Tuesday, Jan. 05, 2010

Falls widening design is nearly done

A public hearing is planned Feb. 2, but its location isn't set.

More than half of Raleigh's controversial Falls of Neuse Road widening project has been designed, and the plan should be complete this summer, city officials say.

City planning staffers say 65 percent of the 1.3-mile-long widening project has been designed.

Once it's finished, contractors will bid on its construction. The original due date was July, but it could be delayed by a month or two.

A public hearing for the design is scheduled for Feb. 2, but the location hasn't been announced.

Raleigh's City Council in August voted unanimously to include a 17.5-foot-wide median in the widened section of Falls of Neuse Road between Raven Ridge and Fonville roads in North Raleigh.

The design also includes traffic signals at Wide River Drive and Raven Ridge and Dunn roads.

Once construction starts, the project should be completed in two years, city officials say. Six months after the widening is complete, the city plans to review the road's usage and determine whether additional traffic signals are necessary.

"The big question was, 'What will be the character or this road?'" council member Russ Stephenson said. "There was no perfect solution in any of this. In terms of access points, the best way to approach it is see how the new capacity functions, then we'll talk about how we need to modify it to make it better."

The council's vote ended months of debate about the road's design.

City and state officials recommended the current design's median and interspersed turn lanes.

Some affected neighbors backed the proposal, but a coalition of other neighbors pushed instead for a narrower five-lane road with a continuous center turn lane. Those neighbors were able to persuade the city to reduce the road's width. The debate delayed construction of the widening by several months.

Efforts to reach members of The North Raleigh Coalition of Home Owners Associations were unsuccessful.

The 1.3-mile section is part of a $29 million project to realign Falls of Neuse Road through Raleigh's Wakefield Plantation subdivision and to build a new bridge over the Neuse River below Falls Lake. The city is contributing $15.2 million, and the remaining funds are coming from state and federal sources.