Planned overhaul of McCrimmon Parkway includes a new bridge over NC 54

The intersection of McCrimmon Parkway and N.C. 54 can get gummed up during the morning and evening commutes, but it gets even worse when a train comes through and the crossing arms come down on McCrimmon.

Now the N.C. Department of Transportation is proposing to build a bridge that will carry McCrimmon over the railroad tracks and N.C. 54. It’s part of a larger project to overhaul a 2-mile stretch of McCrimmon between Perimeter Park Drive and Louis Stephens Drive, including more travel lanes and a new traffic pattern at the intersection with Davis Drive.

NCDOT will present its plans to the public on Thursday, from 4 to 7 p.m., at Hope Community Church, 1000 Perimeter Park Drive in Morrisville.

This part of McCrimmon Parkway has two travel lanes and various left- and right-turn lanes. NCDOT would widen the road to four travel lanes and add sidewalks and bike paths in places.

The intersection of McCrimmon and Davis Drive would get larger, with McCrimmon going to seven lanes wide and Davis to 11. It would also use a new design called “continuous flow” that engineers say moves traffic more smoothly and safely through big intersections by beginning the process of turning left several hundred feet before the two roads meet.

In this case, drivers on Davis Drive who want to turn left on to McCrimmon would move into two left-turn lanes at traffic lights before they get to the main intersection. When the lights turn green, they’d cross the stopped on-coming traffic, then move to McCrimmon, where they’d turn left.

Drivers turning left from McCrimmon on to Davis Drive would use traditional turn lanes.

Continuous flow intersections are relatively rare; there are two planned in the Charlotte area and another at U.S. 70’s intersection with Hammond Road and Timber Drive in Garner. NCDOT looked at different options for handling left turns from Davis on to McCrimmon and decided the new design would work best, said Zahid Baloch, the project engineer.

“It should reduce the congestion significantly,” Baloch said.

The bridge over the railroad tracks serves two purposes, Baloch said. It would not only eliminate train-related traffic snarls, but it would also be safer. The state is trying to eliminate railroad crossings along the busy rail corridor between Raleigh and Charlotte, including at nearby Morrisville Parkway, which now passes under the tracks after a $19.6 million project finished in 2016.

With the new bridge at McCrimmon Parkway and N.C. 54, drivers would use a new ramp east of the current intersection to get from one road to the other. The Sheetz convenience store and gas station that’s now in the northeast corner of the intersection would be between the bridge and the new ramp.

NCDOT expects to begin acquiring the right-of-way it needs for the project late next summer, with construction scheduled to begin in spring 2021. When the $35.5 million project is completed in 2024, McCrimmon Parkway will be open from Louis Stephens Drive to Evans Road at Aviation Parkway in Cary.

NCDOT will accept feedback on the McCrimmon project through Nov. 30. For more information, including links to maps showing the state’s plans, go to www.ncdot.gov/news/public-meetings/ and search for “U-5747,” the project number.

This story was originally published November 5, 2018 at 3:52 PM.