Pinehurst Traffic Circle is a source of pride — and frustration. Should it be replaced?
Pinehurst may be best known for golf, but many residents also say they were attracted by the feel of the place — a village of small shops and restaurants, historic homes and inns all shaded by its namesake trees.
And residents say adding to that ambiance is a big, wooded traffic circle where U.S. 15-501, N.C. 211 and N.C. 2 meet about a mile from the center of town.
The N.C. Department of Transportation says the 68-year-old traffic circle is inefficient, no longer safe and can’t handle the growing volume of cars. After years of study, the NCDOT has proposed replacing the circle with a large intersection and a new connector road.
But many residents don’t want the circle and its trees replaced in the name of efficiency. More than 2,000 have signed a petition asking NCDOT to find a way to both improve the circle without destroying it — a message echoed on lawn signs throughout the village.
‘It’s the trees. It’s all about the trees’
Sara Copeland said the proposed network of traffic lights and turn lanes would disrupt the peace that residents and visitors experience as they arrive in Pinehurst.
“When you’ve come from out of town and you get on Midland Road, you feel like your blood pressure just goes down a notch,” Copeland said. “It’s the trees. It’s all about the trees. And they want to take it away.”
Copeland was one of hundreds of residents who showed up at Pinehurst Elementary School on Tuesday for the first of three NCDOT meetings to learn more about the proposal and give their feedback. Some had ideas and alternatives, ranging from adding speed bumps and an extra lane to the circle to building a new bypass road around town.
Many, like Vickie Bowles, spoke about preserving the serenity that makes the village special.
“I have great concerns that the value of Pinehurst as a sleepy little village is going to be incredibly, significantly, negatively impacted by this plan,” Bowles said.
One crash every 2.2 days on average
The Pinehurst Traffic Circle was built in 1956, when the population of surrounding Moore County was about a third of what it is now.
About 50,000 cars and trucks a day passed through the circle last year, according to NCDOT, resulting in frequent backups as cars merge and crisscross to get in and out of the circle.
All that merging results in an unusually high number of crashes, according to NCDOT. There have been about 840 over the past five years, mostly rear-end collisions as one driver decides to go while the one in front doesn’t, said Craig Scheffler of HNTB, the contractor drawing up the plans for NCDOT.
No one has been killed, but those crashes — one every 2.2 days on average — caused an estimated $31 million in damage, according to NCDOT.
And conditions will only get worse as the county grows, Scheffler said. NCDOT projects that about 80,000 cars and trucks will pass through the circle each day by 2050.
“Where is that extra 30,000 going to go?” he said. “They’re going to cut through neighborhoods. They’re not going to wait 10, 15 minutes to get through the circle.”
NCDOT has studied several fixes, from minor changes to the circle to complete overhauls involving tunnels and bridges. It settled on a new design called a continuous flow intersection, where drivers turning left would cross over oncoming traffic at separate lights several hundred feet from the center, before proceeding to make the left turn.
The plan would also disconnect Midland Road from the circle, replacing it with a short connector road from N.C. 211. The proposal requires taking four homes and a business and removing all the trees from the circle, though Scheffler said there would be room to plant more.
“It doesn’t have to look like a freeway,” he said.
Support for replacing the circle is ‘quieter’
There is support for NCDOT’s plan. Moore County commissioner Jim Von Canon said many local residents avoid the circle when the traffic is bad but that people passing through can’t do that. And their numbers are growing, Von Canon said.
“This is not something we’re going to ignore. Little band aids on a bleeder don’t work,” he said. “We’re going to get an additional 50,000, 60,000 people in the next 10 or 15 years, so we’ve got to plan for growth.”
Lisa Mathis, the state Board of Transportation member who represents Moore County, said she, too, hears from people who want the circle replaced, though that support is “quieter” than the opposition. Mathis said she has faith that NCDOT engineers will take the ideas and criticisms and find a plan that works and that most people can support.
“The traffic circle isn’t functioning properly,” she said. “And this community deserves something special, that’s functional, that’s safe and that they’re proud of.”
This story was originally published July 18, 2024 at 5:58 AM.
