The Durham City Council election is Tuesday, November 5. We sent each candidate a questionnaire so they could tell our members and the general public where they stand on bicycle, pedestrian, and transit infrastructure in Durham. So far, three of the six candidates have responded; if/when the other candidates submit responses, we'll include them here.
Affordable Housing Bond
Bike Durham strongly recommends a vote of “Yes” on Durham’s Affordable Housing Bond. Building off the City’s approval of Expanding Housing Choices, the Affordable Housing Bond represents a critical funding source for the much needed all-of-the-above strategy to address Durham’s housing affordability crisis. Bike Durham supports efforts that allow people of varying incomes to live near jobs, transit, and services, thereby providing them with options to travel by ways other than driving. Please vote “Yes” on the Affordable Housing Bond measure for a more sustainable Durham.
Be sure to vote! Support the candidates who support your right to safe and equitable transportation, and help alleviate the crisis in affordable housing! Early voting begins October 16. Find your voting site here.
Click a name to jump to that candidate’s response:
Javiera Caballero
Do you currently walk, bike, and/or take transit in Durham? If you do not use one or more of these modes, what prevents you from doing so?
I walk a lot and have bike commuted in Durham, but do not currently bike to work. I am not on a bus route even though I live close to downtown. I would ride the bus, but depending on the bus route I take it would take up to 45 minutes, and to walk it would take about half an hour. I would like to recommit to biking again to work as I have done in the past.
If you walk, bike, and/or take transit in the city, do you feel safe? Can you get where you need to go?
When I have ridden my bike in Durham, it has really depended on the route I have taken whether I feel safe or not. I live close to the South Ellerbee Creek trail, so to get downtown is easy and convenient. Walking is usually safe and easy, but there are many parts of Durham that do not have good sidewalks. We also do not have safe intersection crossings at many of our schools, so that impacts children walking to and from school.
Bike Durham is presently finalizing a proposal for a “Low-Stress Bicycle Network” in Durham, a connected set of protected bicycle lanes, greenways, and slow streets that would enable people to travel safely and comfortably throughout most of the city by bicycle. Do you support this concept, and would you prioritize funding this network?
Yes and yes. Creating a multi-modal transit system, which includes a “Low-Stress Bicycle Network,” has to be a priority for the city. We cannot reach our sustainability goals without good walking and biking options.
Many of Durham’s streets are owned by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, which has been resistant to bicycle/pedestrian/transit-centered improvements. Should the City of Durham take over these streets?
I am really curious about this option and would like to learn more. As I have learned more about transit policy, it has become very clear that we are very limited about what we can do because the state DOT owns so many of our roads. I think it would make sense to take over key routes in Durham, but I would want to have a much better understanding of the process and costs for us to accomplish that.
7,000 people move to Durham every year. There is not enough road space for everyone if we continue to privilege automotive traffic. What actions will you take as a member of City Council to make Durham a safer and more inviting place to walk, bike, and take transit?
Below are some of the policy platform ideas from the “Bull City Together” platform. This platform was co-written with my colleagues Jillian Johnson and Charlie Reece.
Improve on-time performance of GoDurham transit services, expand frequency of service at night and on weekends, and prevent fare increases.
Implement an equitable “fare capping” system for GoDurham transit services that will ensure that riders are not penalized for paying cash for individual rides.
Build more bus shelters throughout the city of Durham so that more riders are protected from the elements while they wait for the bus.
Work closely with Durham County and our regional partners to revise the Durham County Transit Plan in a way that combines deep and equitable community engagement with cutting edge transit solutions to our region’s 21st-century transportation challenges.
Fully fund the remainder of the 2011 Trails & Greenways Master Plan.
Develop an action plan for the funding and construction of the remaining sidewalk, bicycle and intersection improvement projects identified in the 2017 Durham Bike+Walk Implementation Plan.
Complete and fund the Vision Zero Action Plan requested by the City Council in 2017 with the stated goal of zero traffic fatalities on Durham roadways.
Expand Durham’s current system of bike lanes as part of a low stress cycling network throughout the city composed of not only protected bike lanes but also bicycle boulevards.
Continue to build more sidewalks throughout Durham but especially in parts of the city that are sidewalk poor.
Encourage pilot projects throughout Durham that showcase the latest thinking in transportation planning and design, possibly including a downtown pedestrian plaza and a “pedestrian scramble” in downtown Durham.
What else can you tell us about your commitment to safe, affordable transportation in Durham?
