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Q. I enjoy reading and watching as you solve problems for Raleigh roads.

I drive 35,000 miles a year in Wake County and am perplexed about why the section of Leesville Road from the school complex [Leesville Elementary, Middle and High schools] to Interstate 540 has not been addressed.

[There have been] three accidents this week (that I have seen) and [there are] at least two accidents a week. The redesign of the road and proximity to the schools, shopping centers and I-540, have created a full-time congestion issue for this stretch of road.

Why can't low-cost methods such as blinking high-congestion signs, lower speed limits, no left turn intersections, etc., be deployed? Does the city have a plan to alleviate this extremely dangerous stretch of road?

-- Harry Lawrence

A. Does the city have a plan for this stretch of Leesville? Sort of, but not anytime soon.

According to Eric Lamb, the city's transportation services manager, the area from Lynn to Westgate (which includes where the schools are) has been identified for widening, but nothing has yet been scheduled or funded.

Lamb's description of plans for Leesville divides the road into three sections: Millbrook Road to Lynn Road, Lynn to Westgate Road and Westgate to I-540.

The section from Westgate to I-540 near Leesville Town Center Shopping Center was realigned and widened into four lanes in 2002.

Work on widening to four lanes the section from Millbrook to Lynn is just finishing up.

That leaves an approximately 2.7-mile stretch between Lynn and Westgate that remains two lanes, Lamb said.

"Eventually, [Lynn to Westgate] will be a four-lane road," he says. But in the meantime, the city has more urgent projects.

"A higher priority for us is Leesville Road north of I-540 up toward Harrington Grove," he said. Traffic volumes there are averaging 18,000 to 22,000 vehicles per day as opposed to 12,000 to 15,000 per day between Lynn and Westgate.

As for the question of low-cost devices being employed until widening takes place, Lamb says such measures aren't likely to make much of a difference.

"Blinking signs are good for school zones, but not for high volume rush-hour traffic" like that seen on this section of Leesville, he said.

Other "traffic calming" devices the city uses in neighborhoods would not be applicable for a major road like Leesville.

Crash data for Leesville was not available by press time, but according to Bobby Croom, senior transportation operations engineer for the City of Raleigh, "Leesville doesn't jump to the top of my mind" as having an excessive number of crashes.