Huntersville staff present draft Mobility Plan recommending complete streets, multiuse paths for most roads

Town of Huntersville planning staff on Oct. 12 presented a draft Mobility Plan that lays out context-sensitive "complete street" cross sections, identifies gaps near schools, parks and activity centers, and calls for multiuse paths or separated bicycle and pedestrian facilities along the majority of the town's corridors.

The presentation said the plan grew from the town's Vision 2040 Community Plan and a CRTPO planning grant. "The town should promote multimodal connectivity to activity centers through on-street improvement, strategic sidewalk projects, and the greenway network," the presenter said, summarizing the plan's intent.

Why it matters: Huntersville has grown rapidly, the presentation said, from about 3,000 residents decades ago to "nearly 70,000" now, while the street network has not kept pace for pedestrians and bicyclists. Staff told the group that roughly 70% of the town's roadways have neither sidewalks nor bike lanes, about 20% have sidewalks only, and fewer than 8% have both sidewalks and bike lanes. The plan recommends multiuse paths or separated facilities on roughly 90% of corridors rather than painted, on‑street bike lanes, which staff said tend to be underused because people do not feel safe on them.

Plan components and findings: Staff said the team conducted an existing-conditions analysis covering population and employment, current and projected traffic, functional classification (federal-aid system), maintenance responsibility (NCDOT vs. town), existing pedestrian and bicycle facilities, transit routes and traffic counts. The plan defines cross sections for four roadway types (boulevards, major thoroughfares, minor thoroughfares and local roads functioning as thoroughfares) and applies those cross sections across different land-use contexts described in Vision 2040 (community core, transitional, open space/rural, mixed-use activity centers).

Staff described special-case cross sections where right-of-way constraints — for example adjacent railroad tracks — limit options and where a single-side multiuse path or buffered bike lanes are recommended. New roadway projects named in the presentation include Fairl Town Parkway, Prosperity Church Road and the Vance Road extension; some of those would require adding multiuse paths on one or both sides, while others would need only striping changes or buffered bike lanes.

GIS and public access: The plan's cross sections and recommendations have been placed in a GIS database and an internal online map that staff said will be made public on the town website. Staff said the public-facing map will allow users to click a road and view the recommended cross section and illustrative pictures.

Funding and interagency coordination: Staff noted that Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization (CRTPO) funding and federal grants are expected to be key funding sources. "NCDOT has adopted a complete streets policy," the presenter said, and NCDOT will fund bicycle and pedestrian facilities if they are on an adopted plan and are included as part of a roadway project. Staff also said North Carolina general statutes currently prohibit standalone state funding for separate bicycle/pedestrian projects; multimodal facilities typically receive funding only when paired with a roadway improvement. The presentation said some numbered routes and NCDOT projects scheduled for the mid-to-late 2020s include sidepaths or sidewalks in their cross sections, though timing and some sections vary by project.

Questions and next steps: Board members asked how the plan defines a "complete street," how it will integrate with the town's Vision 0 program, and what ordinance updates will be needed after adoption. Staff replied that the town's ordinance already defines complete streets as serving all modes of transportation and that adoption will likely require updating references to sidewalk and pathway widths in local ordinances to match the Mobility Plan cross sections. Staff said the plan will be presented to the planning board in a special session in the coming weeks and will return to the council for approval afterward; no formal vote or adoption occurred at the pre-meeting.

The presentation and staff comments indicated the Mobility Plan is intended to guide future town projects and to qualify recommended bicycle and pedestrian facilities for state and federal funding when those agencies incorporate the town's adopted recommendations into roadway projects.