We need a good mass transit system, and we needed it at least a decade ago. Currently Durham’s planning department is leading the effort for the next iteration of our transit plan; they are working closely with GoTriangle, and that will give us a strong end product. We have clear evidence that the planning department takes equitable engagement seriously, and I am confident that they will do the necessary work to ensure robust stakeholder input is included in the process. The commuter rail between Durham and Raleigh is an important component for our next transit plan. Determining the best transit option between Durham and Chapel Hill is critical and at this point the most viable option seems to be BRT (Bus Rapid Transit), but that still needs to be determined. Increased busing in Durham proper will also need to be addressed, as will thinking through multi-modal transit ideas, such as improved and increased options for walking and biking. Above I shared some specific policy ideas that I believe would help move our transit policy forward in a meaningful way.
Jillian Johnson
Do you currently walk, bike, and/or take transit in Durham? If you do not use one or more of these modes, what prevents you from doing so?
I regularly walk and use transit in Durham, but I don’t bike much. I’m not a very strong cyclist, and I don’t currently own a bike. When I did own a bike, I was an occasional trail user, and biked to work when the weather was nice.
If you walk, bike, and/or take transit in the city, do you feel safe? Can you get where you need to go?
I feel safe walking and taking transit in the city of Durham, and I’m lucky to live in an area of town with robust bus service and some sidewalks, though we could certainly use more. I know that the majority of the city does not have this privilege, and that many residents live in areas where bus service is limited or unavailable and don’t have access to sidewalks or safe bike lanes for cycling.
Bike Durham is presently finalizing a proposal for a “Low-Stress Bicycle Network” in Durham, a connected set of protected bicycle lanes, greenways, and slow streets that would enable people to travel safely and comfortably throughout most of the city by bicycle. Do you support this concept, and would you prioritize funding this network?
I fully support the concept of a low-stress bicycle network, and agree that it’s important to create the network as a whole, rather than in pieces, so that people can commute safely. I believe this is an important priority for Durham’s transportation future, and that sustainable transportation infrastructure needs to be a higher priority in city spending plans. Both growth and climate change raise the importance of this issue more each year. I look forward to enthusiastically supporting funding requests for this work.
Many of Durham’s streets are owned by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, which has been resistant to bicycle/pedestrian/transit-centered improvements. Should the City of Durham take over these streets?
The benefit of taking over these streets is clear, but the costs are significant. The city does not have the funding required to maintain these streets, and I don’t think we should raise taxes to provide a service which should be provided by the State of NC. I would support the city stepping in to maintain state roads if we could receive funding from the state to ensure this cost does not fall on the residents of Durham.
7,000 people move to Durham every year. There is not enough road space for everyone if we continue to privilege automotive traffic. What actions will you take as a member of City Council to make Durham a safer and more inviting place to walk, bike, and take transit?
I will continue to support increased investment in our bus system, trails, sidewalks, and bike lanes. I’m also excited about a current city effort, funded by a Bloomberg grant, to use behavioral science techniques to discourage personal vehicle trips. As traffic gets worse, more and more of our residents will be looking for other transportation solutions, and we need to have options ready for them.
What else can you tell us about your commitment to safe, affordable transportation in Durham?
Here are the points in my platform, joint with Javiera Caballero & Charlie Reece, that relate to this issue:
Improve on-time performance of GoDurham transit services, expand frequency of service at night and on weekends, and prevent fare increases.
Implement an equitable “fare capping” system for GoDurham transit services that will ensure that riders are not penalized for paying cash for individual rides.
Build more bus shelters throughout the city of Durham so that more riders are protected from the elements while they wait for the bus.
Work closely with Durham County and our regional partners to revise the Durham County Transit Plan in a way that combines deep and equitable community engagement with cutting edge transit solutions to our region’s 21st-century transportation challenges.
Fully fund the remainder of the 2011 Trails & Greenways Master Plan.
Develop an action plan for the funding and construction of the remaining sidewalk, bicycle and intersection improvement projects identified in the 2017 Durham Bike+Walk Implementation Plan.
Complete and fund the Vision Zero Action Plan requested by the City Council in 2017 with the stated goal of zero traffic fatalities on Durham roadways.
Expand Durham’s current system of bike lanes as part of a low stress cycling network throughout the city composed of not only protected bike lanes but also bicycle boulevards.
Continue to build more sidewalks throughout Durham but especially in parts of the city that are sidewalk poor.
Encourage pilot projects throughout Durham that showcase the latest thinking in transportation planning and design, possibly including a downtown pedestrian plaza and a “pedestrian scramble” in downtown Durham.
Charlie Reece
Do you currently walk, bike, and/or take transit in Durham? If you do not use one or more of these modes, what prevents you from doing so?
For the last six months or so, I set a goal of replacing at least one day of car trips per week with cycling or riding the bus. I’m proud to say that I’ve succeeded more than I’ve failed, though a nagging knee injury has prevented me from riding my bike as much as I’d like. In order to walk from my home to City Hall downtown, I would need to set aside 4.5 hours roundtrip, and frankly it’s rare that I have a day when I can do that. The challenges I face when trying to integrate more of these modes of transportation into my daily routine are the same challenges faced by lots of Durham residents—lack of a more robust network of protected bike lanes, not enough greenway trails to make running, biking and walking a more viable option for more folks, and a bus system that doesn’t go to enough places, doesn’t run often enough, and doesn’t run late enough at night. So we have a lot of work to do here in Durham!
