Silt fences are up, orange paint marks the project’s boundaries and drivers heading south from town may want to find another route because there will be construction on South Main Street between Forestville and Forbes roads for several months. The first step will be installation of storm drains on the west side of the road. See the article in this week’s Gazette for details.
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            Sections of both Ligon Mill Road and Forestville Road will be repaved with shoulder reconstruction this year. Rea Contracting has the contract for the work on 2.3 miles of Ligon Mill from U.S. 401 to Burlington Mills Road and 0.8 miles of Forestville from Burlington Mills to between the Sanford Creek bridge and Heritage High School. There is no date for the repaving except it must be complete by December.
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            Wake Forest Director of Engineering Eric Keravuori said recently the construction of a new middle school near the intersection of Burlington Mills Road and U.S. 401 will necessitate placing a traffic signal at the Burlington Mills and Forestville roads intersection. There will be some significant changes to the intersection as a result with additional turning lanes.
            The middle school will be called Rolesville Middle School, and it and a planned Rolesville High School will cause name changes for Wake Forest schools, the Wake County Board of Education has informally agreed.
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            The Town of Wake Forest solicited bids for the Chalks Road realignment recently even though the town still needs to acquire at least two pieces of property, either through purchase or condemnation. Keravuori said the goal is coordinate with Atwell Construction which has the contract with the state Department of Transportation to rebuild the two bridges on Jones Dairy Road. Clearing is well underway there. The realignment will have Chalks Road lining up with the entrance to Bowling Green subdivision.
            Atwell plans to first rebuild the bridge over Austin Creek – the one to the south nearest Chalks Road – and replace the one farther to the north over Smith Creek later.
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            Bowling Green subdivision developer Steve Gould has told Keravuori he intends to extend Trout Valley Road to N.C. 98 (Wait Avenue East) and meet Midddlegame Way, the entrance to Bishop’s Grant on the north side of the highway. Gould cleared the right-of-way for the connection several years ago. The connection will make it possible for drivers on Jones Dairy Road or Chalks Road to reach N.C. 98 through Bowling Green via Green Mountain Drive, the entrance on Jones Dairy, Main Divide Drive and Trout Valley Road.
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            As reported by the Gazette in January, the third and final leg of the N.C. 98 bypass may open for traffic on some date in April although other work will continue through June.
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            Work has begun somewhat – lots of red clay between new curbs and one large backhoe – on the new section of Taylor Street that will stretch from East Elm Avenue to Wait Avenue behind the new town hall and in front of the existing Wake Forest Police Department building. One holdup has been the discovery of contaminated soil in the right-of-way which had to be removed. Atwell Construction has the contract for the work which is being overseen by Pace and a team from Kimley-Horn.
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            The Wake Forest Town Board took the first step on Oct. 20 toward having a town where all the streets are paved. The commissioners approved a contract with Appian Consulting Engineers for $300,291.36 to do the engineering required before 11 dirt streets can be reconstructed and paved. The construction/pavement cost was estimated in 2006 at $4 million. The affected streets are South Allen Road, Brewer Circle, Caddell Street, Carter Street, Dunn Avenue, Farm Road, Farm Ridge Road, Mangum Street, Spring Valley Road, East Sycamore Street and West Walnut Avenue.
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            The federal stimulus money the North Carolina Department of Transportation plans to spend four-laning part of U.S. 401 will amount to $13.9 million. DOT plans to build the two-mile section from the Ligon Mill intersection up the long hill to Jonesville Road and a groundbreaking ceremony has been held but construction has not begun. No word yet when construction will begin on the bypass around Rolesville, and the long 18 miles to Louisburg are unfunded.
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            Think there are traffic signals that should be improved? Call Steve Johnson, the Division 5 traffic engineer, at 220-4600, the new number for the Division 5 Durham office.