Busy section of Six Forks Road will get extra lanes, plus new paths for bikes and people
After years of planning and doubt, Raleigh will widen a congested section of Six Forks Road near North Hills and build new paths for cyclists and pedestrians.
The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a scaled-down version of a project that dates back more than a decade and was initially more expensive than the city could afford.
Rather than a two-mile section of Six Forks, the city will widen and rebuild about half that, from Millbrook Road south to Rowan Street, near Carroll Middle School. Six Forks will go from two travel lanes in each direction to three, separated by a median.
And rather than separate sidewalks and bike lanes, as originally proposed, the city will build 8-foot-wide paths for cyclists and pedestrians on both sides. Those multi-use paths will be nearly 8 feet from the road, with light and utility poles and possibly trees in between.
Council member Mary Black, whose district includes the area, said the project will be an improvement.
“It addresses some of the traffic concerns that we are hearing,” Black said. “It leaves space for trees, and it takes bikers further away from the street, which I think is really important along that corridor, because it’s kind of scary.”
Ending years of uncertainty
Construction isn’t expected to get underway until late 2025, said Kenneth Ritchie, the city’s mobility strategy and infrastructure manager. Some of that time is needed to get approval from the N.C. Department of Transportation, which owns and maintains Six Forks Road.
But Tuesday’s vote ends years of uncertainty for residents, businesses, churches and others along Six Forks that will sacrifice property for the wider road.
Allen Oakley expects that the city will have to take his home at the corner of Six Forks and North Glen. Oakley says that was clear from the city’s plans as early as 2018, but the delays and indecision have left him and other property owners in limbo.
In an email to council members last week, Oakley said the project has been “thought to death,” and that it was past time for the council to do its job.
Afterward, Oakley said it was bittersweet knowing he will likely be moving.
“I do think this widening project will be a benefit to traffic and provide pedestrians a safer way to interact with Six Forks Road,” he wrote in an email. “I appreciate council realizing this had gone on long enough, and hopefully the city can learn lessons from this project and how it was mishandled.”
Rising costs forced city to cut back
The city initially set out to overhaul Six Forks from Rowan Street as far north as Lynn Road. The city budgeted $60.1 million, including a $14 million federal grant that it expects to receive.
But rising prices, primarily for property the city would need to buy, drove up the estimated cost to about $119 million. Faced with such a big shortfall, the city and its consultants worked up cheaper options.
The city has already spent $3.8 million on planning and designs, leaving $56.3 million to spend. The version of the project the council approved Tuesday is expected to cost $56.1 million.
The council’s decision was unanimous. At-large member Jonathan Melton said he wasn’t happy about widening the road to six lanes but said that decision had been made by previous members of the City Council and that the city needed to follow through.
Melton sought reassurances from Ritchie that the city would make changes to crosswalks and intersections that would help pedestrians cross the wider road safely.
“We need to deliver the promises of previous councils,” he said. “But I also think we need to be making the area safer for all forms of transportation.”
Ritchie replied that improving pedestrian safety was one of the main goals of the project and that it would include changes in signals and the design of crosswalks.
