Lead Mine Road Growth Is In The Fast Lane

Lead Mine Road used to be a quiet, country road weaving through the trees as you head north from Crabtree Valley Mall. That is not the case anymore.

Much of the old two-laner, is growing to five lanes along with new homes and new offices.

Many long-time residents think developers and planners have tunnel vision, and that the vision is massive growth.

Kate Bissonnette works at home and gets an earful of the Lead Mine construction all day long.

"It's hard to keep our windows open during the day because of all this noise. The trucks go by constantly all day, the big construction trucks, the bulldozers," she says.

With all of the noise, traffic and lane closures you would think that all of the neighbors along the road would be upset with the work.

One woman who lives long Lead Mine Road say that after 44 years, she is finally getting a sidewalk and a turn lane that will help her get in her driveway.

Raleigh city planners say it is unfortunate that residential pockets of older homes get caught in the middle of the urban growth.

Some neighbors are trying to sell out and move out. The city says those who stay need to know that in areas like Lead Mine, the growth is here to stay.

There is still lots of undeveloped land in the Lead Mine Road/Crabtree Valley Mall area. The

Raleigh Planning Department

is putting together what it calls a

small area plan

.

That plan will soon be available for citizen review and comment.