If you walk, bike, and/or take transit in the city, do you feel safe? Can you get where you need to go?
I have always felt safe taking the bus in Durham. When walking and biking, I’d say it depends—when I’m on the American Tobacco Trail and in parts of the city where there are more sidewalks and more bike lanes, I feel very safe. But sometimes I’m walking or biking in parts of the city where the city does not have as robust a network of sidewalks and bike lanes as we would like, and those experiences can be disconcerting (or even a little scary). But I think it’s important for elected officials to experience these kinds of environments so that we can have a better understanding of how far we still have to go in Durham.
Bike Durham is presently finalizing a proposal for a “Low-Stress Bicycle Network” in Durham, a connected set of protected bicycle lanes, greenways, and slow streets that would enable people to travel safely and comfortably throughout most of the city by bicycle. Do you support this concept, and would you prioritize funding this network?
I am a huge supporter of the concept of a low-stress bicycle network for the city of Durham, because such a network is a critical component of the larger project to make Durham a less car-dependent community. Making it easier for folks to get around in some way other than driving their cars is absolutely essential to building a safer, healthier and more sustainable Durham. I would definitely prioritize funding for a low-stress bicycle network.
Many of Durham’s streets are owned by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, which has been resistant to bicycle/pedestrian/transit-centered improvements. Should the City of Durham take over these streets?
I don’t know if there is a mechanism for having the city “take over” streets from the state of North Carolina. It’s not clear to me that there is any kind of funding available from the state for maintenance of such streets. My personal experience is that persistent advocacy with NCDOT can make change happen, whether it’s trying to get the state to reduce a speed limit on a state road (which I was successful in doing at the request of a nearby neighborhood on Hebron Road in the northeastern part of the city earlier this year), or repeatedly insisting that more can be done to improve pedestrian safety at dangerous intersections involving state roads across the city (which has resulted in the recent installation of a traffic light at South Mangum and South Dillard Streets). But to engage in that kind of persistent advocacy, we need elected officials who are not only eager to engage with Durham residents to identify these kinds of problems, but also capable of the kind of sustained engagement with NCDOT (often over months and years) to implement solutions to those problems. I believe that I’ve demonstrated my ability to do those things over the last four years.
7,000 people move to Durham every year. There is not enough road space for everyone if we continue to privilege automotive traffic. What actions will you take as a member of City Council to make Durham a safer and more inviting place to walk, bike, and take transit?
Over the next few years, the city of Durham must focus more time, attention and money on building a safer, more equitable and more environmentally friendly way to think about transportation in Durham. We have a moral imperative to map out a future which prioritizes public transit by keeping bus fares low while expanding service, reducing wait times and building more bus shelters; to promote traffic calming measures to reduce the dangers posed to cyclists and pedestrians by cars and trucks, and to make our streets safer for everyone; and to invest in more sidewalks and protected bike lanes and greenway trails to make walking and cycling truly viable commuting options for more and more Durham residents. By making progress on these issues, we can break our city’s disastrous reliance on cars and trucks that burn fossil fuels and build a safer, healthier and more sustainable Durham.
From a regional transit perspective, the demise of the Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit Project requires even closer collaboration between Durham and our regional partners to develop alternatives to light rail that reduce traffic congestion, meet our region’s growing transportation demands, combat sprawl, and address the critical environmental crisis of global climate change. That’s a tall order, but I know we’re up to the challenge.
The alternatives to light rail look both east and west. To the east, along the I-40 corridor, we must move forward with commuter rail between Wake and Durham Counties; to the west, along the NC 54/US 15-501 corridor, we must move quickly to develop bus rapid transit between Orange and Durham Counties, perhaps along a dedicated route that uses the alignment already acquired for light rail.
These ideas will be more fully developed in the revised Durham County Transit Plan, which is currently underway. As a member of the Durham City Council and a member of our regional transportation planning organization (the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization), I will continue to be a forceful advocate for expanding both local and regional transit, as well as cycling and pedestrian infrastructure.
What else can you tell us about your commitment to safe, affordable transportation in Durham?
For the last four years, I have been the city council’s leading advocate for reducing Durham’s dependence on cars through improving our city’s public transit system, expanding our city’s network of bike lanes (especially protected lanes) and greenway trails, and building more sidewalks across Durham. This work is especially important to making our city safer for users of all modes of transportation, to improving the health of city residents, and to achieving the city’s ambitious sustainability and renewable energy goals. Bike Durham has been an important ally in that work, and I am eager to continue my partnership with Bike Durham to make our city a less car-centric community over the next four years.