(This article was published on September 29, 2023 in The News & Observer and written by Richard Stradling. It is being republished here because so many Wake Forest residents use U.S. 401 daily.)
As northern Wake County’s population has boomed in recent years, Louisburg Road has grown more congested north of Interstate 540. It’s especially bad at the intersections of Perry Creek Road and Ligon Mill/Mitchell Mill roads.
Next month, N.C. Department of Transportation contractors will get started on a multiyear effort to overhaul those two intersections. The goal in both cases is to improve safety and the flow of cars, by reducing left turns and the amount of time through traffic is stopped at red lights.
The biggest changes will come where Mitchell Mill and Ligon Mill roads now meet Louisburg Road, which is also U.S. 401. NCDOT engineers considered 10 different options here and finally settled on turning what’s now a single intersection into two.
Here’s how it will work:
▪ At the existing intersection, Mitchell Mill traffic will still be able to turn right or left at U.S. 401, while drivers going north on U.S. 401 will be able to turn right on to Mitchell Mill. Ligon Mill Road, however, will be closed off there.
▪ Southbound 401 traffic turning left onto Mitchell Mill will cross over northbound traffic at a separate light several hundred feet north of the intersection, then proceed to Mitchell Mill to make the left turn. This kind of turn is what traffic engineers call a continuous flow intersection, which are rare in North Carolina.
▪ Ligon Road will be realigned to meet U.S. 401 at the second intersection about 1,500 feet north of the existing one.
In addition to those changes, NCDOT plans to widen the bridges over the Neuse River, just south of the current intersection, to add an additional lane and a 10-foot multi-use path in both directions.
About a mile south, the Perry Creek Road intersection will also get an overhaul.
Drivers on Perry Creek will have one option when they reach U.S. 401 from both directions: Turn right. Those wishing to turn left onto U.S. 401 or remain on Perry Creek will also turn right but then get into the left lane and make U-turns at separate sets of lights down the road.
At the same time, U.S. 401 drivers wishing to turn left on to Perry Creek Road will pass through the intersection and also make U-turns.
Traffic engineers call this a reduced conflict intersection, because it cuts down on the number of places cars could potential run into each other. Drivers from Perry Creek may find it takes longer to get through the intersection, while through traffic on U.S. 401 will come to a stop less often.
NCDOT says the changes are necessary not only because of the traffic that’s there now but because of what’s coming. Rolesville’s population has more than tripled since 2010, and the northeast corner of Raleigh has been one of the fastest growing parts of the city.
In 2018, when the department sought feedback on its plans for the Ligon Mill/Mitchell Mill intersection, it said about 59,800 cars and trucks were passing through each day on average and that it expected that number to grow to 93,200 by 2040.
NCDOT later expanded the project to include Perry Creek Road. This summer it awarded a $45.3 million contract to Conti Civil LLC of Edison, New Jersey, to make the changes. Conti Civil expects to get started in October and finish sometime in 2027.
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