Fayetteville City Council Approves Four Lanes On Rupple

FAYETTEVILLE — A new section of Rupple Road will be built as a four-lane boulevard with a landscaped median, sidewalk, trail and traffic roundabouts at three intersections.

City Council members reaffirmed their commitment for making Rupple four lanes between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Wedington Drive during a meeting that extended past deadline Tuesday night.

Alderman Matthew Petty had suggested making the new, 1.5-mile section of Rupple two lanes until traffic warrants a wider street.

He said about $1.7 million in savings from a scaled-back version of the Rupple Road project should be put toward property acquisition, new sidewalks, buried power lines and street trees along College Avenue -- specifically at Rolling Hills Drive, Poplar Street and 15th Street. The College Avenue enhancements would spur residential and commercial development along Fayetteville's main drag, he said.

"It seems silly to say this," Petty said, "But have you ever said to yourself or your friends, 'Let's go to College Avenue and see what's happening?'"

Petty said, "People could be proud to live near College. Businesses could be proud to be on College. They aren't today. They're struggling just to survive on College. And housing is a solution to that."

He said about 30,000 people, or 42 percent of Fayetteville's population, live within 1 mile of College Avenue. Investment there would have a "faster payoff" than spending money to build a four-lane street on the city's west side, Petty said.

Other council members and residents who spoke at Tuesday's meeting agreed improvements are needed on College. Many said a four-lane Rupple Road shouldn't be sacrificed in favor of College Avenue work.

Rupple was identified as a boulevard in multiple public meetings leading up to a $65.9 million bond election in September 2006.

"Folks have waited like 10 years out there for improvements to Rupple Road," Mayor Lioneld Jordan said Tuesday.

Longtime residents Charlie Sloan, Donna Daniels and Pam Henson said a four-lane Rupple Road will provide a much-needed north-south connection that people can use to get from Wedington Drive to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard without having to access the interstate.

Steve Clark, president and CEO of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, said a boulevard will attract more development than a two-lane street. He used Walgreens, which has invested more than $7 million in a pharmacy at the southwest corner of Rupple and Wedington, as an example.

"That site was deliberately chosen because Rupple Road will be four lanes," Clark said.

Don Marr, the mayor's chief of staff, told Petty that College Avenue should remain a priority.

The City Council last year agreed to apply about $2.1 million in savings from the bond program to College Avenue enhancements between Maple and North streets. Jordan said that work should begin by late 2015.

Utility lines were buried, street lights went in, a center median was added, sidewalks were built and trees were planted along a seven-block stretch of College Avenue, from Rock Street to Maple Street, in 2008. That work cost about $1.8 million, according to city records.

Petty said city officials may need more money to do the type of College Avenue improvement he mentioned. But, he added, it's important to start planning now.

"With so many people living in this corridor, it's on us to figure out how to jump-start the redevelopment," Petty told fellow aldermen.

Marr said there will be opportunities to invest in College Avenue once transportation bonds are repaid in 2024. He said the best way to get public support for another bond program is to complete the projects city officials identified in 2006.

He told Petty, "I think the way to get that money to apply to the very priorities you talk about is to have the public say, 'You told us you would do this, and you did it, so I'm going to trust you to do it again.'"

City Engineer Chris Brown said Rupple Road construction should begin in early 2015.

NW News on 03/20/2014