The North Carolina Department of Transportation will hold an informal public meeting on Thursday, March 30, from 4 to 6 p.m. about separating Rogers Road and Ligon Mill Road from the CSX S-Line that runs through Wake Forest. The meeting will be held in the ground floor meeting room in Wake Forest Town Hall which is best accessed from South Taylor Street across from the Wake Forest Police Department.
On Rogers Road, the plan is to construct a bridge over the rail line in the same location as the existing at-grade crossing with an on-site detour during construction in fiscal year 2020. The cost is estimated at $1,890,000 for right-of-way and $9 million for construction.
Andy Ammons, who developed Heritage, said in an email last week that he had set aside an easement for the bridge. “When we originally designed and built Rogers Road, we also designed an overpass option for the roadway. Then it was determined how much additional right of way was needed for the overpass option. The full amount of right-of-way, for both options, was dedicated at that time.
“Since that was over 17 years ago, there may have been changes in the required design parameters to build that same roadway today. Things Iike design speed, allowable slope, traffic load, truck/car ratios, vehicle heights, etc., as well as any revised design parameters required by CSX so that the final design today, may be slightly different than what was needed in 2000.” Ammons’ information was sent on to James Bridges, the DOT project manager. He replied Wednesday: “We did have a meeting this week and I was able to confirm as noted below. We will utilize the designated area and will need additional area based on the current design.”
Bridges was asked if the designs for the bridges meet the requirements for the possible high-speed rail system through Wake Forest. “Yes, the designs for the grade separations were developed under the Southeast High-Speed Rail (SEHSR) project,” Bridges replied. “With the SEHSR project nearing final environmental approval, the expectation is that there will eventually be more trains, at faster speeds along this line.
“At any highway/railroad intersection there is always the potential for accidents. While there may not be an accident problem at this crossing, we have to plan our transportation network for conditions as we reasonably expect in the future.”
A Gazette reader noted after looking at the plans that the Thales Academy building on Heritage Trade Road is inside the new right-of-way planned by the SEHSR adjustment of the rail line, and that should be a question asked Thursday.
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There is no construction date for the Ligon Mill Road project because there is no current funding.
The plan proposes to shift Ligon Mill Road to the south by about 130 feet which will mean its right-of-way encroaches on the property where the Heartsfield house stands, a local historic landmark owned by David and Pinky Cooke. Pinky Cooke said they have known about the plan for years. “This has never gone away. It’s like an evil ghost hovering above the trees that won’t disappear.”
When the Ligon Mill Road bridge is built, DOT will build a new entrance to the Smith Creek subdivision. The current plan is to allow the existing at-grade crossing to remain open during construction of the new bridge.
That same plan also includes grade separations at five crossings in Raleigh with only two having current funding, Durant Road and New Hope Church Road. The other roads are Gresham Lake Road, Millbrook Road and Wolfpack Lane. The public meeting about those roads will be held Monday, March 27, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Abbotts Creek Community Center, 9950 Durant Road.
Project maps can be found at http://www.ncdot.gov/projects/publicmeetings/. You can contact James Bridges, Rail Project Development Manager at 1553 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699, 919-707-4716, and jfbridges@ncdot.gov.
