The months-long project of repaving West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill is nearing an end, according to town officials, with the final steps of adding paint expected to take place this week.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation repaves and re-stripes the downtown Chapel Hill street, which also is East Main Street in Carrboro, every ten years. The project began in earnest back in April, while the resurfacing of the roads came in July.
Among the most significant changes for Chapel Hill and Carrboro are the addition of dedicated bicycle lanes. An alert from the Town of Chapel Hill on Thursday said final touches on the updates include painting the bike lanes green to help differentiate them from parking spots and vehicle travel lanes. In order to complete the task, some of the lanes and parking along West Franklin Street will be closed starting Monday.
“Our hopes for the bike lanes are increased safety for all road users by providing safe places for cyclists to ride, reduced crossing distances for pedestrians at intersections, and generally lower travel speeds of vehicles which promotes safety for everyone,” Senior Project Manager Sarah Poulton told Chapelboro. “We will be monitoring how the new design works for months to come to see if there are opportunities to make additional improvements.”
An example of painted green bicycle lanes, as seen by the Glen Lennox redevelopment off Fordham Boulevard. (Photo via Glen Lennox.)
Stretches of the bicycle lanes on West Franklin Street are a different from other bike lanes seen in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. The style is called “curb-running” lanes, which instruct bicyclists to ride between the curb and parked cars.
Chapel Hill Transportation Planning Manager Bergen Watterson told Chapelboro the North Carolina Department of Transportation initially did not commit to painting the lanes as curb-running. While the state representatives had concerns about the sight lines for vehicles leaving the variety of driveways and businesses along the road, she said compromises were made to allow for the style.
“Town staff, along with our engineering consultant, were able to come up with a design that pulled the parking back from driveways and intersections enough to provide visibility but not remove all of the parking,” said Watterson. “NCDOT was able to approve this design, and we will add green paint and flexible delineators next week to further enhance visibility of cyclists and proper parking spaces.”
Those delineators are more permanent versions of the bollards installed by Chapel Hill during 2020 — as the town expanded its sidewalks during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to allow for more walking and outdoor dining space. Poulton said while the bollards will not go the entire length of West Franklin Street on both side, they will be throughout “most of the corridor.”
“They are especially important in areas where there is no parking between moving vehicles and the bike lane,” the senior project manager added.
Work on completing the bicycle lanes and installing bollards is expected to last from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. each day until the project is complete, according to the Town of Chapel Hill. To find the final street plans for West Franklin Street’s bicycle lanes, painting and designs, visit the project’s web page.
Photo via Town of Chapel Hill.
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