New Road Proposal from the Lowe's Developers

After additional traffic analysis and pressure from citizens, the developers of the Lowe's project at Market Street and Porters Neck Road have agreed to provide more extensive upgrades to the road network serving this site. Their new proposal includes the following:


Porters Neck Road west of Market Street (currently the Porters Neck Road stub)

This road will be increased to six lanes where it intersects with Market Street: two westbound (ingress) lanes; two eastbound lanes dedicated to left turn onto northbound Market Street; one straight-through eastbound lane for continuation across Market Street onto Porters Neck Road; and one right-turn eastbound lane for turning south onto Market Street.



This road will have a median extending 500' from Market Street into the Lowe's development. A cut-through will be provided at the point of the existing road which provides access to the First Citizens Bank branch, Wendy's and Porters Neck Shopping Center (approximately 300' from Market Street). To facilitate turns here, a left turn lane will be cut into the median with enough room for five cars to stack up. At about the same point, a right-turn lane will be added to facilitate turns into the Lowe's complex. Thus, Porters Neck Road westbound at this point will be up to four lanes wide. There will be two full traffic lanes westbound at all points on this drive into the new development.


Porters Neck Road east of Market Street


This road will be increased to six lanes: westbound, a dedicated right-turn only lane will be added at the Market Street traffic light; one straight-through westbound lane as at present; two westbound left-turn lanes as at present; and eastbound, two lanes for traffic proceeding east on Porters Neck Road.


Market Street


Market Street will be increased to 7 lanes in each direction: both northbound and southbound at the traffic light, there will be two left-turn lanes, two straight-through lanes, and one dedicated right-turn lane. Market Street south of the traffic light will gain a median strip going at least as far as the middle driveway into Porters Neck Shopping Center, and perhaps as far south as the lower, Food Lion/Cypress Ponds apartment complex entrance. At this time, the final design for this portion remains fluid. We also don't know how much of Market Street median work will be performed/funded by the developers vs. DOT, and what the timing will be for this portion of the work. Also unknown at this time is whether DOT will be addressing the need for Market Street northbound, north of Porters Neck Road, to include two lanes for continuation onto U.S. 17 rather than the one lane currently.

Suffice it to say, this intersection and stretch of Market Street will be torn up for some period of time.

Additional Roads Within the Development

From the current end of the Porters Neck Road stub west of Market, the developers have proposed a sweeping bend to the left to access the "back acreage" that is not being developed at this time (but which will be developed as a shopping center at some not-too-distant future time). This is the road that will ultimately, perhaps a decade into the future, link up with Plantation Road. This road will be two lanes in each direction. From this road, another road is proposed that will tie into the alleyway entrance alongside the dry cleaners in Porters Neck Shopping Center. The purpose of this road will be to enable traffic to move more easily between the existing shopping center and the new development. The developers have told us that configuration for this road has not been finalized. They have said both of these roads will be built along with development of this site, but have not committed as to timing.

Since these two additional roads are being proposed to the County Commissioners, completion of these roads must be part of the Commissioners' approval of rezoning and be completed prior to granting a certificate of occupancy for Lowe's. This DOES NOT meet our call for an additional access to this development but is the least residents should settle for at this time.

Conclusions

1. The road improvements now being proposed by the developers are considerably more than they originally proposed during their July presentation to the County Commissioners. This is helpful.
2. Traffic studies have indicated, and our traffic engineer concurs, that the road improvements outlined here will be adequate for Lowe's. This is probably the best we can hope for at the present time.
3. Traffic studies further indicate that the road proposals outlined here WILL NOT be adequate for the further development of the "back acreage". NC DOT has indicated an additional entrance point will be needed to handle additional traffic from a shopping center on the back acreage. We have been pushing for a second entrance as part of the Lowe's project rezoning approval because we know a shopping center development on the back acreage will not require County Commissioners' approval. Going forward, we as residents of the Porters Neck area will need to hold the developers' feet to the fire and keep pressure on NC DOT to insure that further development is not permitted without a proper second entrance. Another post to this blog outlines what we believe to be the best long-term solution to a second entrance. We believe DOT concurs with this alignment of an additional road entrance. This will be a continuing fight.