Tim Bailey
Director of Engineering
Town of Cary
Speaking on October 29, 1998, about the $63 million roadway portion of the February 2, 1999 Bond Referendum.
INTRODUCTION
"When we were looking at identifying the road projects, we had several goals: (1) fully complete and widen the two primary Cary roadway loops; (2) alleviate traffic in congested areas; and (3) Improve and widen radial roadways. There are two loops in Cary. The first loop, Maynard Road, is complete around the Town, but it’s not fully widened to the intended cross sections. The second loop around Town is Cary Parkway. Some sections of Cary Parkway need to be widened as well, and some other sections need to be completed. Radial roadways are the ones we see running to and from the downtown portion of Cary such as Kildaire Farm Road and Walnut Street."
"We also considered alternative transportation modes. We are looking heavily into bikeways and have some projects included in the Bond for some sidewalks. Another consideration was to consider safety of users, also to rely on NCDOT to widen and improve the major interstates and freeways instead of the Town taking on that responsibility. Of course, we also talked about congestion as we came up with our roadway list."
"In Cary, we have 27 intersections that have a failing level of service. Council has currently identified these failing levels as E and F levels of service during peak hours. Out of those 27 intersections: 8 will be improved as bond projects; three intersections will be improved with a combination of bond projects and CIB projects, or Capital Improvement Budget projects where the Town is funding those road improvements; two other instersections are being addressed strictly by Capital Improvement Budget projects; four NCDOT projects will also correct intersections; developer projects are improving three of those failing intersections."
"Five intersections are widened to their full section according to the thoroughfare plan. An example of that is the intersection at Maynard and Walnut Streets. Before we jump into making improvements on those roadways, we would like to get some more information to see what type of impact it would have on the community. It’s a pretty dramatic impact when you start taking 6 and 7 lane roadways and widening those. The final thing is two intersections along Highway 55. Those we do not have a project proposed for even though we are considering Highway 55 a lot. We do not currently have a project proposed. One of the key concerns is that Cary is only partially responsible for this (HWY55). Our (Cary’s) percentage of traffic that has an origination or destination in Cary that utilizes Highway 55 is less than 25% of the total traffic problem."
"We would like to point out these are draft projects. We do plan to make adjustments as we go through the process; we plan to address Town Council’s concerns. We plan to make adjustments based on citizen feedback to help us serve the citizen's better."
"Regarding the draft project list: In this list of projects, there are 9 NCDOT roadways that we are improving; there is a project to overlay and improve the condition of some Town streets, and there are some sidewalk projects that we are adding."
"This first project is the Walnut Street widening that begins at Dillard Drive and continues to Holly Springs Road. It realigns Walnut Street intersection with Tryon Road to get some functional improvements at that location. This project is proposed to be a six lane median-divided roadway, about $6.2 million dollars, scheduled to be funded in the Fiscal Year 2000. The next project is Evans Road. It begins at Dynasty Drive and continues to Maynard Road. This project is about $1.1 million dollars. It’s a four lane cross section and it’s scheduled for funding in 2001 and 2002."
"The street improvement project I mentioned is part of a program that we currently have. Annually we spend about $1 million dollars. This $5 million dollars obviously would go a long way to upgrading our overall roadway network. This money is used for Town-maintained streets which are primarily the subdivision or local level streets while the major streets are typically maintained by the North Carolina Department of Transportation."
"The next project is Maynard Road widening Phase II. It will be from W. Chatham Street to Kildaire Farm Road. This project has about $2 million dollars in funding. It is currently scheduled for a 5 lane cross section for funding in the year 2000. Next, Tryon Road widening would begin at Walnut Street near the existing intersection and continue to Cary Parkway. This project is $3 million dollars, is a five lane cross section, and is scheduled for 2002 and 2003."
