ROCKINGHAM — The North Carolina Department of Transportation will hold a public meeting Tuesday afternoon to solicit feedback from the community regarding a project to ease traffic congestion along South Long Drive.
The plan is to build a new road that more easily connects businesses along U.S. 74 Business with the residential areas on the northeast side of Rockingham, according to a press release.
This plan has been “on the books” for about 20 years, according to Rockingham City Planner John Massey.
“[South Long Drive] is at or exceeding its designed capacity for traffic,” Massey said.
There are currently six potential solutions to the problem under consideration by the DOT. Five of those involve building a new two-lane road from the intersection of Old Aberdeen Road and Richmond Road to U.S. 74 Business. Each of these five proposals would follow the same path until they cross Fayetteville Road, at which point they diverge across the eastern edge of the city.
A sixth solution would involve simply improving South Long Drive.
The meeting will be held from 4-7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 26 in the Cole Auditorium at Richmond Community College, 1042 West Hamlet Avenue. The meeting will be an “open house” where residents can stop in at any time during the three-hour time frame.
The department will accept public comments until Oct. 13.
There will be accommodations made for those with disabilities and those with difficulty understanding English. To make arrangements for accommodating disabilities, call 919-707-6091. To request an interpreter, call 1-800-481-6494.