Kannapolis City Council members say they are frustrated they cannot change plans included in the $125 million Interstate 85 widening project that they believe will negatively impact traffic coming from Trinity Church Road onto N.C. 73.
N.C. Department of Transportation officials have told Kannapolis officials that plans to create a new concept called a diverging diamond interchange at N.C. 73 cannot be changed despite city officials’ concerns about the impact on other local roads.
The new interchange is designed to keep traffic flowing, but will also mean a divided highway on N.C. 73, forcing all Trinity Church Road traffic to turn right onto N.C. 73 after the project is completed.
The diverging diamond interchange is a new concept that has only been used in six other places in the United States, according to Wilmer Melton, director of public works for Kannapolis. It is designed to reduce congestion that backs up onto an interstate at an interchange. The design forces traffic to crisscross to eliminate the traffic signal. The state also plans to use the diverging diamond design at the Poplar Tent Road interchange.
The state’s I-85 project involves widening 6.8 miles of I-85 from Interstate 485 to N.C. 73. The highway will be widened to eight lanes to help ease traffic congestion. Traffic frequently backs up now as the highway heads from Mecklenburg into Cabarrus County, where the interstate shrinks to two lanes in either direction.
The free-flowing diverging diamond traffic design will mean that all traffic from Trinity Church Road, which can turn right or left now, will be allowed only to turn right. Motorists who wish to turn left will have to drive further up the road and make a u-turn.
“It doesn’t make a great deal of sense,” said Kannapolis Mayor Bob Misenheimer. “But this is the configuration the state has come up with.”
Misenheimer said he’s worried about Rowan-Cabarrus Community College traffic that comes from Trinity Church Road and has no choice but to turn right and make a u-turn.
“I agree with you wholeheartedly, mayor,” council member Darrel Hinnant said. “But I think we’re pushing sand uphill.”
Melton said the state was looking at traffic stacking on the interstate and ways to reduce or eliminate it.
“That’s the whole concept with the diverging diamond is that you won’t stack traffic on the interstate,” he said.
Council member Tom Kincaid asked why the state did not plan to use a diverging diamond interchange at the Concord Mills Boulevard exit on I-85.
“With all the traffic at Concord Mills, why didn’t they look at that,” he said.
Melton said state officials determined that the existing interchange at Concord Mills is adequate to handle the traffic.
“The bridges at Concord Mills Boulevard are already wide enough to accommodate the traffic. Had they had to replace it, they may have looked at a similar concept,” Melton said.
Melton told council members that the project is already 22 percent completed and that full completion of the widening project is expected in 2014.
Contact reporter Karen Cimino Wilson: 704-789-9141.
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