Plans this year do not have frontage/backage roads for access
On Monday, Oct. 29, from 4 to 7 p.m., staff people from the North Carolina Department of Transportation will be at the Wake Forest Baptist Church, 107 East South Avenue, with preliminary plans to remake Capital Boulevard (U.S. 1) from a traffic-clogged road into a limited-access freeway from I-540 to the Purnell Road/Harris Road intersection.
The meeting replaces one scheduled for Oct. 11 that was postponed because of concerns about Hurricane Michael.
These plans do not include the new access roads that will be necessary to give businesses, neighborhoods and apartment complexes access to the road. Those access roads will be in the next set of plans expected to be shown to the public in 2019.
This set of plans also proposes to build a bridge between Stadium Drive and Jenkins Road over the new highway with no way to access the highway or the large shopping center, Wake Forest Crossing, which sprawls along the east side of the current highway from the Wake Union Church Road/Agora Drive intersection north to Stadium Drive and Jenkins Road.
The new Wake Forest Fire Department Station #4 would be left without a way to access Capital Boulevard as would the residents of a growing number of subdivisions along Jenkins Road and students and parents at Wake Forest High School.
Wake Forest Planning Director Chip Russell did tell the Raleigh News & Observer recently that “there’s a possibility of an exit from the northbound lanes of the freeway into the shopping center, but not a full interchange.”
All other major intersections on the route, including the Harris Road/Purnell Road intersection, are proposed as interchanges with full on/off access.
The Raleigh News & Observer said on Tuesday, Oct. 9, “NCDOT says the goal of the $465-million freeway project is to reduce congestion and travel time. The highway would be six lanes wide. With 12-foot shoulders and a concrete median with a speed limit of 65 mph.” Also, the newspaper said, “NCDOT hopes to refine its plans by next summer and award a contract for final design and construction, which would begin in the spring of 2021.”
These are the proposed changes:
*Traffic signals on Capital Boulevard are proposed to be removed and replaced with interchanges at:
– Durant Road/Perry Creek Road
– Burlington Mills Road
– Falls of the Neuse Road/South Main Street/U.S. 1-A
– Purnell Road/Harris Road
*Existing interchanges at 1-540, N.C. 98 Bypass (Dr. Calvin Jones Highway), and N.C. 98 Business (Durham Road) will be modified
*A bridge (grade separation) is planned at Jenkins Road/Stadium Drive.
The project will be built in four segments which are listed without dates, expected construction time or anticipated cost:
*Segment A from I-540 north to Durant Road/Perry Creek Road
*Segment B from north of Durant Road/Perry Creek Road north to Burlington Mills Road
*Segment C from north of Burlington Mills Road to south of Durham Road (N.C. 98 Business}
*Segment D from south of N.C. 98 Business to Purnell Road/Harris Road. This will probably not be constructed until 2024.
The meeting will have an informal, open house-style format, so there will not be a formal presentation. Attendees may come any time between 4 and 7 p.m. to view the conceptual designs and ask questions.
A map of the proposed improvements can be viewed or downloaded on the NCDOT public meetings website at www.ncdot.gov/news/public-meetings/Pages/U-5307-2018-10-09.Aspx<http://www.ncdot.gov/news/public-meetings/Pages/U-5307-2018-10-09.Aspx>.
One Response
Do not favor the part D of this plan at Harris Road/ Purnell Road. It will block people entering and leaving the neighborhoods off this over 10 mile long Purnell Road. All the subdivisions behind and adjacent to Harris Teeter shopping center also poses a traffic nightmare… Guess you want all the people in this area to move on up to Youngsville and beyond. Time to sell our house after living in Wake Forest for 32 years…maybe Franklin County is better.