The state Board of Transportation is expected to approve an expenditure at its next meeting early next month that would allow the department to proceed with installing the signal.
Under the standards DOT uses, a traffic signal is needed at that intersection to improve safety, said District Engineer Chuck Dumas.
FirstHealth of the Carolinas is widening Memorial Drive to three lanes by adding a turn lane. The road runs between the front of Moore Regional Hospital on one side and FirstVillage and the Center for Health and Fitness on the other. FirstVillage, which is under construction, includes new offices for Pinehurst Surgical and a new ambulatory surgery center.
G.R. Kindley of Rockingham, who represents Moore County on the state transportation board, said the traffic signal was already part of the N.C. 211 widening project listed in the state’s long-range Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).
“The reason for going ahead with the signal is that it’s needed now rather than later,” Kindley said. “It’s going to be a little more than two years before we get into the widening of 211. I asked the traffic division to do a study and see whether it warrants a signal.”
Kindley said traffic planners determined that a signal is needed to ease congestion and improve traffic flow through that area.
The state now plans to delay the widening of N.C. 211 from N.C. 73 at West End into Pinehurst until 2009.
FirstHealth of the Carolinas, backed by the village, has been asking the DOT to consider installing a traffic signal at that intersection now rather than waiting until N.C. 211 is widened.
A temporary signal is to be put in until the widening project is done, then a permanent structure will be installed, Dumas said.
The initial signalization will cost the state about $75,000, said Dumas.
In addition to being an access point for the medical complex, Memorial Drive has also become a thoroughfare between north-south highway U.S. 15-501 and east-west N.C. 211.
Signal Needed Now
The new signal can’t be installed soon enough as far as FirstHealth officials are concerned. Because of the widening work, Memorial Drive is reduced to one lane at times.
“FirstHealth has been asking them to move the traffic signal up for a year,” said Bob Boone, vice president of operations at FirstHealth of the Carolinas.
Boone pointed out that a woman had been killed in a traffic accident at that intersection several months ago. A signal would dramatically improve the safety for people turning left from Memorial Drive onto busy N.C. 211.
The Surgery Center of Pinehurst’s new ambulatory surgery center is opening in January for patients, which will increase traffic in that area, Boone said.
If the state transportation board approves the signal next month, it could take three to five months before it is installed, according to Division Engineer Tim Johnson. The DOT must design the project and seek bids from contractors before awarding a construction contract, he said.
Johnson agreed that a signal is needed at that intersection based on the traffic volume and the accident record.
Boone said the DOT has notified FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital about plans to expedite installation of the traffic signal at that intersection.
Pinehurst Village Manager Andy Wilkison also reported to the Village Council at its regular work session last week that Boone had heard from DOT that the signal will come through next year. Wilkison has said that the signal was needed there even before ground was broken for FirstVillage.
“FirstHealth has been asking us to move up the schedule for the signal at N.C. 211 and Memorial Drive for a year,” Dumas said.
The village has supported FirstHealth in asking DOT to move up the installation of the traffic signal because of the increasing amount of traffic on N.C. 211 and the number of cars going to and from the medical complex on a daily basis, which will increase as new medical facilities now under construction on Memorial Drive are opened.
FirstVillage’s second building is expected to open this spring, allowing an expanded Pinehurst Surgical to move from its currently overcrowded building at the hospital campus across the road. FirstVillage’s first phase will be completed this year when a parking deck is finished, according to officials.
FirstHealth hopes to obtain the required approvals from state regulators to build a Hospice House for inpatients at FirstVillage in the next development phase. The long-range plans include construction of a Hospitality House to accommodate family members of long-term care patients.
Roundabout ‘Preferable’
A separate project dear to the Pinehurst Village Council is a roundabout at Carolina Vista and N.C. 2 (Midland Road) near the intersection with N.C. 5, to handle traffic flow better.
“I think a roundabout would be so much more preferable and creative than another traffic light, particularly at the very lovely Carolina Vista and Midland Road intersection where the entrance to the hotel and to the country club are,” said Pinehurst Councilwoman Lorraine Tweed.
Tweed is the council’s transportation liaison with other governments and agencies.
Dumas has met with village staff to determine whether the village can obtain right of way for the project. He plans to meet with the staff again early next month.
The village, Pinehurst Resort and one other person own the land that would be needed for the roundabout.
The Carolina Vista-N.C. 2 roundabout would be about 100 feet in diameter to the inside edge of the pavement, and 150 feet including the “outside” shoulder beyond the pavement.
In this general area, two options for siting the roundabout can be considered, Dumas said. One is using the existing location. The other option could be locating the roundabout northeastward, about 50 feet away and “more an offset” at a different nearby intersection near the village center, where two village streets intersect with N.C. 2, entering it from the village center side, according to Dumas.
“We’re still in the very early stages,” he said.
Dumas said there is a “little (DOT) money set up for design.”
Sara Lindau can be reached at 693-2473 or by e-mail at slindau@thepilot.com.
