Description
This section of Wingate Street which is located between North Avenue and Durham Road has multiple problems. First, it is a safety hazard because it is stretches through the middle of a college campus with a high volume of student traffic; established in 1834, the automobile traffic has long ago superceded the safety of students. Second, the road is long overdue for repaving; the cement pavement needs to be roughed and then given an asphalt surface. Third, the Double-Yellow (no passing) center lines are worn away; cars are constantly crossing over their designated lane into the on-coming traffic. Fourth, cars are parking on the east side of the road, but the parking spaces are not clearly marked, so cars are often poking out into the north bound lane of traffic. Fifth, the Speed Limit should be lowered to 15 MPH instead of the 25 MPH, because it runs through the middle of a college campus (very similar to a Mall Parking Lot). Sixth, during the Summer session, the YMCA is allowed to park a full-sized school bus in a circular area along the road, and this seriously obstructs the visibility of the YMCA youth and the college students, another serious safety issue.
It is my opinion that this road needs to be re-engineered by the highway department (state, county, or local town) whoever is responsible, so that the safety of the YMCA youth and SEBTS college students becomes a top priority.
I have lived in the Town of Wake Forest for 10 years. I drive through this section of road a minimum of 4 times a day. My familiarity makes me very aware of the hazard that is presented by this section of road.
Thank you for your assistance with my request.
60 Comments
Town Engineer (Guest)
Velma Boyd-Lawson (Guest)
Richard L (Registered User)
Town Engineer (Guest)
Richard L (Registered User)
Closed Town Engineer (Guest)
Reopened Richard L (Registered User)
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Richard L (Registered User)
NC DOT District Engineer, T.R.Elmore, has finished his assesment of of all 6 of my concerns. His reply was very extensive so I will briefly summize his responses here.
1) "Roadway carried 4900 vehicles per day in 2011.....This is not considered to be a high volume of traffic."
2) "...roadway is old and does show signs of normal wear and tear for a facility of this age and concrete construction.....In Wake County alone, there are over 1,315 Primary Route lane miles and over 4,187 Secondary Route lane miles that are the responsibility of NCDOT. Our typical annual resurfacing dollars in Wake County only allows us make pavement improvements to about 25 primary lane miles and 60 secondary lane miles per year. At this rate it will take well over 30 years to treat the entire system.....While there are some distressed areas, the roadway is low speed and most are not considered to be a hazard.
3) "Our Division Traffic Engineer’s staff have investigated the markings and find that the center line is in need of restriping. However, the request has to be initiated by the local municipality. He is contacting the Town of Wake Forest Staff to discuss this issue."
4) "Our Division Traffic Engineer’s staff have investigated the parking delineation and finds it to be in need of restriping. However, the request has to be initiated by the local municipality. He is contacting the Town of Wake Forest Staff to discuss this issue and will offer his response following that discussion."
5) "The Town of Wake Forest ordinances may allow a 15 mph posting if this section of roadway was on their maintained road network or if this were a private roadway maintained by SEBS. The Division Traffic Engineer is contacting the Town of Wake Forest Staff to discuss this matter and will offer his response following that discussion."
6) YMCA bus parking is to be addressed with the appropriate representative of SEBTS.
The NC DOT Division Traffic Engineer, Al Grandy will report back with the results of items 3, 4, and 5.
Richard L (Registered User)
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Closed gimmeabreakman (Guest)
Wake County Government 919-856-6160
Wake County Sheriff's Office 919-856-6900
Emergencies DIAL 9-1-1
Reopened Richard L (Registered User)
This is not a law enforcement issue. The NC DOT District Engineer has turned this case over to the NC DOT Traffic Engineer, who will work with the Town of Wake Forest to have the street properly striped: Double-Yellow Line (No Passing Zone) Stripes, Parking Delineation Stripes, No Parking Zone Stripes, and Crosswalk Stripes. Also, concerning Item # 2, the NC DOT District Engineer said, "I have asked my County Maintenance Engineer to monitor the condition of this road and prioritize needed treatments accordingly. I will also have my Roadway supervisor look at performing any immediate patching needs."
This case will remain open until the road is restriped and patched.
After the road is properly striped, the law enforcement can be engaged if there is any violation of the law (i.e., crossing a double yellow line, improper parking, not yielding to a pedestrian in the crosswalk).
Richard L (Registered User)
Richard L (Registered User)
October 1, 2013 - NC DOT reported (after review with Town of Wake Forest), the following will be done:
1) Restripe the centerline along Wingate Street. This will require coordination with the town since the street will have to be clear of all vehicles. This will be done sometime this fall before the weather gets cold.
2) Replace the existing speed limit signs and provide over-sized pedestrian warning signs to indicate pedestrian crossing locations along Wingate Street.
Richard L (Registered User)
Richard L (Registered User)
Piney40 (Registered User)
This intersection is completely unsafe. I travel through this intersection daily, headed straight through the traffic light on to Jones Dairy road, headed to Franklin Academy. I have chosen this route because the intersection at Franklin St. and Hwy 98 is completely unsafe as well. The traffic lights are hung in the wrong place. The green arrow is directly above the lane that goes straight. I mistakenly responded to the signal and proceeded straight through the intersection. I was horrified when I realized what I had done.
I worry each day at the intersection. It is a natural reaction to respond to the signal that is directly in front of your lane. What kind of entity would approve such a signal set up?
Piney40 (Registered User)
Richard L (Registered User)
Last Friday, November 22, I saw a man in a car backed up diagonally on the lawn at the corner of Wingate Street and Stadium Drive (North Avenue). The door on the car was marked: Traffic Survey Services www.trafficsurveys.net which is their web site.
I suspect that he was hired by the NC DOT to do a visible observation of the student/pedestrian traffic and vehicle/schoolbus traffic at this very difficult pedestrian crossing which is unsafe for pedestrians.
As I reported earlier in this case, this corner only has a Two-Way Stop and pedstrians have difficulty crossing.
I look forward to seeing the results of that survey. It may be that they will change this to a Traffic Light with pedestrian crossing lights. I think any upgrade to control the traffic on this street would help the safety of the pedestrians.
Richard L (Registered User)
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Closed Wake Forest Power - BP (Registered User)