Wilmington looks at connector streets to help ease traffic

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization will hold three meetings this month on an ongoing project to develop a network of collector streets to help manage traffic in the city.

“What a collector street does is it helps to move traffic throughout the community,” WMPO Executive Director Mike Kozlosky said. “An example is Rogersville Road that links Wrightsville Avenue with Eastwood Road.”

One collector option is to use Sunset Park as a collector between River Road and Carolina Beach Road. Residents there do not welcome the change.

“Quiet and not much traffic unless there is a wreck or something on Carolina Beach Road, and they route it this way, and it’s terrible,” Sunset Park resident Michael Stump said.

“We’re in an historic neighborhood, and we’re going to ruin the historic side of the neighborhood now? This is why people came here,” neighbor David Tollefson said. “We’re all just working class people we just want to live a nice quiet life.”

The change would bring traffic. The WMPO will decide if it is just residential or commercial; meaning whether commercial trucks would be allowed in the neighborhood.

Some residents have their own solution.

“They need to finish what they started,” Sunset Park resident Don Burton said. “They need to finish the bypass. If they do that, we won’t have this problem.”

Signs are posted, announcing three meetings about the collector street plan. The purpose is to present to the community the findings of public feedback through workshops and comments.

“What we’re trying to do is solve a problem,” Kozlosky said. “We hear on a continuous basis that traffic is an issue, so providing these alternative routes will help to alleviate congestion on the main arterials.”

The first meeting on the collector streets is tonight at 6 p.m. at First Baptist Church Activity Center behind Independence Mall on Independence Blvd. Tonight’s meeting focuses on the Glen Meade/Country Club area.

The next meeting is Wednesday at 6 p.m. In the City Council Chambers at City Hall. It will focus on the Sunset Park/Woodlawn area.

The final meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 18 at 6 p.m., focusing on the College Acres/Hillsdale area. It’s at the New Hanover County Training Room at 230 Government Center Drive.