Raleigh delays 10 road projects

RALEIGH -- Raleigh will delay 10 road projects for at least a year because of the City Council's decision to postpone a proposed referendum on a bond issue for transportation.

The projects include widening and other improvements to some of the city's busiest streets, including Wade Avenue, Poole Road and Lake Wheeler Road.

As part of his budget proposal, City Manager Russell Allen recommended that the council place a $120 million transportation bond issue on this fall's ballot.

But with the council already raising the property tax rate by 4.18 cents, the council members chose to defer the projects one year and review them, along with public transportation funding, before a new bond issue is proposed.

Mayor Charles Meeker said the city needs to pay attention to how high gas prices affect traffic in Raleigh and the demand for public transportation.

Raleigh uses bond financing for most of its transportation projects. Voters approved $60 million in road bonds in 2005. Eric Lamb, Raleigh's transportation services manager, said the city has $24 million left from that bond package.

Delaying the road bond referendum will not delay some projects, such as the realignment and widening of Falls of Neuse Road and the widening of Six Forks Road. Both projects will receive money this fiscal year from the 2005 road bonds.

Projects to be delayed have yet to receive design money.

Raleigh allocates money to major road projects over several years. Lamb said the city typically pays for the design of a project during the first year, right-of-way acquisition during the second year, and construction during the third year.

"It's a full year's delay," Meeker said.

Other major streets that are likely to be affected by the delays include Old Wake Forest Road, Jones Franklin Road, Sandy Forks Road, Leesville Road, Wade Avenue, Rock Quarry Road and Buck Jones Road.

Meeker and other council members frequently complain about having to use city funds to pay for state roads in the city. But the state is short of highway money, too.

Although the City Council recently increased the impact fees it charges developers to help pay for roads, the increase is expected to raise only an additional $2 million this year because of a decrease in construction.

That's a modest amount, particularly considering the increasing construction costs in recent years. Lamb said the money the city allocated for some road projects is no longer sufficient because of rising costs.

"We need to secure additional revenue," he said.