Brookside Drive

The recent fall weather allowed the landscaping portion of the Brookside Drive Traffic Calming project to be completed. The traffic calming project included installation of landscaped curb bump-outs, landscaped medians, and some new sidewalk and wheelchair ramps at intersections along the corridor. There were also two new catch basins installed to improve storm drainage, one at Holden Street, and the other at Glascock Street.

Kaplan Drive Traffic Calming

The Kaplan Drive project is on schedule and expected to be complete by December 15, 2015. The sidewalk along Kaplan Drive from Lorimer to Melbourne is complete. Bump outs have been added along the corridor, the finishing touches are being added to the median and bump out at the intersection of Melbourne Road, and the landscaping is underway along the project corridor. 

Leesville Road Project

The Leesville Road Project is in the final stages, and is anticipated to be complete by the end of the year. Concrete work along the corridor is complete and contractors are currently working on completing the final paving operations and the traffic signal modifications.

Sandy Forks Road widening

The construction contract for this project was awarded to Carolina Sunrock LLC at the November 3, 2015, City Council Meeting. The pre-construction meeting is planned for later this month, and construction is anticipated to begin early this winter.  Utility relocations by Duke-Progress are already underway along the corridor in advance of the upcoming roadway construction. The project will widen the corridor to a three lane road with curbs, gutters and sidewalks and bike lanes on both sides of the road from Six Forks Rd to Falls of Neuse Rd. This project is also Raleigh’s first Greenroads Project.  The Greenroads Rating System is a sustainability rating system for roadway design and construction projects. Greenroads was established in 2010 and is a very similar process to the LEED certification program for building projects. The project will include three stormwater management devices, including water treatment in one of the medians, as well as LED street lighting.

Lenoir & South Street Two-way Conversion Project

The construction contract for the Lenoir and South Street Project was awarded to Moffatt Pipe. Construction will begin in January and will be completed by December 2016. The project will be converting both Lenoir Street and South Street into two-way streets, adding bike lanes and sidewalks, to both sides of the street where missing. The water and sewer infrastructure along these corridors are also being replaced as part of this project.

Transylvania Avenue Street Petition Project

Carolina Sunrock was awarded the construction contract for the Transylvania Avenue Project. Construction will begin in January and be completed in September 2016. The project includes widening and the addition of curb and gutter from Hertford Street to Beaufort Street.  

Buck Jones Road Widening Project

The bidding phase of the Buck Jones Road Project is scheduled to begin this December and construction is anticipated to begin early this spring. The widening of Buck Jones Road will begin near Farmgate Road and extend to Xebec Way and includes widening the roadway to a three lane road with curb and gutter, sidewalks, and bike lanes on both sides of the road.  The project also includes two new single lane roundabouts at Farmgate Road and Bashford Road and multiple improvements to transit stop locations along the corridor.

1-40 Bridges Retrofit Project, Part A

The construction contract for the I-40 Bridges Retrofit Project was awarded to Fred Smith Company Construction. Construction is scheduled to begin in January and completion is scheduled for December 2016. The project will provide sidewalks along the I-40 overpasses at Buck Jones Road, Avent Ferry Road, and Rock Quarry Road bridges.

Six Forks Road Sidewalk Project

Narron Contracting was awarded the construction contract for the Six Forks Road Project. Construction is scheduled to begin in January and be completed by July 2016. The project will be installing sidewalk to the north side of Six Forks road from Coleridge Road to Wake Forrest Road and includes a box culvert extension on the north side of the roadway.

Capital Boulevard Pedestrian Improvement Project  

The design phase of this project is now complete. The project is currently advertising for bids through December 10, 2015. Keep an eye out for more information on this project at the beginning of the New Year.

Hillsborough Street, Phase II

The right of way and easement acquisition phase is in progress. The project is scheduled to advertise for bids in early 2016 and construction is slated to begin this spring. Keep an eye out on the Hillsborough Street Facebook page as well as our Twitter account, @Raleigh PWDC for news and updates on this project. The projects web page will also be updated with current activity.

Mitchell Mill Road Widening

The City's real estate team has almost finished the right of way and easement acquisition phase of this project. The project is scheduled to advertise for construction bids this winter with construction to begin early this spring. Mitchell Mill Road will be widened to a four lane median divided road with curb, gutter and sidewalk from Louisburg Rd to Forestville Rd.

Fox Road Improvements

The City held the first of two public meetings on September 29, 2015. The public was able to see preliminary plans for the corridor and make comments. These comments are currently being addressed by the design team, and the next set of preliminary plans will be available for public comment at the next public meeting scheduled this winter. Fox Road will be gaining the installation of missing sections of curb and gutter and sidewalks on east and west sides between Spring Forest Road and Sumner Blvd.

