Durham Technical Community College’s Orange County Campus is highlighting its new Sustainable Technology program on Saturday, July 10 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Area residents will have the opportunity to learn more about this new program. They can also view solar technology demonstrations and displays and talk to solar technology professionals.

Some highlights include:

See rickie White's post for more info: http://www.orangepolitics.org/2010/06/carrboro-downtown-chapel-hill-light-rail-connections-to-the-region

From the http://www.ourtransitfuture.com web site:

Carrboro (and West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill) are arguably the most mass transit friendly developments in the entire region, if not the entire state.  And yet direct bus and rail connections have yet to be established connecting these dense centers of work, entertainment, and population to the rest of the Triangle.  Furthermore, Carrboro rail and bus discussions have been markedly/noticeably absent from the most recent regional planning processes. 

The Triangle celebrates National Bike to Work Week with North Carolina’sfirst ‘open-streets’ event in Durham and regional events

Triangle Transit, along with its local partners Chapel Hill Transit and the Durham Area Transit Authority, is currently in the process of considering service changes along the 15-501 corridor.  These changes present the opportunity for some much-needed improvements in the service between these areas, and as a Chapel Hill resident, I'm looking forward to greater connectivity to Durham.  But I think it is equally important to remember our friends in Carrboro who could greatly benefit from direct service to Durham (and of course, Durhamites deserve the opportunity to visit Carrboro in turn!).  I'm proud to be a supporter of a local effort called Connect Carrboro. They recently formed a Facebook Page to help supporters who want to learn more.

I'd like to remind everyone that Triangle Transit has some new route and schedule changes effective today as well as some fare changes.  In particular I'd like to point out that travel on Triangle Transit is now free for those 65 years or over and for those under 12.  So if you know of someone who might benefit from these free fares please mention it to them.  Also mention the useful trip planner available at    http://www.gotriangle.org/

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010.

The Carrboro Citizen warns us ice is coming, and you can follow the very amusing, weather-induced mass hysteria at Twitter via the snOMG hashtag (dynamically displayed below).

Have you stocked up on bread and toilet paper yet?

A day after the elections for city-wide offices in Durham, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough several of our elected officials joined advocates for transit to publicly launch "DO Transit" - Durham Orange Friends of Transit.  Thanks to Gerry Cohen for posting info about the kick-off meeting here on OP and for being there last night to help explain House Bill 148.  The newly enacted legislation establishes the Congestion Relief and Intermodal Transportation 21st Century Fund, providing the Triangle with an unprecedented opportunity to build a robust transit system.  

I just received an email announcing the organizational meeting for the Durham Orange Friends of Transit and it got me to thinking... As a resident of Carrboro, I continue to hear a lot of excitement at the neighborhood and town level about the idea of some type of fixed rail service with a stop in downtown that takes folks to the university and beyond to Durham. Despite this, everyone that I've heard that is "in the know" about transit issues seems to be dismissive of the idea that a station in Carrboro is a viable idea. I believe this is partially due to the perception that the Carrboro population is not large enough to sustain such a station. The types of statistics I've seen that justify transit and transit stops tend to only use population and density numbers, but don't take into account the percentage of the population likely to use such a service.