The aging Smith Creek bridge on Rogers Road will not be replaced until 2016, a year later than first planned, but the replacement will also include widening the road from the bridge to Forestville Road, relieving the serious congestion in the area.
The Town of Wake Forest announced the change in the bridge replacement schedule this week.
Senior Planner Candace Davis said widening Rogers Road from the bridge to Forestville Road has been on the town’s transportation plan for years and the state Department of Transportation planned to do the widening in the next 10 to 15 years.
“Why not have the widening now?” Davis said the town staff asked and approached DOT about combining the two projects, cutting costs and reducing the total time the road will be closed.
In March DOT told the town that because of the additional time needed to acquire the necessary right-of-way for the widening it could accommodate that request by swapping the construction times for the Rogers Road and Forestville Road bridges.
Replacing the bridges on Rogers and Forestville roads is part of an eight-bridge replacement project in Wake County. Bridges on Purnell Road over Horse Creek and on West Oak Avenue over Richland Creek are also part of the project. DOT has already let the $9.2-million design/build contract to Blythe Construction of Charlotte. The company is finalizing the designs.
The Rogers Road bridge project will include a wider five-lane approach from the west side, five full lanes across the bridge, five lanes from the bridge to Forestville Road, and a pedestrian underpass for the Smith Creek Greenway.
Davis said the project will still take five months with monetary penalties to the contractor for any time past the contract time. There will be marked detours and adequate provision for traffic into the two schools next to the bridge, Heritage Elementary and Heritage Middle School, and for Heritage High School on Forestville Road.
“NCDOT made the decision to close Rogers Road completely (instead of building the bridge in stages over 12 months) after consulting with the principals of the three public schools in the area and the Wake County School System bus coordinator,” the town’s website says.
The plan now is to replace the Forestville Road bridge over Sanford Creek in 2015 with a two-lane bridge that includes a sidewalk on the Heritage High School (western) side and build a pedestrian underpass for access to the Smith Creek and Sanford Creek Greenways. Construction will be scheduled for five months with penalties for time overruns.
Work will begin this fall on the reconstruction of the Purnell Road bridge over Horse Creek. Work on West Oak Avenue bridge over Richland Creek will begin in the fall of 2015.
The town has an interactive map on its website with useful information about current and scheduled transportation projects in the area. The map highlights projects that have active construction sites, are in the process of being designed or permitted, and/or are currently funded for future design/construction. To view the interactive map, visit www.wakeforestnc.gov/transportationmap.aspx.
