About six hours after Estes Hills Elementary and Phillips Middle School families did their final school pick-up of the year on Wednesday, Chapel Hill public works crews began removing some of the ‘Road Closed’ and ‘Detour’ signs that have sat along North Estes Drive for months.

Not long afterward, drivers and vehicles began doing something not done within the last two years: driving westbound on the road all the way to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

The Estes Drive Connectivity Project is finishing up — to the point where the local government felt comfortable opening up the popular street to vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists alike after completing initial paving and final sidewalk work over the weekend. Now, when people drive, roll or walk down the road, they can do so with wider vehicle lanes, a dedicated bicycle lane, extended and expanded sidewalks, and new crosswalks.

The project broke ground in March 2022, with the closure of westbound traffic happening shortly after to allow for the construction of the bike lanes and sidewalks on the north end of the road. Initially, the closure was just from Somerset Drive to the stoplight at Caswell Road and Estes Drive, with the one-way traffic then extended all the way to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard after a few months.

Once work to widen the road and establish the sidewalks began, the contractors and town quickly realized more utility relocation and replacement would be necessary — something Chapel Hill Town Manager Chris Blue cited for pushing back the project’s end date from mid-2023 to summer 2024. With those delays, the local government also focused on improvements to the North Estes Drive intersection with Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Estes Drive Extension, adding new turn lanes and crosswalks.

Finishing touches on the road are still expected to take place in the coming days. According to the Town of Chapel Hill, a final paving and permanent striping will be completed overnight “in a few more weeks.” More details will be shared with residents near Estes Drive once those dates are finalized. In the meantime, drivers will need to be aware that paint on the westbound lanes directing one-way traffic is incorrect.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the neighborhoods around the road and the local government is also set for Tuesday, June 18 to formally celebrate the end of the major project.

 

Featured photo via Alex Carrasquillo/Town of Chapel Hill.

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