Work begins soon on the second leg of a new bypass around fast-growing Angier
.jpg "The N.C. Department of Transportation plans to build a bypass to carry N.C. 55 around Angier.")
Contractors began felling trees and moving dirt earlier this year to build a highway that will allow people to bypass downtown Angier on their way between Wake and Harnett counties.
Now the state has awarded another contract to finish the bypass through a rural area southwest of town. Construction on the second leg of the road will begin soon and should be finished by the fall of 2027, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation.
The bypass will carry N.C. 55 around Angier, starting near Kennebec Church Road in southern Wake County and crossing N.C. 210 west of town before reconnecting with existing N.C. 55 near Ennis Road on the south side.
The new road will be four lanes wide with a median and a speed limit of 55 mph.
NCDOT has designed the intersections so drivers at the crossing roads will only be able to turn right. Those wishing to turn left or go straight will also turn right and then turn around at special U-turn areas. Traffic engineers call these reduced conflict intersections, because they cut down on the number of places cars could potential run into each other.
The bypass will cut a nearly seven-mile path through the mostly rural outskirts of Angier. NCDOT expects to buy out 10 businesses and 36 other properties, mostly single-family homes, said spokesman Andrew Barksdale.
The alternative, Barksdale said, would be to try to widen N.C. 55 and N.C. 210 in town, which would have hurt residents and businesses there. The highways each have two travel lanes where they meet at a traffic light at the center of town and are overwhelmed by commuters going to and from Wake County each morning and afternoon.
Roads follow growth in northern Harnett County
Last fall, NCDOT awarded a $61.5 million contract to begin the bypass and widen a stretch of existing N.C. 55 north of Angier. The first leg of the bypass, from N.C. 210 north into Wake County, is scheduled to open by the end of 2026.
Last week, NCDOT awarded a second contract, for $48.4 million, to build the southern leg of the bypass and to widen a stretch of existing N.C. 55 south of town.
The availability of relatively cheap land close to the Triangle is helping to fuel growth in Harnett County. The population in the northwest part of the county grew by 50% between 2000 and 2017, according to a growth plan for the area, and new subdivisions are popping up between Angier, Lillington and Fuquay-Varina.
Angier expects its population to double to near 12,000 in the next five years, with much of that growth being shaped by the new bypass.
Despite the influx of new residents, there are no four-lane roads from Harnett in or out of Wake County. As part of the bypass project, NCDOT will widen N.C. 55 about two miles into Wake, as far as Jicarilla Lane, where the road will narrow to two lanes.
NCDOT eventually plans to continue widening the road north to N.C. 42 in Fuquay-Varina. But that part of the project doesn’t qualify for funding under NCDOT’s prioritization process, and the department doesn’t know when that work will get started.
This story was originally published October 3, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
