Why will it take so long to reopen a busy road in Apex after last week’s storm?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Flooding collapsed a decades-old pipe under Olive Chapel Road in Apex.
- NCDOT plans to fast-track culvert replacement but faces design and utility delays.
- Officials estimate a clearer construction timeline will be available by September.
It will be months before drivers will be able to use a busy Apex road damaged by last week’s flooding.
Olive Chapel Road was closed last Wednesday when swollen Beaver Creek overwhelmed two metal pipes under the pavement, causing one of them to collapse.
That stretch of Olive Chapel, between Kelly Road and Apex Peakway, handles more than 10,000 cars a day, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation.
NCDOT had planned to replace the culvert under the road in 2027, saying it had reached the end of its useful life. Now the department says it’s looking to speed up that process and install a larger box-shaped aluminum culvert before it reopens the road.
But that means finishing the design work, acquiring additional right of way, relocating a water line and other utilities and hiring a contractor — steps that will prolong the closure.
NCDOT doesn’t yet know how long the road will be closed; the department’s traffic website, drivenc.gov, says it will reopen Nov. 26, but notes that date is “arbitrary and will be updated when timeline is available.”
The pipe that failed was several decades old and damaged beyond repair, said NCDOT spokesman Andrew Barksdale. The damage was so severe that a temporary fix is not possible, Barksdale said.
“We are still working through the complexity of this project,” he wrote in an email. “We hope to have a clearer timeline, including a construction schedule, that we can announce to the public by September.”
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Town Council member Terry Mahaffey posted over the weekend that the project will likely take longer than the three months listed on the NCDOT site. Design, right of way, permitting and finding a contractor all take time, Mahaffey wrote.
“Under normal conditions, the process end to end can take up to 2 years,” he wrote. “These obviously aren’t normal conditions — and under these conditions I expect every stage will be significantly expedited. But 2 years down to 3 months seems optimistic.”
The new box culvert will be larger than the pipes it replaces, letting more water pass under the road. Last week’s storm dropped several inches of rain on western Wake County in hours, with one spot upstream of Olive Chapel Road receiving more than 9 inches, Mahaffey said.
“This is why the culvert and road failed,” he wrote. “A ton of water fell from the sky, more than the culvert could convey under the road.”
The sidewalk along the south side of Olive Chapel Road will also remain closed until the road is rebuilt. At first, it appeared the sidewalk had survived undamaged. But NCDOT engineers determined it was unstable and had that section of concrete removed, Barksdale said.
While the road is closed, drivers will be directed on a detour that uses the Apex Peakway, N.C. 55, U.S. 64 and Kelly Road.
This story was originally published August 11, 2025 at 3:02 PM.
