A new funding plan for smaller highway projects from the General Assembly means several roads in area counties will be strengthened and resurfaced to remove posted weight limits. They will allow more types of heavier vehicles to use these roads and in turn help promote future development in those areas.
The N.C. Department of Transportation worked with the General Assembly last year to establish the Division Mobility/Modernization Fund. It is a way to speed up smaller-scale road work outside of the Strategic Transportation Investments process, which is how most larger projects are prioritized, funded and built. The new program provides about $1.7 million a year for each of the state’s 14 highway divisions.
In Division 5, the funding will pay for 15 projects over the next two years in Wake, Durham, Franklin, Warren, Person, Vance and Granville counties.
“It is a great way to expedite lower-cost projects that improve mobility and safety in communities throughout the division,” said Valerie Jordan, who represents Division 5 on the Board of Transportation.
Much of the money for Division 5 will be used for road strengthening, including:
- Durham County – Page Road between Chin Page Road and TW Alexander Drive;
- Warren County – Rooker Dairy Road;
- Franklin County – Tant Road;
- Vance County – North Cokesbury Road, South Cokesbury Road, Tower Road and Milton Stainback Road; and
- Wake County – Pleasant Grove Church Road between Nelson Road and Airport Boulevard.
Other types of projects being funded include:
- Person County – Putting a mini-roundabout at the intersection of Morgan Road and Long Road;
- Vance County – Widening Beckford Road to put in a center turn lane;
- Wake County – Adding signalized pedestrian crosswalks and a signalized left turn lane for Old Lead Mine Road at Forum Drive, and for Heritage Lake Road at Heritage Club Avenue; adding left turn lane and intersection traffic signals at Optimist Farm Road and Pierce Olive Road; helping fund a local government project to add signalized pedestrian crosswalks at Wake Forest High School; and
- Durham County – Installing pedestrian improvements at various intersections near the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.