Wake Forest tracks the various town projects and provides a quarterly update for the mayor and commissioners. Here are some of the highlights.
*Ailey Young House Rehabilitation is the reconstruction and preservation of the house on North White Street near Wake Forest Cemetery that is planned to be an historical resource once complete in 2023. The property south of the house went up for sale, and the town decided to use some of the rehabilitation funds for that purchase, which is currently underway led by the town attorney. Project cost $303,500.
*Fiber Infrastructure will link all the town sites. All the fiber with the exception of the Star Road to Unicon Drive has been completed, and there is splicing and testing underway. The town is working on the easement between Star Road and Unicon Drive. Project cost is $2,496,158.
*Town Hall carpet, office upfits has been bid and work is expected to begin in January. The budget of $277,300 will allow for new carpet on the ground, first and second floors, office upfits on the second floor and construction of two offices on the first floor. (Additional staff needs additional offices.) Other projects will be included in the capital improvements program.
*Traffic signals are always a hot topic. There is a new traffic signal at Heritage Lake Road’s intersection with Friendship Chapel Road next to the new apartment complex, and the town has a contract with Kimley Horn for the signal at Forestville Road and Song Sparrow Drive. The town board should be able to vote on the project design cost this spring. There has been no progress on the future signal at Wait Avenue and Middlegame Street. The project has a budget of $135,000.
*Dunn Creek Greenway, Phase 3 will be a 1.9-mile trail connection from Ailey Young Park to Oak Grove Church Road. The planning department is continuing to work with property owners for needed easements. The project budget is $40,000.
*Smith Creek Greenway, Phase 2 is the 1.1-mile section for a trail and trailhead along with parking that will provide a connection from Ligon Mill Road to Burlington Mills Road and then to the Wake Forest Connector bridge over the Neuse River and Raleigh’s Neuse River Greenway. Property acquisition is ongoing along with negotiations about various points in the construction plan and state requirements. The project budget is $406,700.
*Dunn Creek Greenway, Phase 4 is in the design stage for 0.55 miles of trail within Flaherty Park which will connect existing sections in Del Webb, the Orchards at Traditions and Flaherty Farms seminary apartments. The budget is $157,600.
*Smith Creek Greenway, Phase 3 is in both design and right-of-way acquisition for 0.8 miles of trail connecting the Smith/Sanford Creek junction to Ligon Mill Road. The planning department is working on obtaining easements. The budget is $24,000.
*The Ligon Mill Road project is finally physically complete!!! In an effort to find out how long this short strip of road – from South Main Street to the driveway to Walmart – has taken, the editor rambled through a few years and did find a mention of it in an Oct. 24, 2012 edition where it was clear the project was already on the town’s to-do list. Since I found nothing about in 2008 when widening South Main Street was underway, I can only decide it became a project sometime in those four years. The cost was $3,781,500 largely covered by federal and state money.
*Bus shelter installation has a $105,000 budget and will install three bus shelters and amenities in the spring of this year. It is an ongoing project.
*Ligon Mill Road Underpass is a NCDOT project (B-5318) to replace the bridge over Smith Creek, realign and widen part of Ligon Mill Road and build the Smith Creek Greenway under the bridge. The project is slated for construction in November of 2022 but the date may be moved up. The town portion of the cost is $325,000.
The Gazette will complete reporting on the town projects next week.
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