NCDOT plans to extend Airport Boulevard through Morrisville, seeks public feedback

There are two Airport Boulevards in western Wake County: one that runs from Raleigh-Durham International Airport to Chapel Hill Road in Morrisville and another in neighboring Cary that intersects Davis Drive.

Now the N.C. Department of Transportation and the town of Morrisville are poised to begin connecting the two, to make it easier to get through town and take pressure off nearby Aviation and McCrimmon parkways and Morrisville Carpenter Road.

NCDOT plans to fill the nearly one-mile gap in the road in two phases, and will hold a virtual hearing on the project Tuesday evening to get feedback from the public.

The first phase will extend Airport Boulevard from Garden Square Lane northeast to Church Street. A federal grant will cover 60% of the estimated $5.25 million cost of this section, with the town paying the rest. Construction is scheduled to start in the summer of 2022.

The second phase would complete the road between Church Street and Chapel Hill Road, which is also N.C. 54. Though planning is underway for this section, neither the town nor NCDOT has money to build it.

The second phase would entail building a bridge to carry Airport Boulevard over Chapel Hill Road and the railroad tracks that run alongside it. NCDOT is considering two options for a loop ramp that would connect Airport Boulevard and Chapel Hill Road; both options require taking two houses but one also would take two businesses and two additional acres.

In both phases, the new road will be four lanes wide, with a 20-foot raised median down the middle. There will be a 5-foot-wide sidewalk on the north side and a 10-foot-wide multi-use path on the south side, and a pedestrian crossing for the Indian Creek Greenway trail. The road will have a speed limit of 45 mph.

Details about the project and a link to the virtual public hearing can be found at publicinput.com/Airport-Blvd-Extension. There’s also information there about how to comment by phone or in writing by May 14.