MPO outlines Safer Neuse Boulevard concept to seek federal RAISE grant; commissioners raise landowner, congestion concerns

Deanna Treble, representing the Metropolitan Planning Organization, presented a conceptual design for a Safer Neuse Boulevard project the MPO plans to include in an upcoming RAISE grant application.

Treble said the project limits run from Glen Burnie to First Street and describe treating most of Neuse Boulevard as a three-lane corridor with a center turn lane, new sidewalks, bike lanes, a shared-use path on the north side and signal modifications. Treble said the proposal would keep four lanes at Glen Burnie but add pedestrian crosswalks and a shared-use path that ties to existing facilities. She described a proposed pedestrian hybrid beacon near Longview Drive to give a safe crossing roughly a quarter mile between signals, and she explained the signal warrant process NCDOT requires for new signals.

Treble described intersection and signal adjustments near Simmons Street and a new signal at Health Drive to improve access to CarolinaEast Hospital. She said the project would include a dedicated right-turn lane into the hospital and that the design is intended to reduce delays for vehicles leaving Health Drive while producing minimal delay on Neuse Boulevard’s mainline.

On travel times, Treble said traffic modeling used a 1% compounded growth assumption and assumed construction of the NC 43 connector. She reported travel-time increases of a few seconds at several locations, with a cumulative build-year increase across the corridor of just over a minute in each direction; peak increases at Simmons in the afternoon were up to about 20 seconds at that intersection. Treble said the design includes a dedicated turn lane intended to accommodate emergency vehicles accessing the hospital.

Commissioners asked about property-owner outreach and raised concerns about sight distance where raised medians were proposed, particularly near Queen Anne and the theater area. One commissioner said two major landowners learned of the plan only in the prior week and urged additional contact. Treble said public engagement will be required if the grant is awarded and that NCDOT and the MPO would conduct outreach to large commercial property owners.

On timeline, Treble said the grant would be submitted by the end of the month, award notifications would come in summer, contract execution with NCDOT and the federal government would take about a year, and engineering, environmental review and permitting would take roughly two years; she estimated about four to five years from award to construction completion.

Ending: Commissioners thanked Treble for the additional materials and said they expect more public engagement if the grant moves forward.