TOWN OF CARY FACILITATES NEW HIGH SCHOOL OPENING ON McCRIMMON PARKWAY

Town Completes $2.5-million Section Through Partnership with Wake County Public Schools

CARY , NC – As part of its continuing commitment to supporting education by providing quality infrastructure, the Town of Cary has completed the extension of McCrimmon Parkway from the proposed Western Wake Expressway to N.C. 55, paving the way for the new Panther Creek High School to open in time for the new school year.  As part of an agreement with the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), the Town of Cary built the median and lanes for the 1-mile extension that leads to the school, including sidewalk and curb and gutter adjacent to the school.

“We are pleased to partner with Wake County Public Schools to make this project a success,” said Tim Bailey, Cary Director of Engineering.  “The new section helps to lay the foundation for educational and transportation progress in this vital part of Cary .” 

As part of the agreement, WCPSS requested that the Town build the road to provide access to the high school that is scheduled to open in the fall.  The Town subcontracted with S.T. Wooten of Wilson , NC to build the road for $2.5 million. The Town also constructed two full access driveways to the school, providing safe and easy access for teachers, parents and students, and provided water and public sewer to the school.

The McCrimmon Parkway extension is one part of Cary ’s $7.1-million Cary Park Transportation Improvements project that is expected to be complete in the fall of 2007.  The Cary Town Council approved the Cary Park Transportation Improvements project as part of an agreement with Panther Creek Raleigh, LLP, signed February 16, 2001 .  The project was funded with general obligation bonds, vehicle license fees, and transportation development fees and also includes: 

• Traffic signal at Carpenter Fire Station Road & N.C. 55 (Completed)

• Traffic signal at Carpenter Fire Station Road & Green Level to Durham Road

• Traffic signal at the Proposed McCrimmon Parkway & N.C. 55 (complete by May 15, 2006 )

• Widening Green Level to Durham Road from proposed McCrimmon Parkway to 2,000 feet south of Carpenter Fire Station Road (1.1 miles). Road widened to four lanes with wide median to provide for future construction within 124-foot right-of-way. Construction includes two outside lanes northbound and southbound with curb and gutter, sidewalks and required tapers. Construction from Carpenter Fire Station Road southward has been completed. Construction of the section from Carpenter Fire Station Road northward is a future project.

Private developers will complete the extension of McCrimmon Parkway from the proposed Western Wake Freeway, a future NCDOT project, to Green Level to Durham Road .  Once complete, the new extension will bridge the Western Wake Freeway.

For more, see Cary Park Transportation Improvements at www.townofcary.org or call (919) 469-4381.

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