"Holly Springs Road widening would actually be along the proposed realigned corridor, and it would be a six lane cross section. We have recently made a thoroughfare plan amendment to make that a six lane cross section with a median. It has $3.8 million dollars in funding, and is funded in the years 2003 and 2004. Next is High House Road widening. This project begins at NC 55 and goes to Jenks-Carpenter Road. It’s a $1.8 million dollar project, 5 lane cross section, and is funded for the years 2001 and 2002. Piney Plains Road widening would begin where our current Capital Improvements Budget project Dillard Drive extension would end, so it would complete that link around to Tryon Road. It’s a $3.1 million dollar project, 4 lane cross section, funded in 2003 and 2004."
"Davis Drive widening addresses the portion of Davis Drive within the Town of Cary’s jurisdiction. It covers both our corporate limits and ETJ. This project includes the High House Road intersection and would make a significant improvement to that corridor while not fully widening the entire corridor into the RTP. This project is $4.5 million dollars in funding. It is a four lane cross section funded in the years 2000 and 2001."
"The Evans Road/Chapel Hill Road realignment project is a project to address some intersection proximity concerns. Currently, Chapel Hill Road and Evans Road are phased much too close together to function well long term. They cannot function without traffic signals long term because of the volume on both roads. We are proposing this project to provide some separation of those intersections so that area will function more efficiently. This is a $3 million dollar project. The approaches to that intersection are primarily 5 lanes. The project is funded for 2000 and 2001."
"Next, Aviation Parkway, the portion within Cary’s jurisdiction, primarily across the lake and northward until it intercepts the widening that the airport has recently done. This is a four and five lane cross section, $3.3 million dollars funded in 2000 and 2004. Cary Parkway lane additions in this area between Evans Road and Harrison Avenue would add two additional lanes very similar to the other sections of Cary Parkway. If you are familiar with that area now, there are only two lanes. This is a $5.4 million dollar project. It’s going to be 4 lanes and is funded for 2005 and 2006."
"Cary Parkway Extension would begin at Harrison Avenue and continue on to Trinity Road. This would match the cross section of the other sections that have been constructed. It’s a $9.3 million dollar funded projected for the year 2006 and 2007. Trinity Road continues that loop around Cary and picks up where Cary Parkway Extension stops and continues on to Cary Towne Boulevard. This project is a $9.4 million dollar project. It’s a four lane cross section funded in the year 2008 and 2009. "
"Currently we have on sidewalks along the following roadways planned as part of the bond funded in 2008 and 2009: E. Park Street, Hunter and Fairview Roads, Griffis Street, Ralph Drive, the northern section of Cary Parkway, Bridle Creek, Creekpark Drive, Coorsdale Drive and Lake Pine Drive. It’s a $1.5 million dollar project. Our goal in picking these components for the project was to complete some links in our existing system."
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
"To date, we have had some feedback on our proposed roadway projects. The first item is that Council wanted to add more sidewalk projects and wanted to really focus around the schools and the school walk zones. We have been in contact with the schools on the walk zones within the Cary area and are looking at that now. Another issue that Council was concerned about was compressing sidewalk funding into two years instead of three."
"As I mentioned in my comments on roads, there has been a lot of discussion about widening Highway 55. It hasn’t been left out, but there is just a lot of debate about how it should be funded. There is a lot of discussion with NCDOT at this current time frame to get them to add the project."
"There has been some discussion about a narrow bridge at High House Road near the Jenks-Carpenter Road area. That is one of the top priorities in this area for State funding this year, and anytime now we expect to find out whether or not that has been funded. If it has not been funded, the Town will consider adding that as part of the High House Road widening project which wouldn’t be very effective if the bridge continues to remain two lanes."
"We have added Walker Street sidewalks in the project based on some Council concerns. We are also looking further into Kildaire Farm Road south of town, towards Ten-Ten Road, paving an existing gravel section of Collins Road, as well as looking at a corridor along Carpenter-Upchurch Road. "
You may Email your comments to Tim Bailey at tbailey@ci.cary.nc.us or call him at 469-4034.