Raleigh council OKs plan for roundabouts

RALEIGH -- The City Council approved plans to install two roundabouts along the Hillsborough Street corridor Tuesday night as part of an $8 million streetscape plan stretching from Gardner Street to Oberlin Road.

The council's 5-2 vote allows the city to move forward with property acquisition and other aspects of the project. Construction is expected to begin in May 2008 and last 15 months.

The council delayed action on another proposed roundabout at Hillsborough and Morgan streets after officials questioned whether the traffic-calming device was appropriate for that location.

The approved plan calls for Pullen Road to be extended from Hillsborough north to Oberlin Road, with roundabouts added at Hillsborough and Pullen and Pullen and Oberlin. Utility lines along the six-tenths-of-a-mile stretch from Gardner to Oberlin will be buried.

The plan is a modified version of a proposal that has been around since 1999, when a group of neighbors and state and local officials called for the installation of 11 roundabouts along Hillsborough.

The project is designed to improve vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian safety along the thoroughfare and help revitalize the Hillsborough Street business district, where businesses have struggled to survive in recent years.

At Tuesday's public hearing, Charles Leffler, vice chancellor for finance and business at N.C. State University, said the project represents the beginning of Hillsborough Street's revival.

"This is the first steppingstone for some really good things to happen," Leffler said.

The city will need to obtain four permanent and 13 temporary easements to complete the project.

John Wardlaw Jr., one of the affected property owners, said Tuesday that he is concerned because the project will mean that he will lose parking spaces and about 30 feet of frontage.