Wednesday, Sep. 01, 2010

Final N.C. 98 leg set to open

The state Department of Transportation could open this week the final leg of the N.C. 98 bypass, which loops around Wake Forest and will help cars avoid crowded Capital Boulevard.

Construction is nearly finished on the 1.6-mile section from U.S. 1, or Capital Boulevard, to N.C. 98 on the west side of town.

Work started on the $11.5 million project in March 2008.

"We think it's going to be a big help for folks traveling east and west on N.C. 98, and it should make that trip through Wake Forest a lot easier," said Boyd Tharrington, a DOT engineer overseeing the project.

About a two-mile section of the project that stretches from Falls of Neuse Road northeast past Durham Road opened earlier this summer.

Falls of Neuse Road previously ended at Old State Highway 98 but now will extend past N.C. 98 and give commuters a straight shot into Wake Forest.

N.C. 98 stretches east-west across North Raleigh and is the main connector of Wake Forest and Durham.

When the project was first planned decades ago, the bypass would have missed Wake Forest completely.

But the town has expanded, and Mayor Vivian Jones said it will be a major route into the center of town that could give a boost to local merchants.

Wake Forest has grown significantly over the past decade to more than 27,000 residents, many of which commute into Raleigh or other nearby municipalities daily via crowded N.C. 98 or the Capital Boulevard corridor.