Work On Indian Trail Will Slow Down Traffic
Traffic on Indian Trail Road, one of the busiest two-lane roads in the city, will be slowed for about four months next summer while it is widened.
City engineers hope to keep two thin, 10-foot-wide lanes open during the $4 million construction job, which is scheduled to begin in spring 1997.
But project engineer Dick Raymond says traffic will be slowed. “We will accommodate traffic, but we aren’t saying there won’t be delays,” he said.
About 13,200 cars travel Indian Trail Road each day, more than double the amount the two-lane road is designed to handle. Rush hour is bumper-to-bumper, one of the worst traffic problems in the city.
Indian Trail Road will be widened to four lanes and have a turn lane, curbs and bike lanes installed from Kathleen to Ridgecrest roads. The improved road will handle 26,000 cars a day, engineers say.
The project will be divided into two phases. Next summer, construction crews will likely work from Kathleen to Barnes, Raymond said.
The public works department has struggled to find funding for the entire project, originally scheduled for this summer. The second phase is scheduled for the summer of 1998.
The city is paying about 15 percent of the project, the state and federal government the rest.
Delays are expected to snarl traffic on the road, the only southbound outlet for the 30,000-resident Indian Trail area. Drivers have two alternatives: a 20-mile northerly detour around Rutter Parkway, or a dusty climb on the unpaved Barnes Road.
“I see it as a necessary evil,” said Indian Trail resident Chere Rodgers. “You have to put up with it to get things fixed.”
But some residents are concerned about access for police and fire. A fire station on Lowell Road - at the mid-point of next summer’s construction plan - services the entire Indian Trail area.
Raymond said the city was working with both public agencies to ensure safety.
Engineers are considering having some construction crews work at night, but that idea has yet to be adopted, Raymond said.
, DataTimes