Orange County NC Website
Minimum Problem Statements – Highway – 4 <br />US 501 (North Duke Street) (I-85 to US 501 Business (North Roxboro Street)) <br /> <br />US 501 (North Duke Street), from I-85 to US 501 Business (North Roxboro Street), is currently a five-lane <br />roadway with sidewalks on both sides of the segment from I-85 to Murray Avenue. This US highway is <br />the principal road between north Durham and I-85 and central Durham. US 501 merges with US 501 <br />Business (North Roxboro Road) in northern Durham to continue north to the city of Roxboro <br />(approximately 28 miles). The CTP includes the creation of a four-lane, divided synchronized street <br />cross-section with turn lanes at major intersections and commercial driveways. A six-lane divided <br />roadway would likely require impacts to many structures. <br /> <br />It is expected that US 501 will attract the majority of new trips as northern Durham County grows <br />because the CTP does not recommend significant improvements on parallel routes. NC 157 (Guess <br />Road) does not have any improvements and possible capacity improvements on North Roxboro Street <br />might be limited to the addition of a narrow median because of the proximity of residential and <br />commercial buildings to the current roadway. Guess Road has similar limitations. Thus, capacity <br />improvements for this corridor are likely to be less costly and complex on North Duke Street given a <br />relatively lower density of residential and commercial development. <br /> <br />The current volume exceeds the capacity. On US 501, the 2013 AADT ranges from 29,000 to 34,000 <br />vehicles per day (vpd) on a roadway with a 26,800 vpd capacity (LOS D). There appears to be excess <br />capacity on one parallel route. Guess Road (1.3 miles to the west) has 23,000 vpd on a roadway with a <br />44,000 vpd capacity. The current 28,000 vpd on North Roxboro Street (0.8 miles to the east), however, <br />greatly exceeds 22,200 vpd capacity of that roadway. The 2040 volume is projected to range from <br />40,000 to 50,000 vpd. This will yield volume-to-capacity ratios from 1.4 to 1.7, an indication of heavy <br />travel delays on this important corridor. The 2040 volume on North Roxboro Street will push that <br />roadway to a highly congested 1.9 volume-to-capacity ratio, but Guess Road will continue to operate at <br />a volume that is below capacity. <br /> <br />There are not any major roads that intersect US 501 along this segment and as a result there are not any <br />extraordinary intersection delays or safety problems. The intersections on this corridor have a level-of- <br />service of C or better (i.e., A or B) based on the 2014 DCHC MPO Mobility Report Card. <br /> <br />Residential development along this segment and the retail and office development on the northern <br />section generate bicycle, pedestrian and transit trips. The CTP recommends bike lanes for the complete <br />extent of this road segment and consideration of sheltered transit stops and bus pull-outs in the design. <br />Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) project EB-5715 is a sidewalk on the east side of US 501 <br />from Murray Avenue to North Roxboro Road that is planned for construction in 2017. <br /> <br />US 501 crosses Ellerbee Creek immediately south of the US 501/Stadium Drive intersection but there are <br />not any associated wetlands or floodplains. The entire length of this study segment is within a <br />protected watershed.