Clayton staff introduces town’s first Comprehensive Transportation Plan; board to review April 28

Town of Clayton staff presented the draft of the town's first Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP) at the Planning Board meeting on March 24. The presentation was informational only; the board did not take action. Staff and the consultant will return for a formal presentation and to solicit a recommendation at the April 28 meeting. Staff asked board members to submit written comments by April 7 for consultant consideration.

The draft CTP lays out proposed cross sections, corridor priorities and a project list intended to guide right-of-way dedication, future road improvements, sidewalks, greenways and more detailed follow-on studies such as downtown parking and transit assessments. Staff said the plan will be used administratively to identify cross sections and to negotiate developer-provided road improvements, and it provides groundwork for more focused planning projects.

Board members praised the document's comprehensiveness but raised several concerns. Members said the report is dense and could be hard for the public to read; it does not clearly indicate which listed projects are funded and which are not; and it lacks measurable metrics showing how the town will track progress toward the plan's goals. One board member asked staff to explain how the CTP should be used in conjunction with existing ordinances and other planning documents when the board reviews development applications.

Staff and the consultant (WSP, project lead Shivang) described how the CTP connects to county and regional planning: the town's recommendations can feed into Johnston County's comprehensive transportation plan and the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization's (CAMPO) Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP), which helps determine eligibility for transportation funding. Staff said NCDOT Division 4 has been part of the technical team and the division-level review helps align the town's recommendations with what NCDOT can feasibly build; however, actual construction and funding decisions rest with those agencies.

Board members and staff discussed fee-in-lieu provisions used when developers defer on-site construction (a fee paid instead of building sidewalks or other improvements). Staff said the town will follow up to confirm how Clayton currently accounts for and allocates fee-in-lieu funds; the meeting record does not specify whether such fees are held in a project-specific account or a general fund.

The draft plan's treatment of U.S. 70 (Clayton Boulevard) drew particular attention. The consultant recommended not converting the road into a six-lane “super street,” instead proposing targeted signal and other operational fixes so the corridor does not become a barrier between north and south Clayton. Board discussion referenced a suggestion in the draft to reduce the posted speed limit on the highway segment; staff said the speed-limit reduction was an option discussed in modeling but that the exact limit and its traffic effects would need confirmation through formal traffic studies and NCDOT processes.

Public comment at the meeting focused on a traffic-configuration concern tied to a nearby development. Resident Ed Basner (Caroline Overlook) said the Ashcroft development's traffic plan and the corresponding intersection geometry on O'Neil Street lack a right-turn lane at the Steeplechase Boulevard entrance. Basner said southbound drivers approaching Covered Bridge and O'Neil frequently travel at high speed and residents making the right turn onto Steeplechase have been tailgated. Basner said he contacted NCDOT and received a written response from a DOT staffer, Sawyer Roberts, stating that a right-turn lane was not required based on projected trip generation and that the new signal at Covered Bridge should help traffic flow; DOT said it will continue to monitor the location.

Board members urged practical review of traffic impact analyses that accompany developments and recommended continued public communication. One board member suggested the town could request a DOT speed study for the O'Neil segment; a staff member and others noted that a speed-study result could sustain the existing limit if posted 85th-percentile speeds are high.

Next steps: staff will collect board comments on the draft CTP through April 7 for consultant review and will present the final draft and seek a recommendation at the April 28 Planning Board meeting. No formal votes or ordinances were adopted at the March 24 meeting.