Widening of Holly Springs Road from Flint Point Lane to Sunset Lake Road is scheduled to begin late this summer, bringing much-needed congestion relief and new safety features to one of the town’s main arteries.
The $20 million project is the largest road project ever for the Town of Holly Springs and a top priority for town leaders and residents.
“This project is exciting because it affects so much of our community,” said Kendra Parrish, Executive Director of the town’s Utilities & Infrastructure Department. “It encompasses our schools, our police and fire department facilities, helps to alleviate historic flooding of Middle Creek, and most importantly, it impacts the safety of our citizens who drive, bike, and walk this major roadway every day.”
Eighty percent of the funding for the project comes from transportation bonds that town voters approved in 2018. The remainder comes from $4 million in federal funding. The project will broaden Holly Springs Road to a consistent four-lane, median-divided roadway the entire 1.5 miles from Fire Station 1 at Flint Point to Sunset Lake Road.
Pedestrian Safety and School Traffic
Pedestrian safety on this heavily traveled road was a top priority for the town during the design process, especially because of the hundreds of school children who walk and bike to school every day on this busy crosstown connection. Town engineers made sure that the sidewalks that line the road will be eight feet wide, much bigger than the standard sidewalk. The town has plans to install Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacons at crosswalks and is also seeking NCDOT approval to install a state-of-the-art HAWK beacon, with crosswalk lights mounted midblock on horizontal crossarms, much like traffic lights.
Keith Faison, principal at Holly Ridge Middle School, said the completed widening will improve traffic flow and is greatly needed to alleviate congestion. In anticipation of the changes ahead, the school moved its carpool lane to the back of the campus in 2020.
“We wanted to get ahead of the curve,” he said, noting uncertainty at that time about when road construction would start. “We changed our carpool process in order to get more cars on campus. It allowed us to get a huge number of cars on our campus and off the roadway.”
Since Holly Springs Road is a state road, the NCDOT requires medians. Concern about buses having to make U-turns inspired town engineers to come up with a creative solution. By placing a roundabout at Cobblepoint Way in front of Holly Ridge Elementary School, buses will be able to connect to the bus loop that serves both schools.
“We are working diligently to partner with the schools to accommodate their needs,” said Tim Athy, Holly Springs Transportation Engineer. “The bus loop will be connected to the roundabout, allowing buses to enter and exit the bus loop from any direction.”
At the main entrance to Holly Ridge Middle School nearby, access for car traffic will be right turns in and out, with U-turns at Middlecrest Way.
Bridge to Address Historic Flooding
The Holly Springs Road widening project will start later this summer with replacement of the two-lane bridge over Middle Creek. “The existing structure is not even a real bridge in engineering terms, but a 20-foot-long concrete box culvert,” said Athy. “The culvert is notorious for filling during heavy rains, allowing water to overtop the roadway and block one of the main routes in and out of Holly Springs. Replacing the culvert with a 150-foot-long, four-lane bridge, 12 feet higher than the culvert, will increase safety for motorists and prevent flooding.”
The first phase of bridge construction will involve building half the ultimate width of the bridge parallel to the existing culvert. Once that’s done, two-way traffic will be moved onto it so that construction crews can demolish the culvert and build the other half.
Construction Timeline
Construction of the three-span concrete bridge plus the in-bound and out-bound approaches could take as much as a year. The entire road widening project is expected to be complete in approximately three years. A public meeting for residents will be held after construction contract approval, most likely in August.
“The Town will constantly be communicating during this process through road signage, website progress reports and social media posts, so stay tuned for traffic updates,” said Athy. “Residents decided that it was time for this heavily traveled road to be expanded, especially in light of the I-540 interchange bringing more traffic to Holly Springs Road, and we appreciate your patience as we embark on this landmark improvement project.”
