The railroad crossing that backs up traffic on Maynard Road and East Chatham Street in downtown Cary is finally headed for a fix. The North Carolina Department of Transportation wants to lower Maynard Road and build a bridge to carry the tracks over it, eliminating the at-grade crossing that sits just a few yards from East Chatham Street. The plan would also shift East Chatham Street south, away from the tracks, to create a new intersection with Maynard Road.
According to the Raleigh News & Observer, NCDOT first announced in 2018 that it wanted to eliminate the crossing and had hoped to begin work in 2024, but the project was delayed by financial problems made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic. The agency says the project was put on hold due to funding constraints in May 2020 and restarted in June 2023, according to publicinput.com, which also notes it is currently funded for right-of-way acquisition and construction. The work falls under NCDOT's Sealed Corridor Program, which targets rail and vehicular crossings along the state's Raleigh-Charlotte Rail Corridor.
Underpass Beats Out Bridge Option With the Public
NCDOT had asked the public to weigh in on two choices: building a bridge over the tracks, or digging an underpass so Maynard Road passes beneath them. The underpass won out as the overwhelming favorite, according to NCDOT, and it's easy to see why. The underpass wouldn't affect any homes, though it would displace a dozen businesses, while the bridge option would have required the state to take 32 homes and relocate 20 businesses.
The crossing matters because of how much traffic it handles. An average of more than 16,000 cars and trucks a day crossed the tracks on Maynard last year, and train arrivals can back up traffic on both Maynard Road and East Chatham Street. The project is meant to improve both safety and traffic flow through that stretch of downtown Cary.
Small Businesses at Chatham Square Face Displacement
The underpass project would displace several small retailers at the Chatham Square shopping plaza, located at the corner of East Chatham Street and Maynard Road. The plaza includes food markets, salons and restaurants, and the businesses there are minority-owned. NCDOT's plans would not affect Chatham Estates, a 27-acre mobile home park behind the plaza that is reportedly being sold to Toll Brothers, per reporting from the same News & Observer story.
NCDOT expects the project to cost nearly $84 million, with about 45% of that going toward acquiring property. Building the underpass would require shutting down Maynard Road during construction, and NCDOT will have to create a parallel set of railroad tracks to use while it builds the permanent bridge over Maynard. If all goes well, construction is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2030 and take two to three years. The recommended design also calls for sidewalks and bike lanes on each side of the roadway, per publicinput.com.
Public Meeting Set for Next Week
NCDOT will present its plans, answer questions and collect feedback at a public meeting Tuesday, Oct. 6, at First Cary United Methodist Church on South Academy Street, running from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Residents who can't attend in person can submit comments online at publicinput.com/w8761.
Part of a Broader Push Along the Rail Corridor
The Maynard Road project is one piece of a much larger statewide effort. NCDOT will receive $300 million from the federal government for railroad-crossing closures and upgrades along the N.C. Railroad corridor, money that will also help build a second set of tracks between Durham and Research Triangle Park and in downtown Cary, the News & Observer reported in August. The Federal Railroad Administration says the nationwide funding announced that month will close more than 30 crossings and upgrade more than 1,000 others; federal data cited in that report shows more than 2,000 crashes and other incidents occur at railroad crossings nationwide each year, causing about 200 deaths.
Elsewhere in the Triangle, NCDOT is working on new grade separations along the S-line at New Hope Church Road and Durant Road in Raleigh, and soon at Rogers Road in Wake Forest. In Durham County, the agency plans to close crossings at Wrenn Road, Glover Road and the eastern end of Ellis Road while building bridges to carry Glover and Ellis over the tracks. NCDOT has already built bridges carrying N.C. Railroad tracks over Hopson Road in Research Triangle Park and over Morrisville Parkway, and the N.C. Railroad Company says the Hopson Road grade separation and its new passing track are meant to have an immediate impact on rail and highway safety as well as freight and passenger efficiency.
