NCDOT’s Capital Boulevard freeway plans draw mixed reviews at Wake Forest meeting

Turning Capital Boulevard into a six-lane freeway in northern Wake County will bring big changes for residents and business owners between Raleigh and Wake Forest.

On Wednesday evening, some of them came to a church to see what those changes could look like.

The N.C. Department of Transportation presented its plans for the 10-mile U.S. 1 freeway on big posters in the sanctuary of Living Word Family Church in Wake Forest. People studied the new lanes, interchanges and access roads superimposed on satellite images that showed their homes, businesses and property lines.

Aiham Azoubi easily found Econo Auto Sales, the used-truck dealership he opened off Capital just north of Interstate 540 a year and a half ago. The poster showed a new parallel road that Azoubi and his customers will need to use to reach his business once all driveways and side roads are cut off from the highway.

In the long run, Azoubi thinks the highway will increase the visibility and value of his property. But he’s worried about what happens during construction, which on his section of Capital between I-540 and Durant Road is scheduled to begin in late 2025.

“This project is going to take years,” he said. “How will my customers get to me?”

The plan presented Wednesday would displace 70 homes and businesses. But countless others would be affected, both by construction and the new network of access roads. Instead of intersections, there will be four new interchanges at Durant/Perry Creek roads, Burlington Mills Road, Falls of Neuse Road/Main Street and Purnell/Harris roads.

Reactions were mixed. No one is pleased with the status quo of stop-and-go traffic on Capital and the long backups on roads that intersect it. Diana Vader is a regular volunteer at Crossroads Fellowship church on East Millbrook Road in Raleigh and says getting there on Capital from Wake Forest can take 20 minutes one day and 40 the next.

“You never know how long it’s going to take,” Vader said.

And like others Wednesday, she noted that Wake Forest keeps allowing developers to build more houses and apartments.

“And that means cars,” she said. “Lots and lots more cars.”

Timeline for start of construction uncertain

Others are less eager to see Capital become a freeway. Mike Adams, co-owner of Macon Gardens, a nursery on Burlington Mills Road, said he thinks the project will benefit people driving through Wake Forest at the expense of those living and working there.

“Burlington Mills is already a nightmare, and I don’t see how this will make anything better,” Adams said. “Hopefully they won’t secure funding until I retire.”

Indeed, it’s not clear when most of the freeway will actually get built. NCDOT has divided the project into four parts, which it now estimates would cost about $793 million to build.

But the state has money to begin building only the first leg, from I-540 to just beyond Durant and Perry Creek roads, at a cost of about $280 million. The earliest NCDOT could hope to begin construction on the remaining segments would be 2035, says Brandon Jones, NCDOT’s top engineer for the division that includes Wake County.

That uncertainty hangs over property owners along the corridor. Scott Iden says he and his wife have lived on Circle Drive off Capital for 30 years and he’d like to sell their house when he retires in a few years. NCDOT’s plans, which include a new access road through the woods behind his backyard, will make that difficult, Iden said.

“You may love the house, but you’re not going to want the neighborhood,” he said. “How do you retire and monetize your home to move to your retirement or forever home when you have no idea what to tell potential buyers about the timeline, the noise, the dirt, the nonstop construction. And it‘s going to go on for years.”

Project’s impact seems distant to many

Iden says he supports the freeway project but wishes the state would just buy out the 16 homes on Circle Drive, which were built in the 1940s for managers at the adjacent Burlington Mills factory. Two years ago, NCDOT presented two options for the Burlington Mills Road interchange, including one that took the houses on Circle Drive.

But NCDOT chose the other option, which sacrifices much of Crossroads Ford instead. That’s a relief to Victoria Fisher, who lives with her mother and 7-year-old son on Circle Drive. Fisher took a picture of the map on the wall Wednesday and sent it to her mother to show her the good news.

Fisher doubts NCDOT would pay her enough money to buy another house in the area.

“I’m glad they’re doing it this way,” she said.

With the start of construction tentative and far off, the concerns caused by NCDOT’s maps still seemed theoretical to many people. Living Word Family Church, which hosted Wednesday’s meeting, will lose some parking spaces under the current plans. But Pastor Micah Caronna is more concerned about how people will get to Capital from the church via Star Road, which meets South Main Street a couple miles away.

Then again, Caronna said, NCDOT still has plenty of time to work on that.

“They also have 8 million other things to figure out,” Caronna said. “They’re smarter than I am.”

NCDOT will collect feedback on the project through July 7 at publicinput.com/Capital-Boulevard-Upgrade.