Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina Department of Transportation officials will be on hand Thursday at a public workshop designed to provide details about the "superstreet" proposal aimed at easing traffic on the busiest section of Raleigh's Glenwood Avenue.

The workshop will be held at the Elks Lodge on Lead Mine Road from 4 to 7 p.m.

Under a current proposal, the four lane stretch of Glenwood between Duraleigh Road and Interstate 540 would be transformed by eliminating the need for drivers on side streets to wait for traffic lights in order to cross Glenwood. 

Instead, those drivers would turn right onto Glenwood, make a U-turn and then turn right again to continue onto a desired side street. 

DOT engineer Jim Dunlop, who has been working on the project, said Tuesday that removing complex traffic signals at intersections would keep vehicles moving on Glenwood and cost less than adding lanes.

“If we can open up those signals, we gain back that capacity without having to do a lot of construction,” he said.

A similar superstreet project that opened on U.S. Highway 15-501 in Chapel Hill in 2008 reduced travel times by 65 percent, Dunlop said.

There is another superstreet project under way along the Highway 55 Bypass in Holly Springs that will accommodate traffic around a new shopping area set to open next year.

Dunlop said superstreets are new to this area, and drivers would have to get used to it. The project on Glenwood Avenue would cost $101.3 million, and construction would begin in 2020.