Wilmington City Council may drive relief to the slow flow on Randall Parkway in a project that Mayor Bill Saffo said has taken almost as long as “the Great Wall of China” to get underway.
At its regular meeting Tuesday night, 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, council will consider a $5.6 million contract to widen the tight parkway from Independence Boulevard to South College Road, a distance of about 1.7 miles.
The drive currently entails one lane in each direction, separated by a grassy median, and regular congestion around its intersection with Kerr Avenue.
The plan is to widen the Randall Parkway to four lanes to unclog the corridor, traveled heavily for its access to UNCW and the various commercial destinations at each end.
Pending council’s approval Tuesday, and after a paperwork period, actual construction might not commence until sometime in November. Ahead of that, commuters should plan an alternate route, said City of Wilmington Public Services Director Richard King.
“This will be one of those areas you probably want to avoid, unless you have to go there, while under it’s under construction,” King said. “There will be—especially between Kerr and College—quite a bit of congestion in there because it’s just going to be so tight with that work.”
If council approves the contract, King’s department will develop a communication plan with the contractor, the Charlotte-based Sealand Contractors Corp., so commuters can prepare. The overall project could take 18 months to complete, and the new asphalt’s life could have a 10-15 year life.
The project will also entail a Cross City Trail extension from Brailsford Drive to east of Marlboro Street.
Sealand is the same contractor working on the ongoing N. Third Street Improvement Project, which is slated for more funding Tuesday. City Council will consider a $976,000 allocation for paving that would last roughly 10 years before the need for maintenance.
“The need for more extensive paving work became apparent as the road was torn up during construction,” a bulletin from the city explained. “The original $9.4 million project is a major overhaul for North 3rd Street from the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway to Market Street, including replacing aging water and sewer lines, installing new sidewalks and putting power lines underground. The project began in 2011 and is expected to be largely completed by the end of this year.”
Council’s full Tuesday night agenda is viewable here.
