Goldsboro path for bikes should be ready next year
By Barbara Arntsen
Published in News on September 7, 2004 1:56 PM
Goldsboro should have a network of bicycle and walking paths throughout the city within the next 25 years, if all goes according to plan.
The city's federally mandated long-range transportation plan maps out planned bike and pedestrian pathways, as well as road improvements.
But residents won't have to wait two decades to see improvements. Goldsboro's long-awaited bike bath should be completed next year, say transportation officials.
The Transportation Advisory Committee recently updated its plan for transportation projects, which includes completion of the bike path.
The path would begin at the intersection of Berkeley Boulevard and Parkway Drive and follow Parkway Drive to North Park Drive, then north on South Harding Drive to New Hope Road, then west on New Hope to Hare Road.
City Planner Darryl Best said the path should be completed by spring of 2005.
And other paths will eventually be built as part of a network throughout the city.
Mike Rutkowski and Roger Henderson, engineers from the Raleigh consulting firm Kimley-Horne, were hired last year by Goldsboro to prepare the federally mandated long-range transportation plan for the Goldsboro Metropolitan Area. The area includes the city and areas north and east to the county line.
The pedestrian part of the plan has designated some existing sidewalks, as well as some planned sidewalks, to form part of the statewide "mountains to the sea" trail.
In Goldsboro, the trail will use sidewalks along Walnut, John, Chestnut and Elm streets.
Projects to widen roads to include pedestrian and bike paths include the following:
*A 1.6 mile stretch of N.C. 111 from Tommy's Road to Wayne Memorial Drive.
*A 1.7 mile stretch of highway on Hare Road to New Hope Road.
*A 1.5 mile stretch of highway from Wayne Memorial Drive to New Hope Road.
A number of roads will also be re-striped to provide pathways including:
*A three-mile stretch of highway from Old Highway 111 to Ash Street.
*A half-mile stretch of road from Greenwood Middle School to Eastgate Drive.
*A .6-mile stretch of road from Eastgate Drive to the Target Service Road.
*A one-mile stretch of road from Stoney Creek Path to Stoney Creek Park Road.
*A 1.2-mile stretch of road from Walnut Street to King Street.
*A .6-mile stretch of road from Ridgewood Drive to Spence Avenue.
The proposed pedestrian plan includes:
*A 6-foot-wide multi-use path on Wayne Memorial Drive, beginning at the intersection of Royall Avenue, to the U.S. 70 bridge.
*An 8-foot multi-use path encircling Wayne Community College that will connect Wayne Memorial Drive and New Hope Road.
*An 8-foot path from the Greenwood Middle School athletic fields to Oak Forest Road.
The long-range plan also calls for a policy to improve bike route signs, directional signs and improve the pedestrian crossing at the Wayne Memorial Drive bridge at U.S. 70.
The long-range plan will cost $476 million, over a 25-year period, and includes road improvements.
Some of the road projects expected to be completed by 2015 include:
*Widening a 1.6-mile stretch of road north of the proposed U.S. 70 Bypass to Green Drive from two lanes to four lanes, and widening Green Drive to New Hope Road from three to four lanes.
*Widening Wayne Memorial Drive, from Stoney Creek Church Road to Tommy's Road, from a two-lane road to a four-lane road with a median.
*Widening Tommy's Road to New Hope Road from two lanes to five lanes.
*The Buck Swamp Road Extension to U.S. 117 will go from a two-lane road to a three-lane road.
Some of the projects expected to be completed by 2030 include:
*A five-mile stretch on Arrington Bridge Road, from Westbrook Road to N.C. 111, will be widened from a two-lane to a three-lane road.
*Westbrook Road to U.S. 117 will go from two lanes to a four-lane road with a median.
*Ash Street, from Old Smithfield Road to the U.S. 117 Bypass, will widened from a two-lane to a four-lane road with a median.
*From U.S. 117 to George Street, Ash Street will be widened from three lanes to five lanes.
*Ash Street, from Berkeley Boulevard to the U.S. 70 Bypass, will be widened from three lanes to four lanes with a median.
The public can view a complete copy of the proposed long-range transportation plan at the Wayne County Public Library or City Hall through the month of September.