Underground project yields traffic backup

With major construction set to wrap up in a few weeks, drivers traveling to and from campus through the intersection of N.C. 54 and Country Club Road will have one less obstacle during their hectic commutes.

The construction, which has closed two of the five lanes of Raleigh Road, is scheduled to be completed by the Oct. 22 football game against the University of Virginia, said Jeff Kidd, UNC's construction manager for the project.

Crews cleared the construction site Wednesday for this Saturday's football game against Utah. Work will resume next week, Kidd said.

The project involves the installation of an underground electric duct bank and chilled water piping that will service a chiller plant now being built near Cobb Residence Hall.

The construction has heavily impeded the traffic flow through the major campus thoroughfare.

Commuters who park in the N.C. 54 Visitor Lot, which is adjacent to the project, say rush hour traffic often is delayed.

"Someone from my 9:30 class was late because they had to sit at the light for twenty minutes," said Courtney Reid, a public policy graduate student.

Merle Sykes, a booth attendant at the lot, said she sees traffic backed up bumper-to-bumper from 3:30 p.m. until her shift ends at 5:30 p.m.

"I'm sure people don't particularly like it," she said. "But I think they take it in stride, and I haven't heard people complaining."

Some have said they don't mind the traffic.

"I really don't think it's that bad," said Audrey Sprung, a graduate student from California. "Maybe it's because I'm from the Bay Area."

Planning officials usually schedule major road projects for the summer when there is less traffic.

Organizers originally intended to complete the project before the fall semester, but it didn't get under way until late August, Kidd said.

"The (N.C. Department of Transportation) had some last-minute comments and requirements that delayed our approval."

He said that while he would have liked to have finished the project during the summer, he is pleased with the progress thus far.

"Considering the amount of traffic and rock excavation the contractors have to do, I think it's going considerably well," he said.

Motorists are not the only ones anticipating the project's completion. Pedestrians who routinely traverse the intersection say the construction has made crossing more chaotic.

"We're running for our lives to get through there," said Jennifer Henderson, an employee in the School of Government.

Drivers are a little less than polite at the busy intersection during rush hour, she said. "They don't yield to pedestrians at all."

 

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.