During the Wake Forest Town Board’s work session on July 2, 2024, there was a presentation about a new plan to redo South Main Street. The commissioners and mayor agreed it was a good plan which would reduce accidents, improve traffic flow, provide safety for pedestrians and bikers and greatly improve the look of the main entrance to the town.
Last night, July 17, during the regular business meeting, the commissioners and mayor agreed to undertake “Concept B: Full Optimization was developed with no right-of-way constraints and seeks to fully transform South Main Street into a walkable, green gateway into the heart of Wake Forest.
“Concept B also aims to mitigate some of the corridor’s challenges with new bike and pedestrian infrastructure, roundabouts, improved crosswalks, and planted medians with a lush tree canopy.
“However, Concept B goes further by providing dedicated, off-street bike lanes, wide sidewalks, and parallel parking. The parallel parking is designed to not only supplement future redevelopment, but offer a safety buffer for cyclist and pedestrians, slow traffic with “optical narrowing”, and provide pull-off opportunities for disabled vehicles and emergency response vehicles – which often impede traffic flow.
“The Study recommends the Town pursue Concept B and formally adopt the design into the Comprehensive Transportation Plan.”
The section studied was from Capital Boulevard to the NC 98 Bypass (Dr. Calvin Jones Highway), though the study did not include those two intersections, which are owned by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, as is South Main Street. The town hired the engineering firm of Stantec and the Wetherell firm for the study; town planners and engineers were involved from the first day.
Essential to a plan that would fit the needs of those using and living/working on South Main was determining how those people and businesses used the street and what they wanted fixed or changed or improved. There was a website where people could find out what was going on, there were open house community meetings with maps and possibilities, there were focus groups, and there were discussions with the Wake County School System and the town.
Safety was a paramount concern as well as access. People wanted to be able to walk and bike safely. That led to a design that separated bicycle traffic and pedestrians from the cars and trucks.
The final design in the plan — with some alternatives — is for a landscaped median which prevents left turns from several smaller streets on the east and west sides of the road and at Capcom Avenue. There are still traffic signals at Walmart and Ligon Mill Road.
The roundabouts begin at the Rogers Road intersection, a robust roundabout with two lanes of traffic each way and pedestrian crossings. The roundabout at Forbes Road is smaller with one-lane traffic. At Cimmaron Parkway, there is a saddle-bag roundabout to provide access to Windsor Drive. At the Forestville Road roundabout the suggested plan closes the current intersection and reroutes Forestville Road for a short section. Readers should be cautioned that all these intersections and roundabouts may be altered. Nothing in the suggested plan is set in stone.
The final chapter of the plan is a cost estimate of $24.3 million followed by an expanded list of the funding possibilities — federal, state, local — without accounting for the cost of land acquisition.
To find the study, which has been printed and might be available at town hall, go to the town website, go to the portal for meetings, select work sessions for 2024 and click on June 2. It was the first item on that agenda.
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There was a very short agenda for Tuesday’s, July 16, 2024, town board meeting, with every decision on the consent agenda, meaning one vote approved everything.
After a presentation by AARP representatives, the town became part of the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities. At a different meeting, Mayor Vivian Jones said the membership has many benefits for a town with a growing aging population and one about to take ownership of the Northern Wake Senior Center. The network offers many programs that assist seniors.
Next came the open discussion public comments, and there were three speakers who asked the commissioners to cancel the Gay Pride event in October — Paul Carrington, Will Churchill and Sonya Noah.
Then Janice Davis went to the podium and thanked the town for helping to slow the traffic on the town section of Ligon Mill and beyond and said her family “was getting a lot of light pollution and noise pollution” because dumpsters on the edge of the adjoining industrial park were being opened at 6:30 a.m. And there were smells.
In the consent agenda, aside from the approval of option B for the South Main project, the board approved a contract with Johnson Consulting for $94,105 to determine the feasibility of a performing arts center. It also agreed to sign a Kroger opioid settlement that is statewide, and it approved a change of the date in an interlocal agreement with Wake County. It had originally mistakenly had a wrong year.
The agenda then went to commissioner and mayor reports.
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2 Responses
I remember going to one of these open house meetings and am very pleased with their results. Although I know the plans will probably take decade(s) to come to fruition, I am still really excited for it! As a WF resident of 18+ years, I am always scared driving through those dangerous intersections and abrupt stops. Just imagine walking down a beautiful tree-lined S. Main street, families safely walking and biking on wide paths, restaurants and businesses well patronized, and smoothly running roundabouts (as long as drivers use them correctly). Most importantly, this will be much safer for the middle school kids who walk.
I thank the Wake Forest town manager, assistant town manager, and town staff for it’s attempt to get the posted speed limits reduced from 45 to 35 mph on the section of Ligon Mill Rd from south of the RR tracks to Song Sparrow. The town has done what it can. Ligon Mill is a state road, so it is now up to NC DOT to change the signs. Perhaps some day they will.
The sad irony is that perhaps it will happen right after NC DOT addresses STIP U-5307 which the town had been depending on for necessary improvements to badly congested US-1 Capital Blvd. Last year, NC DOT gave the town the bad news that, due to funding problems, STIP U-5307 is not likely to happen until 2035 at the earliest. Meanwhile, many residential developments in Wake Forest, Youngsville, Rolesville, and Franklinton, were already approved by previous Boards of Commissioners in those towns. Without improvements to US-1, Ligon Mill Rd which narrows significantly south of the RR tracks is seeing major increases and unsafe traveling conditions as frustrated drivers avoid US-1.