During the next two years, NC State and the city of Raleigh are planning to extend Pullen Road beyond Main Campus to connect it to Centennial Campus, making travel safer for bikers and pedestrians and potentially cutting travel time between the two campuses in half.
If completed, people driving southbound on Pullen will be able to continue straight through Western Boulevard and connect to Oval Drive which leads to the entrance to Centennial Campus.
“There was always this intention to expand Pullen southward to connect to Centennial campus,” said Eric Lamb, Raleigh’s Transportation Planning Office Manager.
The road would take roughly two years to be finished, hopefully opening by 2017, according to Lamb.
Before that can happen, NC State and the city must make an agreement because much of the property belongs to the city of Raleigh. If the city, NC State and owners of a connecting property all agree to enter into a partnership, the city of Raleigh would be responsible for the street’s construction.
“It will definitely improve the travel time from Wolfline between Main and Centennial Campus,” said Michael Ousdahl, the assistant director for planning and operations for NC State Transportation.
Ousdahl said travel time between Main and Centennial Campus is one of the most-voiced complaints the Wolfline receives, and the complaints have become more prevalent with all of the new housing popping up on Centennial, such as the Wolf Ridge Apartments.
“The Pullen Road extension would cut down the travel time from Main to Centennial Campus by half,” Ousdahl said.
This road extension would allow buses to avoid many traffic signals and would cut out time lost in congestion along Western Boulevard and Avent Ferry Road.
The Pullen Road extension would have sidewalks on both sides of the roadway and bike lanes, making it usable for all modes of transportation. The road would also provide a safer access point for people walking or biking between Main and Centennial Campuses.
“The biggest challenge that NC State faces on the bicycle and pedestrian end is safely navigating between Main and Centennial Campus,” Ousdahl said.
One of the reasons why the university is treating the Pullen Road extension as a priority is because the road is in the physical master plan, Ousdahl said.
Roughly every seven years, the university refreshes its physical master plan led by the office of the architect which manages university development. The plan guides development across NC State’s five campus precincts based on a vision of what NC State will look like in the future.
“We’re a campus of vehicles, buses, pedestrians, bicyclists and skateboarders, and really what the physical master plan speaks to is an equal accommodation of all those modes of travel,” Ousdahl said.
The extension will improve transit and bike circulation and improve overall safety for all modes of travel, according to Ousdahl.
“With us being so close to downtown Raleigh, we need to reduce congestion on campus and continue to incentivize alternative modes of travel besides the vehicle,” Ousdahl said.
Ousdahl said the Pullen Road extension could be one of the more significant changes for the better on campus.
“We’re really looking at the campus being one campus, a collective unit and that Pullen Road extension really does make that possible,” Ousdahl said.
