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MINUTES
ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
AUGUST 17, 1977
The Orange County Board of Commissioners met on Wednesday, August 17,
1977, at 7:30 p.m., in the Superior Courtroom of the Courthouse in
Hillsborough, N. C. The purpose of the meeting was a public hearing to
hear the proposed Secondary Roads Improvement Program for 1977-78 by the
Department of Transportation.
Present were Chairman Richard Whitted, Commissioners Norman Gustaveson,
and Norman Walker.
Absent were Commissioners Jan Pinney and Donald Willhoit.
S. M. Gattis, County Manager, and Neal Evans, Finance Officer were
also present.
Chairman Whitted opened the meeting and introduced to the public John
Watkins, from the State Highway Commission, who introduced Sam Jones,
District Engineer, and Michael Fleming, a newly. appointed member of the
State Board of Transportation.
Mr. Fleming made same introductory remarks regarding the North
Carolina highways and Roads system. .
John Watkins stated that the General Assembly had allocated slightly
less than $27,000,000 for the 1977-78 Secondary Roads Program in the State.
Allocation to counties is broken down based on the unpaved mileage of
roads in each County. Orange County's allocation under this formula is
$312,100. This year, all Orange County Secondary Roads were re-evaluated,
which is done every two years. A change, concerning the rating of roads
has been initiated this year, specifically regarding dead-end roads.
The old system of rating dead-end roads has been to cut the traffic county
by 50 percent. The new system will not cut the traffic count in half.
This will change the priority listing of many roads in the County. Mr.
Watkins stated that this is a policy decision made by the Board of Trans-
portation and this Board would welcome input from the local Boards of
Commissioners.
Mr. Watkins stated that 10 percent of the $312,1D0 allocated to Orange
County would be held in a Contingency Fund for Rural and Old Subdivision
Additions, Overruns, Property Owner Participations, Rural Fire Department
paving and Spot Stabilization. This leaves $281,000 to be used in the
Secondary Roads Program.
He stated that the top priority of Secondary Roads in Orange County
was improvement to paved Secondary Road 1009 (Old 86) at a cost of $5D,000.
The length of Old 86 which is yet to be improved is 0.6 mile.
Mr. Watkins continued to review far the Board the priority listing of
unpaved Secondary Roads. Piney Mountain Road was listed as having priority
number one. This road is proposed to be paved at a cost of $88,000.
Linden Road, a dead-end road, was listed as priority number two, at a cost
of $90,000. The Will Wade Loop, Road Number 1368 was listed as priority
number three. This road is 1.4 miles in length and is proposed for paving
at a cost of $53,000.
Chairman Whitted asked Mr. Watkins to explain the point system for
rating roads in the County.
Mr. Watkins stated that the rating was based on three major categories.
In the land use and public service characteristics, homes counts 3 paints,
schools count 15 points, churches count 5 to 10 points, depending upon the
membership, businesses count 5 point, industries count 5. points. A11
points are added and divided by the mileage on the various roads, showing ar.
average of pints per mile of road.
Under the area of traffic characteristics, school buses count 10 points
and the average annual 24 hour traffic volume counts 1 point. General
route characteristics, County thoroughfare counts 10 points. Mr. Watkins
stated that the rating of dead-end roads had changed because same members
of the Board of Transportation felt that the old procedure paralysed many
dead-end roads statewide.
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Discussion ensued between Mr. Caatkins and members of the audience.
Roads discussed were State Roads 1384, 1394, 1508, 1506, 1346, 1552,
1316, 1321 and 1350.
Commissioner Gustaveson spoke of State Road 1384. He stated that the
people on roads similar to 1'384 were "boxed in". Problems exist on these
roads which prevent the owners from becoming involved in the owner partici-
pation programs because most of the land is owned by one person. Only one
side of this road has houses located, but somehow, the area was mapped as a
subdivision, while the other area is a rural area. He stated that situations
like this, the Council should provide more flexibility in order that owners
could have paved roads.
The Department of Transportation was asked to investigate this matter
and to discuss this further at the next. meeting of the Board.
Chairman Whitted commented on the proposed improvement program. He
stated that he felt improvement to Old 86 was good, however, in light of
all the other roads problems in the County, Old 86 should not be the number
one priority, especially since $50,000 is required for 0.6 of a mile. He
added that he felt Old 86 should be dropped from receiving appropriations
from the Orange Co.uhty allocation and that those funds could best be
applied to the next road on the priority list.
Mr. Whitted stated that he understood how Linden Road was now number
two on the priority list, however, since Linden Road is a dead-end road
and rural in character, there are a number of roads which he feels fall in
the same category as Linden Read. If Linden Road is so treated, then there
are other roads in the County which should be taken from the subdivision
classification and classified as rural roads.
Commissioner Gustaveson stated that he concurred with Chairman
Whitted, as he too questioned the priority of Linden Road and the paving
of the full 1.2 miles of Linden Road.
Chairman Whitted stated that the proposed 1977-78 Secondary Road
Improvement Program would be presented to the Board of Commissioners for _
consideration at their next meeting. He asked that those present discuss
the proposed improvements to Old 86 in order that the Commissioners would
know how to proceed. -
Mr. Watkins strongly recommended that the improvements to Old 86 be
proceeded with. He stated that Old 86 was a more heavily traveled road
than the number unpaved Secondary Raad.
The Chairman stated again that he felt this should be a year when
money is not appropriated to Old 86, so that dirt roads in the County could
be paved.
Commissioner Gustaveson stated that he objected to the change in
policy for dead-end roads. He stated that there were far more roads
which generated more traffic than Linden Road. He stated that the con-
cern was to attempt to stretch these funds as far as possible. He added
that $90,000 is a tremendous amount of money to put into this road which
did not have any through traffic.
Mr. Fleming stated that he agreed with Commissioner Gustaveson anc~
he suggested that the Board forward to him a resolution concerning the
new policy for dead-end roads.
Commissioner Gustaveson stated that he felt Old 86 had been signifi-
cantly improveed and he felt the remaining portion was not in too bad
shape compared to other roads dawn the list, and he preferred that money
be spent elsewhere, possibly at other areas of Old 86.
Chairman Whitted stated that a resolution would be forwarded to the
Department of Transportation concerning the points raised tonight.
The meeting was adjourned.
Ri ar tte Chairman
Agatha sohnson, Clerk