Tryon Road included in Bond Referendum

Tryon Road widening & realignment has been included in the City of Raleigh’s proposed Transportation Bond that will be on the ballot this October. The bond would provide $1.8 million to complete the project and be in addition to dollars dedicated from the NC DOT to replace the bridge.

City Council Members are directing Raleigh voters toward an October ballot that would seek approval of $37 million in transportation general obligation bonds and $15 million in affordable housing general obligation bonds. The bonds would be voted on separately. Approval of the $52 million bond referendum would add 0.84 cents per $100 valuation to the City of Raleigh property tax rate. This increase would translate into an annual property tax increase of $15.80 on a residential property valued at $188,139, the median-priced assessment for Raleigh homes.

Council Approves Agreement with NCDOT for Tryon Road

On Jan. 4, the Raleigh City Council approved a concept for replacing of the railroad bridge, a improvements to Tryon Road, with the North Carolina Department Transportation (NCDOT).

In November, the City Council approved a resolution requesting the NCDOT move the bridge replacement work on Tryon Road to a higher priority. Mayor Charles Meeker, Council Member Thomas Crowder along with City of Raleigh and Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) staff held a meeting on Dec.14 with officials from NCDOT that included Secretary Gene Conti. From the meeting, NCDOT agreed to move forward with a concept for replacing the bridge, provided the City agrees to participate in the funding for the realignment of the road. It is estimated that the City’s participation in the project would be approximately $1.8 million. NCDOT is prepared to begin work immediately on this project, pending an agreement in principle with the City. A full municipal agreement for the project will be developed later, allowing the City adequate time to budget and allocate the necessary funds for the project.

The City of Raleigh has previously completed several improvement projects along Tryon Road from Lake Wheeler Road to Cary through capital improvement projects totaling approximately $16 million. NCDOT has planned to replace the bridge over the Norfolk Southern Railroad corridor because the bridge is structurally deficient and functionally obsolete. NCDOT determined that the bridge could not be replaced without a more comprehensive widening project.

City Council wants higher priority status assigned to Tryon Road

The Raleigh City Council voted unanimously today to ask the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) and the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to assign a higher priority status to a road improvement project for Tryon Road.

Council members formally approved a resolution asking that the Tryon Road project be elevated to a higher priority status. Assigning the project a higher priority status would result in state and federal funding become more readily available for the work. The proposed project would realign Tryon Road form the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks to Wilmington Street, including replacing the bridge over the railroad tracks with a new structure.

In other action today, the City Council voted unanimously to authorize City staff to complete landscape design plans for Tryon Road and Edwards Mill Road improvement projects. Design plans that are 80 percent complete were presented to the council for its review and approval.

The landscape design plans are for the sections of Tryon Road that have been widened in recent years by the City (Dillard Drive to Gorman Street, Gorman Street to Lake Wheeler Road, and Dillard Drive to Campbell Road) and for the City’s extension of Edwards Mill Road from Trinity Road to Chapel Hill Road (Highway 54). JDavis Landscape Architects is the City’s landscape design consultant for the road improvement projects.

56 Crashes over 5 years

One might think it’s simple to get an old bridge replaced and a road widened, bringing it up to par with the rest of Tryon road just to the west. But nothing is easy in South West Raleigh. Neglected for our brethren to the North and downtown, from goat trails on Lake Wheeler Road to abandoned infrastructure at Renaissance Park, our roadway priorities our toyed with on a long list of projects that are years away from completion. But some of the folks are working diligently in the community to bring awareness about the lack of coordination and funding to complete Tryon Road.

Read the rest of the post and download the report here.

No Funding for Tryon Road Bridge

The Tryon Road project, also known as U-4432, is not funded for construction in the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s (NCDOT) current 5-year work program [138 page PDF]. This could spell trouble for the commercial and mixed use part of the Renaissance Park development as well as the widening (Part C) and realignment of Tryon Road from Lake Wheeler Road to South Wilmington Street. Finishing the Tryon Road expansion project from Cary, NC to Garner, NC would complete a major artery between Raleigh, Cary, and Garner and reduce the amount of congestion along this corridor.

Read more at the Lineberry Alliance Blogs – click here.