Everyone remembers hearing the disheartening news last June that the North Carolina Department of Transportation had lost the funding for sections two and three of the plan to rebuild Capital Boulevard as a six-lane limited access highway and never had funding for the last section, which would take it to the Franklin County line. There was only funding for the first section — from I-540 to Durant Road — because of a startling increase in the cost for the three sections from $205 million to $612 million.
Director of Engineering Brandon Jones said DOT will buy the necessary land for that first section that goes only from I-540 to Durant Road during 2024 and construction will begin in 2025. He never said anything about the reason the highway had been chopped into four sections or that planning had begun 20 years earlier. He did say that the likelihood of the other three sections being built before 2035 was slim.
A possible alternative to the current DOT plan for Capital unexpectedly arrived last week at the end of the town board’s meeting. Mayor Vivian Jones announced that Wake Forest has been joined by Raleigh, Wake County, Youngsville, Franklinton and the Regional Transportation Alliance to ask NCDOT to fund a feasibility study to explore the idea of turning Capital Boulevard into a toll road. CAMPO, the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Area, would take the request to NCDOT.
The Wake Forest Commissioners discussed the idea briefly with all of them favoring it, and they voted unanimously for the plan.
If NCDOT approves funding for the feasibility study, the North Carolina Turnpike Authority will probably do the study. The following is Wikipedia’s description of the authority. When you go there to see everything it describes — projects, history — please donate the $3 it asks for. We want it to continue to serve us.
“The North Carolina Turnpike Authority was created in 2002 to speed the implementation of needed transportation improvements by funding some projects with tolls. Governed by a nine-member authority board, it is located within the Department of Transportation and under the direct supervision of the Secretary of Transportation. The authority has the power to study, plan, develop and undertake preliminary design work on up to eleven turnpike projects. At the conclusion of these actives, the authority is authorized to design, establish, purchase, construct, operate and maintain toll highways and bridges. The authority is also authorized to designate one or more lanes of any highway, or portion thereof, into a high-occupancy toll lanes (HOT lanes) or other type of managed lanes; provided that such designation does not reduce the number of existing non-toll general purpose lanes.”
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13 Responses
How about rework on North White Street from the Wake county line to the CVS corner. This road is horrible! The county has patched so many times it is like dodging land mines. Spend the tax revenue there.
For the past 10 or so years the legislature has focused on hoarding tax dollars so that they can brag about a budget surplus. Vote this lot out and elect representatives who will spend what it takes to improve all infrastructure.
I’m a native and I’d rather not see either a toll road or a 6 lane Capital Blvd!
This is some kind of urbanization
Terrible idea.
It appears Carol Pelosi and her Wake Forest Gazette “got the scoop” on this major news story before all the major media players in the area. Thank you for the well-researched write-up. Nicely done!
Everyone complains about traffic, and it continues to get worse. By 2035 NC will be immensely more populated than it is now, and even then there will be no guarantee that capital will begin expansion in our town.
I hate tolls, but this is what happens when the number one complaint is to “fix the traffic” and the town councils and commissioners of various towns have their hands tied by state DOT. The state government refuses to spend on necessary infrastructure for its constituents, and they refuse to raise taxes, even temporarily, to fund these projects.
Do you hate taxes so much that you would rather pay 2 – 3 dollars each time you get on capital? Or do you hate traffic that much more that you would be willing to pay up (either in taxes or in tolls)? Traffic or money? It is an issue of money management, and the current NC government unfortunately doesn’t want to figure it out, leaving it to the small towns.
Once again, local government being tone deaf on hard issues. The Mayor and the business interest members of the BoC need to be voted out so there might be a chance of the Wake Forest not becoming New Jersey.
The $3 is for Wikipedia, as they are non-profit. It is actually a great benefit as anyone that uses Wikipedia could attest to
A toll is a terrible idea! How much traffic will move to other, smaller roads parallel to Capital Boulevard? Will NCDOT be paying to widen those roads?
Did I read that NCDOT wants users to donate $3 to the Turnpike Authority? Surely, this is in jest! Isn’t it about time the DOT gets its act together and learns how to budget? And, why doesn’t the State Capital get additional attention paid to its transportation issues. Raleigh is the face of the state and we are treated like we are a rural outpost on a dead end road.
The $3 is a donation to Wikipedia. Not the turnpike authority.
Boy this sits badly with me! North Carolina has one of the better budget balances in the country. While I understand that many of those living in Wake Forest now work elsewhere and the commute is a killer because of traffic, are we really willing to set up a toll road that has no payoff period? Why is the government set on offloading the cost of road construction as another hidden tax (toll roads)? It is because they can’t pay to maintain and improve the roads with their current tax base and it would be politically unpopular to increase taxes. So, it is sold as a “usage” fee that pays for that road and its maintenance. Is there ever a time when the road will be paid off and NCDOT will take it over? This is another addition to the cost of living for those people that “have to” drive that highway daily. I personally avoid the 540 toll road because I am retired and can afford the extra time to get to where I am going. There are precious few other ways for people to get to Wake Forest and north. I lived in Massachusetts and the Toll Roads were permanent. They might have started out with a plan to pay them off, but it never happened. The state will “NEVER” budget to take on the responsibilities for these roads. I personally see it as the natural throttling of the excessive growth in the area. Let the State put aside an allotment every year to build the necessary funds to upgrade capital BLVD. That means it is in the budget and not being spent elsewhere.
I’ll start by saying two things, first, I’m actually from North Carolina, and secondly, I never thought NC would have toll roads! I always assumed they were northern misfortunes. I think tolling US 1 is a terrible idea.