In an irony of city planning, the development surge in North Raleigh's Crabtree Valley is snuffing out an old proposal to alleviate the key side effect of the hub's growth: congested traffic.

For four decades, city and state highway planners have talked about building a wide thoroughfare parallel to Wade Avenue behind Crabtree Valley Mall.

It would tie into Glenwood west of Creedmoor Road and east of the Beltline, possibly as part of a reworked Beltline interchange, with the mall and related development left in the middle.

But the owners of a key piece of land along the western 0.3-of-a-mile leg are asking the city to scrap the plan so they can redevelop their 4.2 acres, where a bank now sits. It's off Creedmoor Road just south of its Crabtree Creek crossing.

Over the objection of Raleigh's Planning and Public Works departments, the city's Planning Commission has agreed. The commission recommended unanimously last week that the City Council remove the proposal from the city's road plan.

Among its reasons:

* Neither Raleigh nor the state plans to build the multimillion-dollar thoroughfare anytime soon -- if ever -- and there's no public money available for it.

* The five Martin family members who own the property want to redevelop it but can't as long as the road plan remains. And the city hasn't bought the tract.

"What is the potential of this road being built?" commission member Waheed Haq asked rhetorically. "What are the chances that it would be built in the next 30 years?"

City officials objected to the deletion. They noted that some right of way has already been dedicated.

"This really needs to be held for further study," Planning Director Mitchell Silver told the commission. "We have to look at the overall thoroughfare network, not an individual property owner."

Abandoning the road's route would probably foreclose its possible future construction.

But the city and state have had four decades to build the avenue.

"There is no established need for a road in this location," the Martins assert in their petition.

City staff members disagree.

"There is still a need to preserve the alignment of this corridor for future construction," a staff report says. "The Crabtree Valley area is already a source of significant congestion, which will likely increase with the addition of new development in the area."

Now the question is: Will Raleigh's City Council overrule the commission?

And do the busy corridor's many commuters, shoppers, and residents care? If you don't mind being quoted, drop me an e-mail.