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(Road roundup is a standing feature of
the Gazette, designed to keep people
informed about the progress of the
various street and road projects in
town. New projects or updated projects
will appear at the top of each week’s
column in
blue.)
S.T. Wooten has begun work to complete
the second leg of the N.C. 98
bypass after a winter-time
hiatus.
The company is constructing
the south-bound on ramp and the
north-bound exit ramp on the south side
of the new bridge over Capital
Boulevard.
Earlier this month Deputy
Town Manager Roe O’Donnell said he hopes
the company will open the section in May
rather than the projected completion
date of August. They can open the
four-lane road early and lay the final
one to two inches of asphalt by criss-crossing
traffic.
The contract for $21,211,427
was let in late 2003 and work began
early in 2004.
* * * *
Sometime between now and the
end of July a contractor for the state
Department of Transportation will smooth
out the bumps and lay the final layer of
asphalt on South Main Street (U.S.
1-A) from Capital Boulevard to
the N.C. 98 bypass with a short
exception. O’Donnell said the section of
the street between Rogers Road and
Forbes Road would not be repaved because
the town is completing plans to widen
that section to five lanes and will
resurface it after that work is done.
DOT’s contractor will add
thermoplastic yellow and white solid
lines and dashes. Reflective beads are
embedded in the material to help
motorists see the markings. The
contractor will also add cats’ eyes, the
little reflective markers on the lines.
* * * *
Work has also resumed on the
roundabout where South
Main meets the seminary campus at South
Avenue. There is not a firm date for its
completion. It will cost about $1
million, much or most of which will be
reimbursed by DOT.
* * * *
Stadium Drive
will be closed to through traffic from
April 3 to Aug. 28 while the bridge over
Richland Creek is rebuilt.
* * * *
There is now a connection
between N.C. 98 (Durham Road) and Wake
Union Church Road that does not go
through the parking lot at the Hampton
Inn.
The new section of
Hampton Way Drive, across Durham
Road from Retail Drive at the traffic
signal, has been completed through
Hampton Commons, a new five-lot
commercial subdivision built by Kathryn
Drake, Susan Blevins and Howard
Mitchell.
* * * *
The town is still drawing
plans for the two roundabouts on
South Franklin Street at Holding
Avenue and Elm Avenue. There will be a
public meeting for comments when the
plans are about 70 percent complete.
* * * *
When the N.C. 98
bypass is complete from Jones
Dairy Road to Thompson Mill Road, there
will be nine traffic signals on the
4.8-mile limited-access road.
There will be the set at
Jones Dairy Road and business N.C. 98
(Wait Avenue); a set where Heritage Lake
Road intersects but does not cross the
bypass (and you can already see the
clearing for the road); a set at
Franklin Street but not, perhaps, until
that street is extended into Heritage;
the current signals at South Main
Street; a set at Ligon Mill Road when it
is extended; a set at Capital Boulevard;
and signals in Wakefield, at the
realigned Falls of the Neuse Road, and
at Thompson Mill.
Planning Director Chip
Russell said there is still a question
whether Siena Drive – which has sections
north and south of the bypass already –
will be connected. That could be the
tenth intersection with traffic signals.
* * * *
Also, that traffic signal on
Rogers Road at the
entrance to Heritage Elementary and
Heritage Middle School is still slated
to be installed this spring. Mayor
Vivian Jones and other town
commissioners vigorously lobbied for the
signal, and state Sen. Neal Hunt was
instrumental in getting it approved by
DOT. |
