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The N.C. Department of Transportation will be making this change to reduce the risk of crashes, particularly between vehicles traveling in the outside lanes and those parked parallel along the curbs between Second and North Seventh streets. During a recent five-year period, there were more than 500 crashes on East Market Street downtown. More than half involved property damage when a parked vehicle was struck or sideswept. The over 500 crashes during that period resulted in 71 injured people and one traffic death. This change will affect about 70 on-street parking spaces along East Market Street, which are among more than 400 available parking spaces downtown. The department plans to make this interim safety enhancement in early December while its engineers continue to develop plans to resurface this same roadway, widen the existing travel lanes, and improve pedestrian access, such as by installing marked crosswalks and pedestrian signals. These improvements are significant because this route is signed as U.S. 70 Business and carries almost 19,000 vehicles on the average day. The department will announce a timeline for these improvements when the plan is finalized. |
***NCDOT***
