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3:32 a.m. • 2-7-12

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Delayed Road-Widening Project Years Away for Louisburg


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U.S. 401 South
U.S. 401 South

It could be at least another seven years before the state Department of Transportation begins widening a 12-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 401 in Louisburg.

Even then, it's no guarantee. The problem, according to the DOT, is that funding is limited.

And with more traffic in northern Wake County, administrators say projects there have to take priority.

Louisburg Mayor Karl Pernell and local business owners say they have heard for more than two decades about the estimated $43 million widening project.

It would expand U.S. 401 from two lanes to four lanes from N.C. Highway 96 to N.C. Highway 56.

"If this town is to survive, it has to happen," said local business owner Phyllis Bulbreath, whose family has run D & J Automotive for more than 40 years.

She sees the traffic on U.S. 401 every day. And every day, she says, she notices a pattern of more vehicles leaving Louisburg, headed south for Raleigh, than coming north.

Many other business owners say they see the same pattern. They believe widening U.S. 401 will help reverse that pattern.

"We really, desperately, need 401 to be widened," Pernell said. "And the earlier they do it, the better."

"The industry comes, and then, the people will come, and we'll naturally grow," he added.

RELATED TOPICS: Wake County, Franklin County, Raleigh

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8 Comments


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"Since I'm not a DOT employee, I should be more than qualified than them to issue the report!"

yeah you can issue the report as soon as you complete 3rd grade english class

Surely you are joking. Both Wake and Mecklenburg are way behind in spending on roads. Now ther eare lots of roads in certain powerful legislator's home counties that get used little but help speed trips to the beach.

Call me cynical, but it sure seems to me that the roads the legislators use/need are the ones that get priority. There's always money for Wake and Mecklenberg counties; the rest of us are just "bedroom" communities for the big boys.

Any chance we could toll it?

Oh please, if a bypass goes in around Rolesville, how will the Rolesville Police Department ever write their quota of speeding tickets? Check point chickie, yo.

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