Estes Drive reopens to two-way traffic after two-year closure for improvements

On June 12, after more than two years of construction and delays, Estes Drive has reopened to two-way traffic. 

The Estes Drive Connectivity Project began in 2009, when Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds were provided for bike improvements along Estes Drive. The project continued on in the planning stage, with public feedback sessions in 2015 and 2016, and then moved on to a design and acquisition phase. Construction began in March 2022.

The acquisition phase took several years as the Town purchased land for new sections of sidewalk from a mix of willing and unwilling homeowners, Josh Mayo, a Chapel Hill transportation planner, said. He said they were ready long before construction began, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed needed federal funds.

Though both lanes are now open, the work is not done yet. Concrete repairs, pedestrian refuge islands, turning lanes and a final paving and line marking still need to be completed. These will cause intermittent lane closures, but most of the construction work on the project is done. 

The primary reason for delays once construction began, Mayo said, was the process of relocating overground and underground utilities that were impacted by the project. He said the companies which constructed the utilities performed the relocation work themselves, which caused significant delays.

“We wait for them to conduct their relocations and that often means that they're working on different timelines than the construction project,” Mayo said. 

Alex Carrasquillo, Chapel Hill public information safety officer, said sometimes utility companies opened up the ground and found the infrastructure didn’t look as expected. He said the companies would then have to reassess their relocation plan, causing more delays. 

“It's obviously a massive project, so then when you do run into issues that you didn't expect, it's just amplified on that scale,” he said.

Anne Goldstein, an Estes Drive resident, said she is happy about the project, but that construction had a pretty big impact on her family's lives. She said the construction significantly increased the time needed for many trips and made the area unsafe for children, especially on their walks home from school.

"At one point, I took a picture of [construction workers] hitting the concrete with a front loader, and kids are walking within 5 feet of that," she said. "So everybody's in construction gear and safety gear, and the kids have to cross about 5 feet away."

In late 2021, Estes Drive resident Paul Zwack’s daughter was struck by a car and received life-changing injuries while crossing Estes Drive on what he said was a dangerous and poorly lit crosswalk. He said this crosswalk has been improved with a set of flashing lights activated by a pedestrian operated button.

Despite inconveniences, Both Zwack and Goldstein said Chapel Hill officials largely communicated well and were responsive to concerns over the course of the construction. 

Zwack said when he contacted them with concerns about construction vibrations damaging his foundation, he received seismic sensors to determine if they were at dangerous levels. Goldstein said that when residents spoke up about the lack of a sidewalk for children walking to school on Caswell Road, the Town provided a painted sidewalk.

“There are people in the local government that want to help and make these things as painless as possible for citizens and if you reach out and try to work with them, it can really be a good experience,” Zwack said.

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