Yonkers Road Improvement Project

City staff and consultants are currently working on the preliminary plans for this project while surveys are being conducted. The project schedule has been added to the website and as the project progresses more information will be added. The street improvements, including widening the roadway to include curb and gutter, bike lanes and a sidewalk on the south side of the street from Capital Boulevard to New Bern Avenue.

Pullen Road Extension Project 

The Pullen Road Extension project is a joint venture public/private agreement with the City of Raleigh, NC State, and the Catholic Diocese. The project includes extending Pullen Road from Western Blvd to Centennial Pkwy with bike lanes, medians, sidewalk, multi-use path, landscaping, and street lights. The developer’s consultant is approximately 25% complete with the design plans for this project and the first public meeting is scheduled for January.

The City of Raleigh is committed to making Raleigh a more walkable city, and that is evident by the 40 sidewalk projects we currently have listed on our web site.

There are two different types of sidewalk projects, City-initiated projects that typically occur along heavily traveled roadways included in the Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan, and neighborhood sidewalk projects handled through the Petition Program.

City-initiated projects

Fixing gaps along high volume streets is the focus of City-initiated projects; these sidewalks are ranked in the Raleigh pedestrian plan based on a variety of factors.

Sidewalk Petition Projects

The Sidewalk Petition Program provides citizens an opportunity to initiate sidewalk construction to complete portions of the sidewalk network that have not been identified by the Pedestrian Program. The program requires signatures from a majority of property owners along the street and in most cases there are no costs for residential property owners. Primarily intended for streets in residential neighborhoods, but sidewalks along non-residential streets are considered on a case by case basis.

The City of Raleigh wishes to promote safe and efficient public streets. The City’s Traffic Calming Program helps residents to determine if traffic calming treatments are needed on their streets.

Streets wider than 31 feet are evaluated for the Neighborhood Streetscape Program; streets narrower than 31 feet may qualify as Minor Traffic Calming Projects. If it is determined that your street meets the qualifications for the Neighborhood Streetscape Program, then it is ranked on the list according to need. Neighbors along the highest scoring streets are invited to an informational meeting and asked to submit a petition to have a Neighborhood Streetscape Project developed. If 75% of the residents support the project, then the project moves to the next phase.

Neighborhood Streetscape Projects undergo a conceptual design phase where citizen input is crucial to the development of the project. Once the conceptual design is approved by City Council, these projects come to the Design/Construction Division for final engineering designs.

Currently, we have three Neighborhood Streets Scape projects in progress. Kaplan Drive is scheduled to be complete at the end of December. Glascock Street is scheduled to start construction in January, and Milburnie Road, which is in the design phase and scheduled to be complete by the summer of 2017.

More Information about Neighborhood Traffic Management 

Jimmy Upchurch
Assessment Supervisor

Jimmy started with the city in 1986, as a meter reader with the Utility Billing Department. In 1989, he transferred to the Finance Department/Revenue Division where he worked as an Assessment Clerk. In that position, he was mainly responsible for what they called, the “backend” of assessments, the billing, and collection of assessment accounts for the City. From there Jimmy transferred to the Finance Department/Parking Violations Division in 1997 as a Collections Specialist, responsible for vehicle booting for delinquent parking tickets. In 1998, he transferred to the Inspections Department/Permit Office as a Permit Specialist.  Then in 1999 Jimmy transferred again, this time to Central Engineering as an Assessment Specialist working on what they called the “Front end” of assessments. He now works with calculating property owner assessments associated with street and sidewalk construction and water and sewer construction projects, and issuing street and sidewalk improvement petitions to citizens under the City’s Petition Programs.  It was in 2010 that Jimmy was promoted his current position as the Assessment Supervisor, overseeing both the Assessment and Petition programs.

Jimmy is a Raleigh native, graduating from Needham Broughton High School in the late seventies. He married his high school sweetheart on Valentine’s Day in 1981 and has been happily married ever since. They have three children, and they just welcomed their first grandchild into the world this September  and he “absolutely loves being a grandpa.”

Family time is of the utmost importance to Jimmy and spends he weekends surrounded by his family. As seen in the above picture Jimmy is an ardent Carolina Panther fan and is raising the grand-baby to be the same.

In our last newsletter, we congratulated Billy Clevenger on being the recipient of the American Public Works Association-North Carolina Chapter, H.W. Kueffner Award. In this newsletter, we say farewell to Billy. After a long and distinguished career with both the City of Raleigh and NCDOT Billy will be retiring at the end of December. Billy, we at Design/Construction wish you a very happy retirement!