CHAPEL HILL - The mayor and the biker stood shoulder to shoulder at Sunday's Carolina North traffic forum: the politician in a sportscoat, the cyclist in biker pants and shirtless as he cooled off from his ride down Homestead Road.

It's a scene that may get repeated in future years as town and gown figure out how to move lots of people -- in cars, buses and bikes -- to and from the planned campus north of Estes Drive and west of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

The citizens group Neighborhoods for Responsible Growth held the forum to share ideas before this week's release of a draft traffic impact analysis, showing how many trips the project Carolina North may add to local roads. At press time, the town was planning to post the document on its Web site Tuesday and present it to the community at 7 p.m. Thursday at The Chapel Hill Library.

For weeks, NRG has been surveying residents about their traffic concerns related to the new campus.

"Our goal is not to oppose development but to make sure development reflects the goals and values of our community," the NRG's Madeline Jefferson told the group of about 85 people at Sunday's meeting.

The group has found many of the nearly 600 people responding already have complaints: MLK and Estes Drive back up at rush hour, cut-through traffic makes neighborhood streets dangerous, pedestrians can't cross busy streets now.

Without the numbers due Tuesday, speakers spoke in general terms Sunday.

Mayor Kevin Foy said the town has used free bus service to minimize road widening.

"That's what really rips the heart of a community," he said. "We've mostly been able to avoid that."

Chapel Hill Transit director Steve Spade said "rapid-transit" buses, with dedicated bus lanes, are also expected to carry a significant portion of Carolina North travelers.

"It's kind of a poor man's light rail," he said, but cheaper and more flexible than an actual rail system. "If things change, you can move a bus route," he said.

UNC is proposing to build Carolina North on approximately 250 acres of the 1,000-acre Horace Williams Tract, in phases over the next 50 years.

The town and UNC expect to reach a development agreement on how to do that by June. Part of the plan calls for periodic traffic counts and transit adjustments.

One thing officials did say Sunday was that there are no plans for a north-south road paralleling MLK as part of the first 1.5 million square feet of development on the new campus.

"We don't know what will develop between 1.5 million and 3 million square feet," the expected build-out after the first 20 years, Carolina North director Jack Evans said.

There is still time to take the NRG survey, which will remain open a few more days at www.nrg-nc.net.

"The results show that most all neighborhoods are concerned about the impact of traffic on greater Chapel Hill and Carrboro due to Carolina North," Jefferson said Monday. "About three-quarters are concerned about the impact of traffic on their neighborhood."

The neighborhoods near the new campus were concerned with issues like on-street parking by employees of Carolina North and cut-through traffic, she said.

NRG will summarize its survey results and suggest solutions in a report to the Town Council May 11.

mark.schultz@nando.com or 932-2003

IF YOU GO

A public presentation of the draft Carolina North traffic impact analysis will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Chapel Hill Public Library, 100 Library Drive