Road Access Changes for Existing Porters Neck Shopping Center

Road Access Changes for Existing Porters Neck Shopping Center

How will the Lowe’s development, associated future commercial development of the “back 50 acres”, and NC Department of Transportation requirements (NC DOT) impact access to the existing Porters Neck Shopping Center?

There will be three changes to roads accessing or within Porters Neck Shopping Center:

First, NC DOT has decreed a 500’ median on the Porters Neck Road entrance. This will block traffic entering PN Shopping Center via Porters Neck Road from turning into the access behind First Citizens Bank and Wendy’s. This traffic will have to continue on Porters Neck Road to the entrance to Lowe’s and make a U-turn to get back to the existing access road. Second, NC DOT has announced plans for a median on Market Street below the Porters Neck Road traffic light. This will eliminate the ability for traffic to make a left turn off Market Street into the middle entrance to PN Shopping Center – that entrance will become “right in, right out” only. These two changes will induce shoppers to concentrate more on the lower entrance to PN Shopping Center, the one by Food Lion and access to the Cypress Ponds apartment complex. There will be a cut-through in the Market Street median, if it extends that far. However, NC DOT has no plans to put a traffic light at this point.

Finally, we have been told the developer will loop a road from the Lowe’s entrance point around to the beginning of the alleyway roughly in the middle of the PN Shopping Center, alongside the dry cleaners. This would presumably facilitate traffic to exit Lowe’s and future “back 50” commercial development via the middle exit from PN Shopping Center, particularly if exit traffic is backed up at the Porters Neck Road traffic light.

None of these changes addresses our concern that one access point, Porters Neck Road, is insufficient to service the combined development of Lowe’s and adjacent acreage. Routing traffic through PN Shopping Center will only be attractive to shoppers if backups at the traffic light become severe. If that’s the case, using the shopping center either for entrance or exit increases the probability of accidents for everyone using either Lowe’s, future stores, the bank or Wendy’s, or PN Shopping Center.

We continue to push for an additional road entrance BEFORE BUILDING PERMITS ARE ISSUED. If the County Commissioners are unwilling or unable to require the additional road entrance that is the proper up-front infrastructure for this project, THE REZONING REQUEST SHOULD BE DENIED.