The Sandhills Metropolitan Planning Organization (SMPO) heard traffic circle updates at its March 19 meeting.
Last year, a proposal to redesign the 1956 traffic circle involved replacing the circle with a continuous flow intersection (CFI), a plan that has prompted concerns about the potential to alter the character of the Village, disrupt the local community, and impact the area’s National Historic Landmark status.
CFIs are promoted by urban planners as a way to reimagine how vehicles navigate intersections, particularly focusing on left-turn movements. At a traditional intersection, vehicles turning left must wait for a gap in oncoming traffic or a dedicated left-turn signal.
The CFI addresses these issues by allowing left-turning vehicles to cross over to the left side of the road before they reach the main intersection. This is achieved through a series of strategically placed crossover lanes.
However, Moore County residents voiced concerns about the $54 million plan, which has since increased in cost.
During the March 19 SMPO meeting, North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Division Engineer Reuben Blakley said they heeded three public concerns in design plans for the traffic circle: maintain some semblance of a circle, reduce the number of relocations, and minimize the impact on trees.
“We’re in the process of trying to revise some plans,” Blakley said. “We would like to bring that back to the SMPO to answer questions, and the project is already funded. So, it’s been approved years ago, and it’s been funded. So, it’s there. But what we would like to have going forward, is we would love to have a concurrence from the SMPO to move forward with the project.”
“Extrapolating from that, does that mean projects that are already approved and already funded will always come back to us?” SMPO asked about what would happen if they said no.
“I think when you get back legally, we don’t have to do that [concur], but we would like to, as a partner to the community, to make sure everybody is aware of what we’re planning on moving forward,” Blakley said.
The redesign of the traffic circle is scheduled to take place in 2030.
In the new business portion of the meeting, SMPO approved a Statewide Transportation Improvement Program amendment for Aberdeen to change the construction date to 2029 and 2039 to accommodate the two U.S. Opens for the Roseland Road and Knight Street connections.
SMPO approved adding 15 days to public comment periods.
In the regular business portion of the meeting, Pinebluff added a proposed use for the Carbon Reduction Program (CRP) projects. Pinebluff needs a Wellspring Walking Trail bridge off U.S. Highway 1 over a creek converted to an all-terrain-vehicle accessible bridge for EMS purposes.
Other proposed projects include an Airport Road extension in Pinehurst and a Niagra-Carthage Road in Whispering Pines.
SMPO will review applications in one to two months and may be ready to vote in May.
During the February SMPO meeting, NCDOT Engineer Mark Eatman reviewed CRP funds. Eatman said he was not confident the funding program would continue past 2026 and that a project would need to be implemented by May 2026, with a minimum cost of $120,000.
SMPO officials speculated that their funds could be redacted, although there had been no evidence of such a measure and wanted to expedite a date of May 2025 as a deadline for implementation of a CRP-funded project.
With Moore County’s population growing faster than the state, the awarded CRP funds seem insufficient. The state receives about $34 million, and SMPO will receive about $325,581 to use at their discretion.
Funds can be used on a variety of projects, including roundabouts, traffic lights, sidewalks, adding turn lanes, congestion improvements (not widening), transit improvements, education, and procuring electric vehicles and chargers.
The organization would like to have more than three projects. Contact Scott Walston at [email protected] with project proposals.
SMPO may not meet in April. Check their website before making plans to attend.
~Written by Sandhills Sentinel journalist Stephanie M. Sellers. Stephanie is also an English instructor at Central Carolina Community College. She is the author of young adult fiction, including When the Yellow Slugs Sing and Sky’s River Stone, and a suspense, GUTTERSNIPE: Shakespearean English Stage Play with Translation, and a new upcoming release published by Golden Storyline Books, a science fiction, Amagi.
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*Photo of the traffic circle courtesy of the Village of Pinehurst.
