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Most of the 25 or so people who went to
town hall Monday night to see the plans
for Franklin Street offered suggestions
about landscaping or signs or just asked
questions.
Only one person said she did
not like the plan with the roundabouts
at all. Elissa Miller, who lives in the
Deacons Ridge subdivision with its only
exit on Franklin Street, said she does
not travel through the town’s first
roundabout on South Main at South Avenue
– “I refuse to go by there” – and
questioned the safety of the circular
pattern.
“I don’t understand what’s
wrong with the four-way stops,” she told
the staff members of Kimley-Horn
Associates, the consulting firm that has
developed the plan.
Franklin, a wide street that
runs from the N.C. 98 bypass north to
Wait Avenue, has a fairly new four-way
stop at the intersection with East
Holding Avenue, which is also the
entrance to Deacons Ridge.
Miller questioned the safety
of the roundabouts, saying she was sure
there would be more than at a
conventional intersection. When Stephen
Stansbery and other Kimley-Horn staff
cited a study published by insurance
companies that found less property
damage and fewer injuries in roundabout
accidents, Miller said it meant the
insurance companies had to pay less, not
that there were fewer accidents
The plan – 90 percent
complete – calls for roundabouts at East
Holding and at East Elm Avenue, which
also is the exit for a subdivision,
Avondale.
These roundabouts will be
larger than the one at South Main and
South Avenue, 130 feet in diameter.
There were reports members
of the Wake Forest Fire Department had
concerns that their soon-to-be-delivered
ladder truck, which is 50 feet long on a
single body, might have problems
maneuvering through the roundabout next
to the station on East Elm. Deputy Town
Manager Roe O’Donnell questioned members
of the Kimley-Horn staff, who said the
truck should handle the curves without
problem.
The revamped street will
have two travel lanes with a landscaped
median, sidewalks on each side, street
trees behind the sidewalks and enough
space in the travel lanes to allow a car
to pass one that has stopped or parked.
The landscaping will include
grassed areas – a warm weather grass
that goes brown in winter – bushes,
ornamental trees, ornamental grasses,
various bulbs, perennial plants and
herbs such as rosemary. The street trees
will include two varieties of oaks that
have a 3-inch caliper and stand 12 to 14
feet high.
Jonnie Anderson, a member of
the Downtown Revitalization Corporation
Board, asked about signs, particularly
signs that would lead first-time
visitors to the post office, the
library, town hall and downtown.
She and her sister, Mayor
Vivian Jones, wanted to make sure the
signs had the logo and design just
adopted by the DRC and that there were
signs facing both directions at the N.C.
98 bypass directing people toward
downtown. |
