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Bell's Fork/Firetower Business Bypass Proposal

Posted 08-14-2017 at 02:50 AM by Phil A. Delphia


Having seen the NCDOT quadrant plan for the Bells Fork area of Greenville, and not really liking the proposal; I thought up an alternative way to alleviate the traffic congestion on Firetower Rd from Corey Rd to Charles Blvd. My basic idea is to utilize the Old Firetower Rd corridor by building a very limited access four lane bypass adjacent to Old Firetower Rd for motorists that need to be in Bells Fork, but are not there to do business at the multitude of stores or offices in the area. For drivers traveling eastward on Firetower and wishing to only pass through Bells Fork to get to 14th St or Portertown Rd, they would enter the proposed bypass at a new 5 points intersection at Firetower and Corey Rd. From there the new bypass will lay beside Old Firetower Rd, cross over County Home Rd by means of an overpass with no interchange here. Continuing onward towards the eastern end of Firetower, the traveler will cross over another overpass at Charles Blvd (Hwy 43), which would be right about where the Speedway gas station is currently located. The bypass will curve around behind the Harris Teeter shopping center, where eastbound bypass traffic will briefly have a third eastbound lane on the expanded Firetower Rd. until the third lane is forced to merge back onto Firetower with a lane drop where residential housing begins.

Westbound drivers will enter the bypass by taking a right side exit ramp off of Firetower. The exit ramp will swing out to the right into what right now is an empty field to the east of Bostic Sugg, then westbound traffic will continue on uninterrupted, crossing Firetower onto Firetower Bypass via an overpass. From there, travelers will maintain uninterrupted traffic until the bypass ends at the 5 points intersection at Corey and Firetower. Both westbound and eastbound traffic will flow freely, uninterrupted on this bypass, with an estimated 50 mph speed limit; avoiding all local business in the heavily congested Bells Fork.

Other than the two ends, this proposed route offers only one interchange off of the Bypass, and another to get on. Both interchanges involve Hwy 43. The exit to 43 from the Bypass will be in the general area of where Old Firetower meets Bells Chapel Rd at a hard bend. Both of those roads will be cut short to accommodate the interchange. The exit ramp at this interchange will begin as 2 lanes to accommodate traffic exiting from both east and west. The 2 lanes will merge down to one as it approaches Hwy 43, where the exit will merge on 43 in the vicinity of the Dollar General. Conversely, northbound 43 drivers who wish to utilize the Bypass can use a new exit across the street from the Dollar General. From here motorists can drive eastward to Firetower and avoid the Firetower and Charles intersection. Westbound travelers can remain on an extended exit and enter the westbound side of the Bypass coming and merging from the left lane side. There will be a far right lane drop just before the 43 overpass, keeping the Bypass four lanes total the rest of the way.

Since Kitrell Rd, Bells Fork Rd, and the Dollar General entrance will all have to be either be partially or completely blocked off, my proposal adds an extension of Signature Dr northward, connecting to Southridge Rd. This new road can help accommodate the residents who live in the Cherry Oaks neighborhood, plus encourage new developments in this prime area. To accommodate Dollar General, a service road will be added behind the store. This road will encourage more business to join DG at this location, and it will also connect over to Bells Chapel Rd.

I also addressed Turnbury Dr with this proposal. From Charles, I extended Turnbury eastward, so it lays adjacent to the church on Charles. This road will originally be stunted to only accommodate the church, but this side of Turnbury can extended into future developments that surely will come to the area. The church will no longer be able to use Charles as an entrance. It will have to use Turnbury. I suppose a side road can be added behind the church to accommodate more access to Walgreens and ASAP (Or the no left turn median I propose below can make an exception for these businesses.).

As with the DOT proposal, I also incorporate extending Turnbury westward across Arlington, hooking it up to the cinema entrance; but I take Turnbury further. I cross Turner across Firetower and use it as an access road to all the stores on the Sheetz/Lidl side of Firetower. Access in this area will also go behind these businesses to access County Home Rd - at a right turn approach only.

There will be traffic lights installed at Turnbury/Firetower, Turnbury/Arlington, and at Turnbury/Charles, but my proposal does not forbid left turns at any traffic signaled intersection. Away from the lights Turnbury traffic will be suppressed from shortcut traffic with speed cushions, and perhaps stop signs, should business fill the remaining empty lots in the new Turnbury area. The purpose of extending Turnbury is to access business in the area, not for passing through, so a suppression system will be needed to keep the area safe.

To further safety, no left turn medians will be built in the locations of: On Firetower between Turnbury to Arlington; on Arlington between Turnbury and Firetower; on Charles between Turnbury and Firetower (with maybe an exception for Walgreens and ASAP); and Firetower between Charles and Kitrell (further east if necessary). Limited left turn locations on Firetower between Arlington and Charles will be the same as the DOT plan. To assist Rite Aid, Speedee, and the car wash from being alienated, my plan adds an access road behind these businesses to connect them to the adjacent strip center and over to Charles, where it will right turn in/out only.

No project is without sacrifices. Old Firetower Rd has numerous houses that will need to be bought and demoed. Driving down this road, one will note that the overwhelming number of these homes are 30-40 year old modular and mobile homes, which, of course, are not aging well. There are a couple of nice homes on the west end of Old Firetower, but there are abandoned and boarded up homes on its other end. In addition, The Hwy 43 overpass and interchange will cause the removal of the Speedway, the hardware store, a couple of homes, and probably an independent car dealership - maybe two. Perhaps the one with the newly built service center can be partially spared and reconfigured.

Another complication could be a family graveyard setting along the roadside near the intersection of County Home Road and Old Firetower Rd. The graves are in the area of the proposed County Home Rd overpass, but because it is a straight overpass with no interchange, then maybe the overpass can simply be lengthened by a few feet to accommodate the graves and certain measures can put in place to protect them. Since the graves are almost in the ditch and city is persistently encroaching the former countryside, maybe the family will let the state pay to move the family graves to a more secure and peaceful location.

I'm posting my crude and unprofessional depictions of my proposal. I did this on my android, so I apologize for the poor quality. I am no artist, obviously. The blue lines are new or extended roads (I realized later that I used 2 different shades of blue. That was unintentional and they both mean the same thing.). The green arrows (Yes, those are arrows) are directional, mainly used for on/off ramps. The black slash marks are where I propose old roads be cut off to accommodate the new Bypass.

Honestly I'd rather the NCDOT plan something like this than all those right turn quadrants. My instinct tells me the state will eventually give in to pressure from outspoken citizens in regards to all the out of the way right turns, and most likely, those complaints will not be acted on until after they re-arrange Bells Fork to an all right turn approach. It will only be more complicated to fix it later, as the Bells Fork area of Greenville has some giant lots of acreage that developers are chomping at the bit to tear into. I submit my proposal for a Bells Fork Firetower Rd Business Bypass is a much more functional fit for an area that will only to continue to grow, as will the traffic. Thank you for your time, and please make suggestions to improve this proposal.







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Comments

  1. Old Comment






    permalink
    Posted 08-14-2017 at 02:55 AM by Phil A. Delphia Phil A. Delphia is online now
  2. Old Comment
    Added access road next to Bostic Sugg Furniture over to Turnbury Drive extension. Right turn entrance and exit only.

    permalink
    Posted 09-18-2017 at 07:24 AM by Phil A. Delphia Phil A. Delphia is online now
 

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