This year we have proposed to set aside $200k for a “cost share” at this intersection. The first thing I need to address is that it’s not actually located in town limits. Under normal circumstances, we are actually prohibited, by law, from spending money on transportation projects outside of town limits. This isn’t some soft limitation, implied by some general principal about spending tax dollars. GS 136-66.3 lays out the specific limited circumstances where we can participate, and how that can happen. It’s pretty clear.
So what is going on here? Basically, two things. The first is Pleasant Park. The traffic study for Pleasant Park indicated the project would require a turning lane on Old US1 onto Friendship. In this regard, the town is a “developer”, we are subject to the requirements of any other development: traffic studies are required, and any mitigations from the traffic study must be done. All Town of Apex development rules apply to the Town for our projects. Separately, a private development adjacent to this intersection also determined that turning lanes were needed on Friendship. So, the town and a private development combined are going to provide turning lanes this year. That’s the cost share. That project is ready to go, and will begin hopefully this summer.
The second issue is a potential traffic light at this intersection. We did a traffic study last year, which showed that (finally) a traffic light is “warranted”. Recall that traffic lights can’t just be built when some governing body decides they want one; there is an objective process required to “prove” it’s needed. That’s the “warrant”. But we finally got the “warrant” for this intersection, which is the biggest hurdle. Great!
So who pays for it? Recall; under state law, the Town of Apex is explicitly prohibited (under normal circumstances) from paying for traffic lights or other traffic projects not inside town. So we went to DOT, and said, hey guys, the data shows we really really need a traffic light here, and we’re not allowed to do it, will you? And they said 1) No, at least not for a while, and 2) If a traffic light goes here, we will require one at Holland and Old US1 as well (the two intersections are too close) timed together.
But! Holland and Old US1 *is* located in town limits, and we *are* allowed under 136-66.3 to contribute to traffic improvements here! And even more helpfully, a private development at this intersection had a condition of approval that might make them responsible to contribute. Plus, there is some money from a Holly Springs development driving a lot of traffic to the area, and hopefully that money can be conveyed to NCDOT as well. So, point being: now that it is a slightly larger project involving multiple intersections, at least one of which is in town limits, we believe we have legal authorization to participate if needed.
So there you have it: at Holland/Friendship/Old US1, we have a complex project with two traffic lights and four different entities (a Holly Springs development, Town of Apex, a private development, and maybe NCDOT) who can contribute funds to get it to happen.
I want to be clear: money really isn’t the issue. The project still needs to go through a process at NCDOT to get approved and designed, which could take a year or more in of itself. Once that happens, I am confident the funds will be there (this isn’t really a lot of money in the grand scheme of things). But the project is not “ripe” right now to happen, so the decision was made to go forward with the turning lane projects right now and then do the light as soon as possible, rather than hold up the turning lanes – even if in an ideal world it all would have happened at once to minimize the disruption.
Additionally, a request has been made to include funds in this year’s budget for a future traffic light here. I am not opposed to this, as if nothing else it will demonstrate our commitment to this project: but I do want to be clear: a traffic light is not happening this year, turning lanes are – no matter what the budget says. This isn’t because money isn’t available, it’s because much work has to be done to pull available funds together, and actually design the thing, and push it through NCDOT’s process. This work has to be done, and unfortunately, it has to be done by NCDOT – because it’s their road and will be their project. There technically isn’t yet a project to appropriate funds to, and if we do appropriate the funds, the most likely outcome is those funds will simply need to be re-appropriated next fiscal year when (hopefully) the project will be ready to get the green light (…see what I did there)
Our long range transportation plan calls for a realignment here (of Holland and Friendship). That will require a significant amount of private property, and is NOT happening as part of any of the projects discussed here.
So that’s the story between the cost share, the turning lanes, and the (future) light at Friendship and Old US1.
VISION OF THE PEAK 