Morrisville Town Center Plan - 2007

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32 │ Town Center Plan January 2007
Chapter 3: Detailed Design
Street “E”, where the cross section of
Church Street is planned to change from
a more suburban design to a small-town
crossroads format.
• The intersection of Town Hall Drive and
the main street for the Civic/Cultural/
Commercial District.
A third possible location for a roundabout
that was identified in the Town Center Design
Workshop was the intersection of Town
Hall Drive and Morrisville-Carpenter Road.
A study conducted in August of 2006 by
Parsons Brinckerhoff found that a roundabout
in this location would not function properly,
however, due to the high levels of traffic
backed up on Morrisville-Carpenter Road
from the intersection with Chapel Hill Road.
However, converting Chapel Hill Road into
a one-way pair might potentially allow this
improvement to function as intended, but a
follow-up study would be needed to assess
this possibility.
Parking and Service Access: New
development in the Town Center will
require additional parking to accommodate
the growing demand. In the Historic
Crossroads Village, additional parking will
be accommodated on individual lots to
help maintain the current character of this
district, so additional parking facilities are
not currently planned in this area. In the
New Core Residential District, parking will
be provided primarily on the street and
individual lots. However, the Civic/Cultural/
Commercial District will need significant
parking, which should be provided in a series
of smaller lots to the extent possible, along
Street E and Town Hall Drive, and perhaps
in a parking structure if the land values and
funding can support it (see Appendix 12 for
analysis). Planned commercial areas such
as along Chapel Hill Road north of Aviation
Parkway and along Franklin-Upchurch
Street should site parking to the side and
behind buildings to help maintain a quality
streetscape. A new parking lot is planned
to be built immediately to the north of the
Chamber of Commerce to serve this facility
and provide some overflow capacity for the
Town Center as a whole.
In addition to parking, another important site
design consideration is to provide adequate
access for residential and commercial
services such as deliveries and garbage and
recycling pick-up.
Pedestrian and Bicycle Network: The
Town Center Design calls for the creation
In a Main Street context like that proposed for the
civic/cultural/commercial area, on-street parking
helps to provide visitors with ready access to stores
and buffer pedestrians on the sidewalk from adjacent
traffic. (Photo: Ben Hitchings, Town of Morrisville)
Roundabouts such as the one pictured here are
proposed for the intersection of Church Street and the
new Street “E”, and for the intersection of Town Hall
Drive and the new civic/cultural/commercial street.
(Photo: Dan Burden, )