools are in session. Preliminary hydraulic data collection has been conducted (including a site visit and the preparation of an existing conditions memorandum. This memorandum identified three (3) existing stream crossings within the project limits. Anticipated challenges include minimizing ROW, public response to potential ROW acquisition, utilities along both sides of the corridor, access management (private driveways along the west side of the corridor), balance widening for vehicles with bicycle and pedestrian accommodations, up to three stream crossings from the same unnamed tributary to North Buffalo Creek, and the potential to impact several city parks located along the corridor. Project Comments/Questions Prior to the meeting, comments were submitted via email by: Gary Jordan – USFWS – “I have determined that I don’t need to be at this meeting due to minimal fish and wildlife resources present in the project area. I have no comments.” U-5852 Internal/External Scoping Meeting – 08/17/2017 Meeting minutes After the project overview, each agency and representative present provided the following comments/questions: Rob Hanson recommended that the proposed design be consistent along the entire corridor, for example curb and gutter versus shoulder. NCDOT – Division 7: No comments at this time City of Greensboro: No one in attendance GUAMPO: No one in attendance NCDOT  Bike & Ped Division: o No bikes will be allowed on the freeway portion, and the posted speed may be too high for an on-street bike lane o Recommend consideration of a 10-foot bike path separated from the roadway. The separated bike side path doesn’t have to be on both sides of the road. o Pedestrian bridge at Green Valley Road/Wendover Avenue interchange: If there is an impact, it will likely be replaced  Hydraulics Unit: No comments at this time  Structures Management Unit: No one in attendance  Right of Way Unit: No one in attendance  Human Environment Section: o Community studies asked about the status of the Community Characteristics Report (CCR). The CCR not scoped for this task order, just data collection. o Jamille Robbins will email his questions  Natural Environment Section o Need to confirm how many times the unnamed tributary crosses  Roadway Design: No one in attendance  Traffic Management Unit: No one in attendance o Congestion Management: No comments at this time o Western WZTC: No one in attendance  Utilities Unit: Concerned about potential Utility Easements across park property. It’s likely Duke Energy has prior rights for their utility placement. It’s likely Duke Energy will require A permanent utility easement.  Geotech Engineering Unit: No one in attendance  Division of Planning & Programming: No one in attendance  Roadside Environmental Unit: Confirm # of streams and crossing  Traffic Safety Unit: No one in attendance  Locations and Surveys: No one in attendance  Signing & Delineation: No comments at this time. NCDWR: No comments at this time NCWRC: No one in attendance USACE: General Permit 31 or Nationwide 14 are possible permits. General Permit 31 requires application of the merger process if stream impacts exceed 500 linear feet. Nationwide Permit 14 could apply if stream crossings are less than 300 linear feet. USEPA: No one in attendance U-5852 Internal/External Scoping Meeting – 08/17/2017 Meeting minutes USFWS: See Gary Jordan’s comments above. General Comments/Questions Beverly Robinson and Rob Hanson discussed whether the purpose and need statement should include the measure to achieve LOS D. The USACE recommended that it remain as a placeholder for now as it is helpful in the USACE’s purpose and need requirements and can be revisited when the traffic forecast is completed. Beverly Robinson inquired if there are any proposed interchange improvements to the Wendover Avenue interchange. No improvements are proposed at this time, but this could change based on the traffic forecast. This is also the case at the Holden Road interchange. All in attendance agreed the project does not need to follow the merger process. Several attendees noted the design challenge of the driveways that extend uphill to residences on the west side of the roadway. Tying these driveways to the roadway improvements will be a challenge. Stream Crossing Update Conflicting data was presented in the data scoping packet provided to meeting attendees and the information presented in the Preliminary Hydraulic Technical Memorandum – Data Collection Phase. At issue was the number of crossings of the unnamed tributary to North Buffalo Creek and related culverts along the corridor. The data scoping packet dated August 1, 2017, stated five stream crossings based on GIS data shown on Figure 1 of the scoping packet. After review, this data layer was determined to be outdated. The hydraulics technical memorandum is correct. There are only three stream crossings along the corridor. The scoping packet also listed six culverts in the project area (four city culverts and two NCDOT culverts). The culvert list was obtained from NCDOT’s Guilford County Bridge Inventory Map. While six culverts are listed on the data scoping sheet for the project area, only three of the culverts cross the SR 2085 corridor. Culverts 602 and 610 are city culverts and culvert 611 is an NCDOT culvert. This is consistent with the number of stream crossings identified in the hydraulics technical memorandum. The remaining three culverts included in the data scoping packet are located across side streets or access ramps in the Wendover Avenue interchange (which is not part of the proposed project). U-5852 Internal/External Scoping Meeting – 08/17/2017