Engineers from Summit Design and Engineering Services will soon present a pavement condition survey to the Town of Wake Forest. It will prioritize those streets needing resurfacing and rehabilitation, and it will be used as the town decides which streets will be included in the next street rehabilitation program.
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Town staff is working with the state Department of Transportation on the planned Ligon Mill Road bridge replacement project. Currently the plan is for construction to begin in December 2016, but that will change because of the bridge replacements in 2015 and 2016 on Forestville and Rogers roads.
Town staff is requesting a sidewalk on the east side near the Whippoorwill subdivision and greenway amenities on the north side of Smith Creek as well as a center turn lane.
Song Sparrow Drive will need to be connected to Thorn Rose subdivision for the detour during construction, and there will be a public meeting about this.
DOT is reviewing the feasibility and costs for a pedestrian culvert versus an underpass.
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If you are interested in the Wake County transit planning now under way, you can learn more at www.waketransit.com.
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The construction plans for the Stadium Drive Complete Streets project are complete and the town staff is requesting reimbursement from DOT for part of the funds.
This plan will widen Stadium Drive and add a roundabout at the intersection of Stadium, Wingate Street and North Avenue. North Avenue will also be rebuilt.
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Caddell, an old and not well known street, will be rebuilt next year and Grandmark, a much-needed new street, will also be complete next year.
Caddell runs only south from Spring Street to Pearce Avenue and is rutted dirt. A Wake County grant of $513,878 for 80 percent of the estimated cost, will allow the street to be rebuilt with two lanes, curb, gutter and sidewalks. Advertising for bids will begin in the spring; construction will take four to five months. Construction plans are now 60 percent complete.
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Only 500 feet remain to connect Grandmark from Capcom Avenue to the Grandmark near the ballfields behind The Factory, a connection that can siphon some Capcom Avenue traffic to Rogers Road and a traffic signal for left turns.
Recently the town received a DOT grant of $110,000 toward the $185,000 total to build the street section. There is some money left in the town fund for unpaved roads and an adjoining land owner will contribute $25,000 to make up the total.
Update: Tuesday, Dec. 16, the town board approved a contract with Wetherill Engineering to design the short street section. That contract will not be more than $69,059.34.
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Although the construction is not set to begin until next year residents should remember that roads will be closed while four bridges are replaced during 2015 and 2016.
The first road/bridge closure will be on West Oak Avenue, which turns into Wall Road, to replace the bridge over Richland Creek. The current schedule calls for construction to begin in January – that is next month and be complete in July, about 150 days.
Before the Oak Avenue work is complete, Forestville Road will be closed to replace the bridge over Sanford Creek. It will be done beginning in April with completion in August.
Shortly after Forestville Road closes, Purnell Road will be closed to rebuild the bridge over Horse Creek. The work will be done from July through November.
The Rogers Road work – the most extensive – will be done in March through August of 2016 although the road may remain closed longer because the state has agreed to widen Rogers from the intersection of South Franklin Street next to Sheetz to the Heritage Lake Road/Forestville Road intersection east of the bridge.
If the developer goes ahead with construction of the Shoppes at Heritage Village, the small shopping center on Forestville Road that may contain a Publix grocery across from the Heritage Station shopping center (Harris Teeter), the construction congestion may be the most intense in recent history.
The replacements are part of a $9.2-million eight bridge design/build contract for Wake County DOT let last year to Blythe Construction. Because of the three Heritage schools on Forestville and Rogers roads, school, town and state officials have all pledged to make the construction detours and other necessary adjustments as painless as possible.
