NCDOT plans to close a Cary railroad crossing. Here’s what officials propose instead.
The N.C. Department of Transportation wants to eliminate the Trinity Road railroad crossing near the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary for safety reasons.
To do that, it proposes building a bridge to carry Trinity over the tracks and East Chatham Street and create a new spur in a corner of the soccer park to connect the two streets. As drawn up now, the project would cost an estimated $54.3 million and displace four businesses.
NCDOT will present the plans at a public meeting on Monday, Nov. 20, and will gather feedback there and online, by email or phone through Dec. 3. Spokesman Aaron Moody described the department’s plans as “preliminary and subject to change,” and said the detailed design work would begin early next year and take as long as 2 years.
Under its current schedule, NCDOT doesn’t expect to have money to begin buying property until 2027 and begin construction until 2029. But Moody said the department decided to get started with design work now in the event that the financial picture changes and it can get started earlier.
The project would realign the section of Trinity between East Chatham Street and N.C. 54. Another new spur would provide access to several businesses that currently front on Trinity.
The new section of road over the bridge would include a bike lane and a sidewalk on one side, something that doesn’t exist there now.
The bridge would put a small section of Trinity on the south side of East Chatham Street. The Town of Cary would eventually like to see Trinity extended down to Cary Towne Boulevard, where a small section of the road was built as part of the Fenton development.
Study looked at eliminating crossings for safety
The proposal to close the crossing grew out of a study regional transportation planners completed in 2016 that looked at eliminating railroad crossings between Raleigh and Cary. The goal was to improve traffic flow and safety as the rail corridor becomes busier with more passenger trains and potentially commuter rail.
The study suggested that several crossings be closed and either replaced with bridges or rerouted, including Maynard Road in Cary and the Beryl Road crossing in Raleigh. Those projects are farther off.
One crossing not considered by the study was Blue Ridge Road near the N.C. State Fairgrounds, which NCDOT already planned to replace with an underpass. That crossing closed permanently just after the 2022 State Fair.
The public meeting on the Trinity Road project will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Herbert C. Young Community Center at 101 Wilkinson Ave. in Cary. The public can also weigh in at ncdot.publicinput.com/u4216; by email to TrinityRoad-Rail-Improvement@publiciput.com or by phone, 984-205-6615, project code 4495.
This story was originally published November 13, 2023 at 12:07 PM with the headline "NCDOT plans to close a Cary railroad crossing. Here’s what officials propose instead.."
