All of you who have been fretting and wondering just WHEN Sam’s Club would be a reality and worrying that it would never be built, your worries are over.
The very first of the improvements on Capital Boulevard (U.S. 1) will get underway this weekend. From early Friday, Nov. 20, through late on Sunday night, Nov. 22, crews will lay asphalt and build barrier walls along the road shoulders from just north of the South Main Street/Capital Boulevard intersection up to the N.C. 98 Bypass (Dr. Calvin Jones Highway). To assure the safety of the crews, the northbound and southbound outer (right) lanes will be closed.
Those outer lanes will reopen after the weekend, but the barriers will mean the lanes are narrower; local drivers who can use alternate routes such as Falls of the Neuse Road are advised to avoid the area.
In his email announcing the construction, the town’s public information officer, Bill Crabtree, added warnings and caution for drivers: “With construction crews working near open travel lanes, motorists are reminded to slow down, allow extra time for traveling through the work zone and keep space open between their vehicle and those in front of them. The narrowed lanes and barriers alongside the roadway will leave almost no room for driver error, so the faster a driver is going, the less time there is to react and try to avoid a crash if there is a sudden change in the traffic ahead.
“That means for the short time it takes to go through the work zone, drivers need to pay close attention to the traffic around them and the road itself. Drivers should also remember the speed limit is 55 m.p.h. According to the N.C. Department of Transportation, more than one-fifth of all reported wrecks in North Carolina last year involved drivers not giving their full attention to their surroundings.”
* * * *
The last bits of the historic Cullom house at 427 North Main Street that burned to the ground the night of March 25-26 should be removed by the time you read this. It had been left untouched since the fire while the owners – who were also the contractors for the renovations underway at the time of the fire – negotiated with their insurance company. David White and his fiancé, Shelley McPhatter, are said to be planning to rebuild the house.
The cause of the fire was never determined despite at least two investigations. The fire was so hot and so fast it melted lights on a fire department vehicle and siding and light fixtures on a neighboring house.
For more about the fire, search for “north main fire” on the first page of the Gazette.
* * * *
The Wake Forest Planning Department’s Technical Review Committee met Oct. 15 and reviewed plans for a grocery store, a pharmacy and a school. The grocery and the pharmacy were approved by administrative action; the master plan for the school will have to go through a public hearing process with review by both the planning board and town commissioners.
The grocery store construction site application, submitted by Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, would be built in the southwest quadrant where South Main Street (U.S. 1-A) crosses the N.C. 98 Bypass (Dr. Calvin Jones Highway). The site contains 5.3 acres and is zoned conditional use neighborhood business. The name of the grocery store was not included in the report in the monthly information packet for town commissioners.
A Rite-Aid pharmacy is planned for 1.73 acres at 2811 Rogers Road that is zoned for highway business. Kimley Horn & Associates submitted the site construction plan.
The school would be the Envision Science Academy to be built on 6.96 acres in the southeast corner where Traditions Grande Boulevard meets Oak Grove Church Road. the committee reviewed a site master plan submitted by Kleinfelder. The zoning is neighborhood mixed use.
* * * *
Two large construction projects – the Smith Creek sewer line and the Forestville Road bridge replacement – are behind schedule because of the week-plus of rain earlier this fall. But Town Manager Kip Padgett reported to the town board that the Forestville bridge work may be completed as planned in early December if there is “a significant run of dry weather.” It appears we are going to experience that. As for Raleigh’s sewer project, it has run into something more intractable, rock – probably more of the Rolesville granite, and the construction does not impact traffic. You can see it, though, on both sides of the N.C. 98 Bypass near the Heritage Lake intersection.
The bridge replacement work on West Oak Avenue is underway, and the Rogers Road bridge replacement with concurrent widening of the road to the east is still planned to begin in May. A separate bridge replacement project on Ligon Mill Road is being planned for construction in 2017-2018.
* * * *
The Wake Forest Engineering Department has submitted a letter of intent to the North Carolina Attorney General’s Environmental Enhancement Grant Program for four projects. They are for the purchase of 158 acres for the Traditions Northeast Park, $500,000; the dam removal and stream restoration at Ailey Young Park, $500,000; the purchase of 14 acres of land owned by Dr. William Hedrick to protect a tributary to Smith Creek, $250,000; and the purchase of several parcels of land along the route for the Smith Creek Greenway.
The department is also preparing applications for state Clean Water Management Trust Fund grants for greenways, stream restorations and the removal of the Ailey Young dam. Other grant applications being prepared or already submitted are to Duke Energy for the Ailey Young dam removal, an application to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Natural Heritage Program Southeast Aquatic Habitat Plan Aquatic Habitat Restoration Program and a state Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (PARTF) grant for the Smith Creek Soccer Center improvements.
