A truck traveling west on Smith Chapel Road waits on traffic before turning left (south) on U.S. 117. An N.C. Department of Transportation safety improvement plan would close the intersection to crossover traffic on Smith Chapel Road. It also would eliminate left turns off Smith Chapel Road onto U.S. 117. A public hearing on the plan will be held when the Mount Olive Town Board meets on Tuesday, Sept. 12. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
During the Aug. 8 meeting of the Mount Olive Town Board Commissioners, member Barbara Kornegay’s motion to hold a public hearing on proposed safety improvements at the Smith Chapel-U.S. 117 intersection was unanimously approved. The hearing will be held at the board’s Tuesday, Sept. 12, meeting that will start at 7 p.m. at town hall, 114 E. James St. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
This N.C. Department of Transportation graphic shows proposed safety improvements at the Smith Chapel Road-U.S. 117 intersection. Traffic on Smith Chapel Road would not be able to cross the intersection nor turn left onto U.S. 117. Instead left turn lanes would be added about a quarter mile north and south of the current intersection to allow for U-turns. (Courtesy photo|N.C. Department of Transportation)
A public hearing has been scheduled on proposed safety improvements to the Smith Chapel Road-U.S. 117 intersection that would close the intersection to crossover traffic on Smith Chapel Road.
It would also eliminate left turns off Smith Chapel Road onto U.S. 117.
However, before agreeing to the state proceeding with the plan, the Mount Olive Town Board wants public input and has scheduled a public hearing on the proposal for its Tuesday, Sept. 12 session.
The meeting will start at 7 p.m. at town hall, 114 E. James St.
Under the proposal from the N.C. Department of Transportation, traffic traveling west on Smith Chapel would be able to turn north (right) on U.S. 117, but not left nor cross the intersection that would be blocked by a median.
A dedicated left turn lane would be created about a quarter mile north of the intersection to allow traffic to make a U-turn. An area would be provided on the outside shoulder of southbound U.S. 117 to help U-turning traffic avoid oncoming traffic.
Traffic headed east on Smith Chapel Road toward town would be able to turn right (south), but not left nor cross the intersection.
A dedicated left turn lane would be created about a quarter mile south of the intersection to allow traffic to make a U-turn. An area would be provided on the outside shoulder of northbound U.S. 117 to help U-turning traffic avoid oncoming traffic.
Town board members would like to see acceleration lanes added to each side to help the U-turning vehicles more safely merge with traffic on U.S. 117.
From Jan. 1, 2018, through Dec. 31, 2022, the intersection was the scene of 10 crashes in which 12 people were injured, some seriously, according to data provided by the state Department of Transportation. Four crashes resulted in property damages only.
No fatalities were reported during that time.
The intersection came under review by theDOT’s Mobility & Safety Division Unit as a potential project funded through the N.C. Highway Safety Improvement Program, Andrew Barksdale, NCDOT spokesman, told the Tribune.
The program uses a combination of state and federal funds for smaller projects, such as new traffic signals, roundabouts, etc., he added.
“When we spot crash patterns, we find solutions to mitigate the hazard — reduce the crashes,” Barksdale said. “The open median that currently exists there now has been a challenge for some motorists wanting to cross one direction of traffic in order to go in the opposite direction.
“We have several intersections like this across the state, and we have been closing several of them, or reconstructing them into a reduced conflict intersection.”
The process is explained at https://www.ncdot.gov/initiatives-policies/Transportation/safety-mobility/reduced-conflict-intersections/Pages/default.aspx, he said.
“We have not made any decisions yet on what we would like to do for this intersection,” Barksdale added. “Nothing is funded yet, and we don’t know the estimate cost, and we have no timeline for a potential safety improvement project for this location.
“Getting town feedback is important to us, however. We are still evaluating all of our options.”
During the board’s Tuesday, Aug. 8 session, Mayor Kenny Talton said that about two months ago two members of his staff who work with NCDOT told him that officials with NCDOT Division 4, which includes Wayne County, were asking about the intersection and the safety problem there.
Talton is the director of the city of Goldsboro Planning Department.
“Again, NCDOT does not wish to impose their wishes upon our municipality or any other municipality,” he said. “But they do want to bring it to our attention so that if we are interested in making improvements that the town has the opportunity to do so.
