Detour ahead: what you need to know about Russ Avenue construction starting Tuesday

Mar. 11—Brace yourself for a long road of construction work on Waynesville's busiest commercial drag.

Orange construction barrels and detour signs went up Monday night, launching a three-year makeover of the thoroughfare. To start off, contractors will race to tear down two bridges before the protected bat season begins in April.

"There will be fewer lanes, but nothing will be completely closed," said Max Buchanan, N.C. Department of Transportation Resident Engineer.

A half-mile section of Russ Avenue was narrowed to just one lane in both directions starting Tuesday — from the Starbucks intersection all the way to downtown. See below for details on the "what-when-where" of the lane closures.

There was little to no warning that lane closures would start this week. A month ago, DOT officials said lane closures would be limited to nighttime hours only during the Russ Avenue construction project.

"We will not close or narrow a lane of travel through the business corridor during daylight hours," DOT Division Engineer Wanda Payne said in January.

But that now appears not to be the case. A half-mile stretch of Russ Avenue will be narrowed to only one lane in each direction for roughly 1.5 years.

The exception to the "nighttime-only" lane closures was when rebuilding the bridges over Richland Creek and the railroad tracks. That exception turned out to be a pretty big one, both in duration and distance.

The lane closures aren't be confined to the immediate bridge vicinity, and will last for half the project's three-year timeline.

At no time will any business have its entrance blocked, however.

"Access to all businesses along the route will remain open. If there are multiple driveways into the business, at least one driveway will be open," said David Uchiyama, communications officer for the N.C. Department of Transportation western region.

Starting with the bridge rebuild out of the gate will get the hard part over with at least, as the rest of the project will presumably comply with the promised nighttime-only lane closures.

For the foreseeable future, however, the lane closures will be a fact of life for those who commute in or out of town along Russ Avenue, or who hit Russ for their lunch break or errands.

Those who stay away from Russ will still be impacted — from detour traffic on town streets to an intersection closure on the edge of downtown that will inhibit travel on Walnut Street.

Bats in the mix

Time was of essence to get the bridge demolition done by April 1 when bat nesting and pup rearing season begins — at which point bat nesting locations can't be disturbed.

"There is a bat moratorium that requires bridge removal to be completed by March 31 or we lose an entire construction season," said Uchiyama.

Here's how the bridge rebuild will work, Uchiyama explained.

—Step 1: Lanes will be reduced from four to two — with one in each direction. Those lanes will be shifted to one side of the bridge.

—Step 2: Half the bridge will be torn down while traffic continues to flow on the other side.

—Step 3: That half will be rebuilt.

—Step 4: Traffic will be shifted to the new side of the bridge.

—Step 5: Repeat steps 1-4 on the other half of the bridge.

By the time the other half of the bridge is ready to be demolished in the fall, the moratorium on bat nesting season will be over.

At no point will the entire bridges be closed, Uchiyama said.

"Drivers will be able to drive the whole length of Russ Avenue for the duration of the construction work," Uchiyama said.

However, there will be a hard closure of the Walnut Street intersection with Russ Avenue — though it only affects the side street and not Russ Avenue itself.

The contractor will make hay while the sunshines and do as much other work as possible while lanes are closed for the bridge rebuild.

"Other tasks will be performed on the closed lanes during that time," Uchiyama said.

During the bridge rebuild, lanes can be closed 24-7, instead of the contractor having to put out and take up lane closures every morning and night.

What the project entails

The $54 million project has been years in the making. It will result in a wider footprint, but not necessarily more lanes. Instead, the redesign will move traffic more efficiently — mainly by adding strategic turn lanes at intersections prone to backups and by eliminating the middle turn-lane.

A concrete median the length of Russ Avenue will mean no more idling in the middle of the road, waiting for a break in traffic to dash across opposing lanes of oncoming traffic. Motorists will have to proceed to the next intersection, do a U-turn and double back to get to their favorite fast-food joint on the other side.

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Lane closure details

Here's the details of the lane closures for the first phase of Russ Avenue construction.

If heading into town along Russ Avenue

Traffic will be normal up until the intersection of Howell Mill and Dellwood City Road (a.k.a. the Starbucks intersection.) This is your chance to bail out before lanes narrow.

Turn left onto Howell Mill and come into town past the Waynesville Rec Center.

Or turn right onto Dellwood City Road and come into town through Frog Level.

Past the Starbucks intersection, there will only be one lane the rest of the way into downtown.

If heading out of town along Russ Avenue

Traffic will only be one lane heading away from downtown until you reach the intersection of Howell Mill and Dellwood City Road (a.k.a. the Starbucks intersection.) After this intersection, all the lanes will be back again.

Those approaching Russ Avenue along Howell Mill can turn right onto Russ as normal.

Those approaching Russ Avenue along Dellwood City can turn left onto Russ as normal.

The Walnut Street intersection

This closure won't just impact those using Russ Avenue, but also those coming and going to downtown via the Old Asheville Highway.

The nomenclature of this one is confusing: there are two Walnut Streets. Russ Avenue itself turns into Walnut Street on the final approach to downtown. But Walnut Street is also the name of a side street that intersects with Russ Avenue. (a.k.a. the O'Reilly Auto Parts intersection, next to the strip mall with Dominos and www.)

This side street intersection will have a hard closure starting in about three weeks. You won't be able to turn from Walnut onto Russ Avenue or vice versa.

This closed side street intersection is an important variable when mapping out your detour. Don't plan to use Walnut as a re-entry point to avoid the narrowed lanes on lower Russ Avenue.

Likewise, if you're simply coming or going to downtown via the Old Asheville Highway, be aware that Walnut Street will essentially be a dead end after you go past Dominos and Champion Credit Union.