FAYETTEVILLE — West Fayetteville residents got a look Thursday at plans to widen and extend Rupple Road.
More than a dozen people came to the Boys & Girls Club of Fayetteville to ask questions about the project, which after Crossover Road work, is the largest undertaking in the city’s Transportation Improvement Bond Program.
Conceptual drawings show a new 1.5-mile stretch of Rupple Road on land south of Owl Creek School. Chris Brown, city engineer, said Rupple will likely be widened to four lanes from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Mount Comfort Road with landscaped medians, sidewalks and a 12-foot-wide pedestrian path along the west side of the street. The southern side of Rupple’s intersection with Mount Comfort Road will be moved east to make a four-way stop.
Mayor Lioneld Jordan, who has been involved with Rupple Road discussions for the past 10 years as a former Ward 4 alderman and chairman of the City Council’s Street Committee, said the project is an important connection for drivers who want to avoid Interstate 540.
“It’s a tremendous accomplishment,” Jordan said. “You work and you work and you work, and, suddenly, here it is.”
Robert Page, who lives on Rupple Road north of Wedington Drive, said he’s happy to have a new way to get to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Web Watch
Go to the online version of this story at nwaonline.com to view conceptual drawings of planned Rupple Road improvements.
City Engineer Chris Brown said an online comment form would be available for residents on the city’s website, accessfayetteville.org.
“We’ve been waiting on it a long time,” Page said. The planned trail on Rupple’s west side stands to remove a sizable chunk of Page’s front yard, however.
Brown said the center median or green space on Rupple’s west side could be narrowed where Page and several other property owners live, across from The Links apartments.
Garry McDonald, who lives in the Rupple Row subdivision across the street from the Boys & Girls Club, said he was glad to see parallel parking on the west side of the street preserved. McDonald said he likes the idea of a quicker route to Lowe’s, Walmart and other shopping on MLK, but is worried about increased traffic in his neighborhood. And, McDonald added, a traffic roundabout at Rupple and Persimmon Street might not be a good idea for schoolchildren walking from Owl Creek School to the Boys & Girls Club.
Rhonda Adams, Ward 4 alderwoman, said it’s encouraging to see the city plan for trails and sidewalks on the front end when it’s less expensive than building in already developed areas. Adams said Rupple Road's extension south of Owl Creek School is sure to bring residential development to the area.
Brown said he expects the project, estimated at more than $13 million, to be built in phases, beginning in late 2014. All work should be complete by the end of 2016, Brown said.