LUMBERTON — After a second look at its plan to ease traffic congestion on Lumberton’s busiest street, the North Carolina Department of Transportation agreed recently to some modifications, according to an email from a department spokesman.
Reactions to the first plan, revealed at a public meeting in late October, ranged from skepticism to anger among members of the Fayetteville Road business community along the 1.3-mile stretch that the DOT plans to upgrade.
Some owners of retail establishments and office buildings say the first take of the project would gobble up too many parking spaces and damage their businesses and property values. Others along the route said the sheer inconvenience of the initial design would make it difficult for their customers. School officials noted that there was inadequate allowance for southbound bus traffic exiting Lumberton Senior High School.
Construction on the $15 million plan to ease traffic congestion and to promote safety is scheduled to begin in about three years. It would six-lane Fayetteville Road from Roberts Avenue to Farringdom Street and two-lane a current four-lane stretch from Godwin Avenue to Roberts Avenue, according to the original draft.
Left turns would be a thing of the past because concrete medians are planned. New stoplights are planned for intersections at Boomerang Drive and Roberts Avenue, and Fayetteville Road and Boomerang Drive. Plans call for a roundabout at Fayetteville Road and Godwin Avenue. Cedar Street is to terminate two blocks before reaching the intersection.
The state estimates that 30,000 vehicles a day pass through the stoplight at Fayetteville Road and Roberts Avenue from the north, and from the south, about 15,000 vehicles reach the intersection. The DOT and city planners estimate the number of vehicles will continue to rise.
Local business owners said they were not consulted before the first edition of the design was revealed, and they felt powerless to stop or change the project. However, DOT has responded to their complaints, and their fears are, at least, partly defused.
The DOT advertised the public meeting in late October and returned in November to meet again with business owners. As a result of the second meeting, some changes have been made, said Andrew Barksdale, DOT public relations officer.
The Lumberton City Council, which hosted both meetings, has helped to make changes.
“It’s not etched in concrete,” said City Councilman Leroy Rising, who represents the area. “We were pleased that DOT held a second meeting to listen and go back to the drawing board.”
Rising made the motion during a November council meeting to delay approval of the project, although the city’s approval is a formality. On Wednesday, Rising seconded a motion to approve a resolution of support for the project, but only after he won approval to have the resolution amended to say the support comes with a request that the DOT take into consideration the local concerns.
The initial design caused great concern for business owners who faced the prospect of seeing parking space being taken to make room for a widened road. The second design will take less of their property.
“The first design didn’t take any land on the high school side of the road,” said Greg Phelps, who owns Bob’s Jewell Shop, located at Fayetteville Road and Farringdom Street. “If they use the original plan, it will cost me the first row of parking.”
Standing in his parking lot, Phelps said he could live with scaling back the right of way several feet. Phelps said that change was discussed, but at least one other business may not be so fortunate.
Bob Antone owns the office building that houses Nationwide Insurance, a stone’s throw from Phelps’ store. Antone’s building was built closer to Fayetteville Road.
“What’s my property going to be worth after this project is completed?” Antone said. “It’s a freight train coming down the tracks. The city can’t stop it.
“I don’t see why they can’t take more property from the other side of the road. I would like to see if they can save more property.“
On this key issue, the state does not promise a perfect solution.
“We are acquiring right of way and utility easements from the school property,” Barksdale said. “We are acquiring land from both sides of the road.
“We are taking a ‘best-fit’ approach for land acquisition, and therefore, we are not taking land just on one side or the other of the road through here. There is new roadway on the left side, opposite the high school.
“We are putting the additional roadway there because it’s a function of the overall project design and to fit our future, long-term goals to continue improving, with new medians, more sections of Fayetteville Road farther north, toward I-95.”
“DOT took all the concerns into consideration and hopefully will resolve many of them,” Rising said.
Regardless, Rising said, “Not everybody is going to be happy. It’s going to take some adjustment.”
Among the fixes DOT has made is an improved outlet for school buses leaving Lumberton High School to make U-turns to head south on their routes.
“We have spoken with the school system, and we are making design changes for the U-turn at Farringdom to include more turn-around space, called a bulb-out, so that buses can better turn around there,” Barksdale said. “We are also talking with the schools to see if they are able to adjust their southbound bus traffic to use Linkhaw Road.”
Project planners say U-turns and no left turns are the keys to efficient traffic flow in the plan. Currently, most of Fayetteville Road contains what some refer to as a “suicide lane” for left turns, which puts vehicles coming from opposite directions on a collision course.
The state doesn’t build five-lane roads with turning lanes any more.
Although DOT officials do not say so, the traffic roundabout determined that the stretch of Fayetteville Road south of Roberts Avenue would be reduced to two lanes, at least in the first design.
“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” Jerry Warwick said of the initial plan for this section of the project.
Warwick owns Carolina Surf and Turf, located in a shopping center with Smith’s Cleaners and other businesses.
“It makes no sense to go from four lanes to two, then to six lanes,” Warwick said. “The road is safe now. I have not seen an accident in the three years I’ve been here.”
The state heard Warwick’s plea and redesigned this piece of the project. DOT designers will go with three lanes, one for turning.
“Because of the comments we have received, we are adjusting this portion of the design and will have a three-lane road — with an open-center turn lane — that would allow traffic to turn left,” Barksdale said. “We still intend to have a median on that section near the proposed roundabout on one end and near Roberts Avenue on the other — almost like traffic islands that you commonly see at intersections.”
This fix eliminates the problem for customers and trucks visiting these businesses that would need to turn left and go south. The first plan would have required a lengthy trip north to the Fayetteville Road and Roberts Avenue intersection, a right turn, and travel through a total of four stoplights before returning south on Fayetteville Road.
Terrell Cole, who manages Frank’s Furniture at Godwin Avenue and Fayetteville Road, agreed that customers and trucks coming to and from her business would have problems.
“We’ve been here 42 years, and we’re used to customers and trucks coming and going,” Cole said. “It would have been a problem for emergency vehicles too.”
Cole has no objections to the traffic circle, which will be her new neighbor. She said it will make the current five-point intersection safer. She does have one complaint though.
“We’ve had no input. It felt like a done deal,” Cole said. “They still have not told us how much of our property will be needed for the roundabout.”
At this point, businesses are not happy to lose parking, but the second DOT plan is improved.
“Responses to the public comments and local business owners meeting comments will be disseminated to the public, either directly mailed, or on our website with media notification in the coming weeks,” Barksdale said. “We will continue to refine the proposed design based on this feedback, and we’ll let the public know when those changes are finalized.”
