City renews drive to curb Crabtree traffic

Mar 8, 2010 — The News and Observer

Ray Martin

Mar. 8, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- RALEIGH -- City officials are again exploring ways to reduce traffic in Crabtree Valley, one of the Triangle's most congested bottlenecks that has for decades been the subject of traffic studies and public debate.

City planners and two council members hosted an open house last Monday at the Laurel Hills Community Center south of Crabtree Valley Mall. The city introduced a host of ideas for curing the area's traffic woes while listening to neighbors' concerns.

Planners are also conducting a $250,000 traffic study of the area, scheduled to be completed in May. In addition to traffic solutions, the study will list ways to make the corridor more pedestrian-friendly.

"I think people were optimistic and like that we are looking at realistic solutions," said Eric Lamb, the city's transportation services manager. "We wanted to generate ideas and get people thinking about the area."

The section of Glenwood Avenue that stretches from the Beltline to Creedmoor Road handles between 40,000 and 70,000 cars each day, according to city estimates. Several studies and proposed solutions over the past four decades have produced few concrete-and-asphalt projects to provide traffic relief.

But council member Nancy McFarlane, who prompted the current study, said she's confident the city's present efforts will make a difference.

"People are really realizing our population is increasing," said McFarlane, who attended the open house along with fellow council member Russ Stephenson. "That, and more public transportation is making everyone step back and re-evaluate places like Crabtree Valley. I think the new push for transit will make a difference this time."

Neighbors have their say

Some of the city's current proposals for reducing traffic include a separate exit for the mall off the Beltline, a "flyover" lane for cars turning east on Glenwood from Lead Mine Road, and an overpass at Creedmoor Road similar to the one on Glenwood near the Angus Barn.

Neighbors attending the open house had mixed reactions to the proposals.

Jessica Hayes, a lobbyist who lives in the Turnberry neighborhood off Creedmoor Road just northeast of the mall, said she favors a separate exit off the Beltline for Crabtree Valley Avenue, which runs behind the mall.

Patty Watson, who has lived in the Beckanna neighborhood just east of the Beltline for 50 years, disagrees. She said she thinks the plan, which could eliminate a bridge over Ridge Road, near the Beltline's Glenwood interchange, would make it harder for Beckanna residents to get to their neighborhood.

Wayne Alexander lives several miles from the mall in North Raleigh but passes through the intersection of Glenwood and Creedmoor daily. Alexander said the city should, as a short-term solution, adjust the timing on traffic signals.

Ideas sitting idle

The city in recent decades has considered two major proposals to restructure the Crabtree corridor.

In the 1980s, Raleigh considered building a thoroughfare behind Crabtree Valley Mall and turning it and Glenwood Avenue into a pair of one-way streets.

The new road would have gone through the BB&T (NYSE:BBT) bank site on Creedmoor Road and across a 700-foot bridge over Crabtree Creek, tying into Glenwood to the northwest of the mall. On the southeast side, it would have passed over the Beltline and reconnected with Glenwood east of I-440.

At the time it was proposed, state highway planners said a pair of one-way boulevards would be the most efficient way to move commuter traffic. But Crabtree Valley merchants and nearby residents opposed the idea, arguing it would confuse shoppers and delay local drivers.

The city dropped the idea because of such objections and high cost of construction.

Then in the mid-1990s, developers proposed what was dubbed "a shopping spreeway."

It would have looped behind the mall and connected with I-440 just south of the existing interchange at Glenwood Avenue. The state Department of Transportation, after conducting its own study, said the $30 million proposal was doable, but not ideal.

Over several years the City Council twice considered the spreeway proposal, but rejected it.

Last year, the city dropped from its Comprehensive Plan a northwestern extension of Crabtree Valley Avenue, which runs behind the mall, past Creedmoor Road to Glenwood Avenue. That extension, first proposed in 1968, could have become part of the one-way thoroughfare or the spreeway.

ray.martin@newsobserver.com or 919-836-4952

Newstex ID: KRTB-0170-42661994