Tuesday night the Wake Forest commissioners agreed to support the state in seeking federal stimulus funds for a new underpass on the future Northern Loop road and match the funding from the state and federal government on a 50-50 basis.
The two items, a resolution of support for seeking the stimulus funds and a letter from the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Rail Division asking for the funding commitment, were added to the agenda at the meeting.
The cost for the underpass project is estimated at $8.8 million, the town’s share at $4.4 million, although that could grow to over $5 million, Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell said.
The Northern Loop will stretch from the N.C. 98 bypass at the Jones Dairy and Wait Avenue intersection north through the future Traditions mixed-use subdivision, then west just south of the existing Flaherty Farms subdivision, and connect to the existing Harris Road which runs west to Capital Boulevard. The Ammons family group developing Traditions will build the portion through the subdivision and Wake Forest developer Jim Adams will build the part next to Flaherty Farms.
The town’s portion will run from North White Street, under the CSX rail line – and future high-speed rail line – to Harris Road.
Commissioner Anne Hines objected to the resolution, citing what she heard at a recent workshop in town about the proposed greenway next to the high-speed rail line. “It didn’t make me feel good about it coming through my town. We’re going to be cut off; it’s going to divide the town in half.” She also said she was concerned because it was “tagged onto the stimulus money. We’re being held hostage to get our overpass to have to have the rail.”
Mayor Vivian Jones said all the roads that cross the railroad will be grade-separated, and Hines said it was her understanding East Elm and East Holding will be closed. Holding will be the only crossing closed, Jones said.
Hines said she was told Elm could not be grade-separated because there are too many historical properties.
“We never agreed to close it. We never agreed to close any crossing but Brick [Street],” O’Donnell said.
“So far, we’ve not agreed to close Elm,” Jones said.
In the past, Commissioner Frank Drake said, “the number of trains was fairly large. They were frequent and they were dirty. I’m gambling that the impact of the high speed rail through town will be no more than the old trains.”
They agreed Wake Forest residents will have to drive to Raleigh or Henderson to board a high speed train.
“I think the benefit of that outweighs the impacts,” Commissioner Chris Kaeberlein said.
“With the tracks being improved, local trains can use the same tracks,” Commissioner Margaret Stinnett said. There will be four trains a day through town along with freight trains. She mentioned local rail transit.
The railroad through town was triple-tracked at one time, Stinnett added.
The vote for the resolution was three to one with Hines dissenting. Commission Peter Thibodeau was absent without permission or explanation.
The vote for the funding letter was also three to one, but on this Stinnett voted no.
“We’ve been working with the guys from the rail division and asked if they would consider helping us build the crossing,” Jones said.
“Our thinking was we had committed to building an at-grade crossing.” With the high speed rail plans, “we would have to have a grade-separated crossing. Let’s partner so we can build it correctly” the first time,” Jones said.
Then the opportunity to get some stimulus money came up, and the Rail Division headed by David Foster also intends to pay a portion, maybe $1 million, of the town’s share.
The commitment to pay half the cost, O’Donnell said, means the state and town are more likely to get the federal funds. “We could spread the project over five years and begin construction in 2012.”
In 2005, Wake Forest voters approved $16.5 million in bonds which included $9.5 million for streets and sidewalks -- $3.3 million for a North Loop bridge, $1 million to widen South Main Street, $2.2 million to widen Stadium Drive, $2.4 million for the South Franklin Street roundabouts and median, and $600,000 for the North White Street sidewalk.
“The North Loop and Stadium Drive fell to the end,” Town Manager Mark Williams said. The cost of the South Franklin project grew to over $5 million, the cost of the South Main Street widening is now estimated at $3 million, work on the South White Street streetscape was included, and now, O’Donnell said, “There is very little of that [$9.5 million] left.”
“The Northside Loop is a very important road for Wake Forest,” Jones said. “It will make traffic flow so much better in this town to have that connection.”
She also added it is “not a do or die vote tonight.” When the time comes to build the underpass, “if we don’t have the money and we don’t want to do it, we can say no.”
Roe said the town has until 2012 when it would have to have bond money. The town will engineer a four-lane median-separated road but only build a two-lane road.
Without the state’s help and the stimulus money, Williams said, “the whole cost will fall on us. Eventually we’ll have to build it.”
“We’re not committing tonight to spending the money,” Kaeberlein said. “If we want to build that road, this is a chance to get someone else to pay for it.” The town will have three years to come up with ways to fund it, he added.
O’Donnell said the town engineering department has “done a little bit of environmental work” and found only minor environmental challenges to the construction. The town has also done some draft engineering for the underpass.