“They have suggested an improvement there which would be a leftover turn at that intersection. Essentially what that would do is prevent any crossover from Smith Chapel Road at the end at 117 over to go out toward the Smith Chapel community.”
But at the same time left-hand U-turns would be offered so people could come in to Mount Olive on U.S. 117 or go back south to the Smith Chapel community, Talton said.
Talton said he did not think it was right for him or the board to decide to move forward on the proposal without public input.
“Just from experience, I know that when we do something like that without public input, this board and myself, you get a lot of flak for that,” Talton said. “And we don’t want that.
“We want to be able to share that information first, let it digest. I am here to inform the board and the public tonight that that safety improvement can take place, and will take place if the board chooses to do so. A decision does not have to be made tonight.”
Talton said he thinks he would encourage the safety improvements being done, but that there are other perspectives and opinions on the matter.
“Mayor, I can say this, during my time here in law enforcement when they did the interchange at Main Street (and U.S. 117) after so many collisions and the fact there were a few who lost their lives, and now looking back I think that was probably the best thing ever done to save people from harm,” said Commissioner Tommy Brown, the town’s former police chief.
“So, I would think the same thing. Yeah, it may be a little inconvenient to have to go around and do a U-turn. But the increased safety far outweighs any negative.”
Mayor Pro-tem Steve Wiggins said since so many people will be affected by the change that there is a definite need to allow the public to have input.
“This is a drastic change,” he added. “I had not heard this before I got my (agenda) packet. I did not realize there was a study done nor did I realize there were that many accidents happening there.
“But I do think the people living in the surrounding area there should have time to think about it and have some input into it.”
NCDOT has provided crash data for the town, Talton said, adding that he was glad to see Fire Chief Greg Wiggins in the audience who probably could attest to the data.
It is a very active intersection for the fire department, Wiggins said.
“We respond to a lot of accidents there,” he said. “This particular study did not show any fatalities — there hasn’t been any fatalities there in quite a few years, but we have had a pile of them (wrecks) there before.”
A flashing light installed years ago did slow down some of it (traffic), he continued.
However, there have been fatalities in that area and some very serious wrecks, along with the normal fender-benders, Wiggins added.
“We get calls to that intersection a lot,” he said. “People passing across — you have four lanes of traffic to deal with. They will go into the median and stop, and that median is very narrow so the next thing you know they still have their tail-end out in the road or their nose out too far.
“And all of the people running on that road, probably only about 10 percent are running the speed limit. It’s a 55 mph speed limit, but everybody is running 70, 75 mph out there because they are in a hurry to get to the beach.”
Wiggins said he has seen the drawing for the work that includes moving a turn lane down about a quarter of a mile from the intersection where motorists can make a U-turn.
It also provides a wide turnout for vehicles making a U-turn.
Wiggins said the issue he sees is that once the U-turn is made, even with the turnout, that there is no acceleration lane.
As such, Wiggins said, he is afraid the plan would just move the wrecks to two new locations.
Placing an island at the intersection would make it a little more difficult on fire trucks getting across, he said.However, the islands have slopped sides to help trucks cross them, Wiggins added.
“But again, the life safety issue there may be worth a little bit of adjustment we have to make to respond to that area,” Wiggins said.
One option would be to take Breazeale Avenue to N.C. 55 then to U.S. 117, all four-lane roads, to Smith Chapel Road, he added.
That route is just about as quick as using the Smith Chapel Road crossing, Wiggins said.
Police Chief Jason Hughes agreed with Wiggins and Brown.
“Smith Chapel, I have been to quite a few wrecks with the fire department,” he said. “The fact that we have not had a fatality there is shocking. We have had a lot of bad wrecks there so I think it is a great idea.”
Commissioner Barbara Kornegay said she would like for the board to consider a public hearing, but that first she would like to see a better drawing of the planned changes.
If the board is going to talk about it, Kornegay said she wants a big chart for people to better see the changes.
Talton said the town could have NCDOT produce a large chart so that everyone can better see it.
Kornegay made the motion for the board to hold a public hearing on the proposal at its September meeting. It was seconded by Wiggins and unanimously approved.
