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Cary Community Plan 2-23-17 Part 2

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Cary's street network is a vital component of its success as a growing and vibrant community, providing access to the services, jobs, and ameni es that make Cary a wonderful place to live, work, and visit. Cary has been proac ve in planning and building high quality street facili es, working in a collabora ve manner with federal agencies, NCDOT, metropolitan planning organiza ons, neighboring municipali es, and developers to create this infrastructure and vital regional connec ons. Because of the complex funding and regulatory structure, many streets in Cary, in par cular the interstates, US routes, and NC routes, are planned and maintained by federal agencies or NCDOT, although the Town of Cary provides input and helps to make decisions regarding changes to these streets. Functional Classification Streets in Cary, as in all communi es, are designed in a hierarchical manner with different street types serving different purposes within a unified system. At a conceptual level, the design of streets is balanced between two general goals, mobility and accessibility. Mobility is the ability to travel quickly without delay and most streets that focus on mobility are designed to carry high volumes of traffic. Accessibility is the ability to reach des na ons. There is a trade-off between mobility and accessibility, and the transporta on network in Cary seeks to balance these two broad goals to create an efficient system. For public streets in Cary, there are three major street types: thoroughfares, collectors, and local streets. Thoroughfares are larger streets that form the backbone of the transporta on system in Cary, providing mobility to travel around Cary. Thoroughfares are designed to focus on mobility more than access. Local streets perform the opposite func on; they are smaller, slower speed, and feature more driveways and intersec ons in order to provide access to businesses and homes. Collectors balance the two func ons of access and mobility and provide linkages between local streets and thoroughfares. In the hierarchical street system, collectors collect traffic from local streets and distribute to thoroughfares. At a system-wide level, a hierarchical arrangement of streets helps to minimize conges on and maximize safety. CHAPTER 7:MOVE STREETS ELEMENT 220

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