N.C. DOT to study traffic on U.S. 158

Intersection angles of two roads a problem

By: Wesley Young | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: March 05, 2010

At Forsyth County's request, the N.C. Department of Transportation is conducting a safety study of the intersections of Vance and Belews Creek roads with Reidsville Road to the northeast of Walkertown.

Both roads intersect at sharp angles with Reidsville Road. For northbound traffic on Reidsville Road, Vance Road veers off to the right, about a tenth of a mile before Belews Creek Road veers off to the left.

"There have been some complaints about how that intersection backs up in the morning," County Manager Dudley Watts said. While drivers on Vance Road are trying to get onto Reidsville Road from one side, he said, other drivers are entering Reidsville Road from Belews Creek Road on the other side.

Late last month, county commissioners formally asked the DOT to do a safety study of the intersection.

Pat Ivey, a division engineer for the DOT's Division 9, which includes Forsyth County, said that discussions have been held before about realigning the intersections so that they join Reidsville Road at less of an angle.

Reidsville Road carries U.S. 158 traffic east and west through countryside where the road is usually two lanes. At the two intersections, Reidsville Road widens to allow for the center turn lanes.

Ivey said that the study will include determining how many traffic accidents have occurred at the intersection. In 2004, a Virginia man traveling west on Vance Road ran the stop sign at the intersection and was killed when his car collided with a tractor-trailer.

Ivey said that the eventual widening of U.S. 158 would likely result in a realignment of the intersections, "but that is years down the road."

"We will get our traffic engineering and safety folks to work on it and come up with some recommendations and see how much it would cost," Ivey said. "That whole corridor is really congested, and (the roads) come in at a bad angle."

According to 2007 DOT traffic counts, 14,000 vehicles a day pass on Reidsville Road between the two intersections.

Whether anything gets done to change the intersections, Ivey said, will depend on the results of the study. Priorities for federal money for so-called spot-safety projects are set according to cost and benefit.

wyoung@wsjournal.com

727-7369