Old Durham Road in Chapel Hill to be Closed Additional Day

***UPDATE: This article has been updated to reflect Old Durham Road’s closing for Tuesday, which was added to the original closure.***

A road near the Wegman’s grocery store development in Chapel Hill will be closed to through traffic on both Monday and Tuesday.

Releases from the Town of Chapel Hill and the North Carolina Department of Transportation alerted residents that Old Durham Road will be closed from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on September 14 and 15. The stretch of closed road between Scarlett Drive and Cooper Street is needed for work on a new 12-inch water line at the intersection of Scarlett and Old Durham.

According to the Department of Transportation, traffic looking to access the road will be detoured from U.S. 15-501 to Lakeview Drive, then back to Old Durham Road. Local traffic will be able to access Scarlett Drive and the service road, said the release, but will not be able to get onto Old Durham Road directly from 15-501.

Local access to the Hardee’s restaurant and the mini mart nearby will be maintained, according to NCDOT. Both the department and the town government urged drivers to allow for extra time because of the detour and to pay extra attention while traveling near the work zone.

The water line work is part of the ongoing development to transform the roads nearby the Wegman’s under construction between 15-501 and Old Durham Road. The store, which has been in the works since 2017, was originally slated for a 2020 opening, but there’s been no update on its timetable since the coronavirus pandemic began. Recently, the Chapel Hill Town Council approved traffic calming measures to the roads leading up to the store. NCDOT will soon add bicycle lanes, crosswalks and sidewalks as well. The state department estimates that work will be completed by November 2021.

To view a map of the detour caused by the Old Durham Road closure, visit the Town of Chapel Hill’s website.

Photo via Town of Chapel Hill.

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