Indian Trail reviews three redesign options for congested Wesley Chapel–Rogers intersection after limited public outreach

Town staff presented results of a public outreach effort and technical modeling for improvements at the Wesley Chapel Road–Rogers Road intersection, a site residents and county officials identified as a persistent congestion and crash hot spot.

Town engineer Todd Hunsinger told the council the intersection was included in Union County’s 2023 critical-intersection program and that staff and the county’s consultant developed three alternatives: a split intersection, a quadrant intersection and a more limited signalization upgrade. “We came up with 3 alternatives during those discussions,” Hunsinger said, adding that the study measured future queue lengths and crash reduction potential for each option.

The consultant’s outreach found low participation: 25 people attended an in-person meeting and 125 people completed an online survey. Survey responses favored the smallest-cost option: the signalization upgrade (46 percent of respondents), while the split and quadrant intersections received about 22 percent and 24 percent each. Hunsinger said the cost estimates, prepared under CRTPO guidelines with contingency, were roughly $3.9 million for the signal upgrade, $7–9 million for the quadrant and roughly $9 million for the split intersection in today’s dollars, with those figures rising in an assumed 2030 cost scenario.

Nearby residents raised concerns about property impacts that would accompany the higher-capacity options. Laurie Pierce, who identified herself as a Holly Park resident and said her parents own the 10-acre parcel at the intersection, told council that “option 1 and 2 would cause my parents to lose their house,” and described the noise and proximity impacts she expects if the road were routed near the home.

Michael Sandy, who identified himself as having 32 years’ experience in urban planning, urged the council to think beyond a short-term fix: “Option 3 would be your best alternative, but I need to look further than that. Don’t look 5 or 10 years down the road. Let’s look 30 and 40 years down the road.”

Hunsinger acknowledged property impacts to the Sandy family and said the county’s traffic study will evaluate sewer availability and right-of-way needs; he also said DOT would need to be consulted because Wesley Chapel Road is a state-maintained roadway. He told the council the town will return with a recommendation at the second meeting in May and that Union County will take the selected alternative to its board in June.

No formal decision was made at the meeting. The town manager and staff recommended that council consider whether to advance one of the three alternatives for funding applications; council members asked staff to provide additional detail on property impacts, potential mitigation and how school-related peak travel (drop-off and pick-up) affects queues.

The town engineer also noted that a roundabout was considered and rejected for this location because of high and imbalanced traffic volumes; he said roundabouts can lose capacity compared with signalized alternatives when traffic is heavily directional.

Council members repeated an intent to continue the conversation in May and asked staff to coordinate further with Union County and NCDOT. Hunsinger said he will provide the presentation slides and follow up with DOT about adding a temporary left-turn control as an interim measure for Holly Park residents.