By Anthony McLeod

On Febraury 27th the Renaissance Park Neighborhood Association hosted a panel discussion on the future of Tryon Road where the NCDOT announced the opening of the new bridge by March 6, 2016. After years of advocating for the updated road we’re finally getting to see the beginning of the transition away from the Garner Death Curve and to a safer and more modern access through Southwest Raleigh.

The panel included Councilors Crowder and Stephenson, City Transportation representative Todd Delk, NCDOT representative David Moore, and Wakefield Developer representative Ryan Suman.

Key points brought up by the panel included:

• The sidewalks on both sides of the bridge will be elevated 6 inches for pedestrian safety
• Arts Drive will tie into Old Tryon Road and Old Tryon Road from there to the bridge will be removed to make way for additional home sites
• There will be a crosswalk at Tryon and Illeagnes but not at Tryon and Palace Garden
• The project includes moving the golf cart access across Tryon to under the new bridges
• The speed limit will return to 45 MPH through the neighborhood—it was 45 before and we successful had it reduced to 35
• The only vegetation planned for the road at this point is grass – there are no plans for noise/sight buffers
• Par Drive to Lake Wheeler has planning funded but no money for construction

We should expect some delays as travelers adjust to the new road but hopefully they will be short-lived as the next phase of the project removes the old bridge and begins work on the second bridge in this project.