A bus travels north from Owl Creek School on Rupple Road near the site of a future street extension that will connect Rupple to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Photo: Todd Gill, Flyer staff
Residents are invited to a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the beginning of the Rupple Road Improvement Project in west Fayetteville.
The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2 near Owl Creek School, 375 N. Rupple Road.
The first phase of the project includes a 1.5-mile extension of Rupple Road that will give west Fayetteville residents an easier way to get from Wedington Drive to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
Four-lane cross-section plans for Rupple Road
Source: City of Fayetteville
Designs show a landscaped median with roundabouts at three intersections and a 5-foot sidewalk on the east side of the road. Aside from giving drivers a new route to the businesses along MLK, a planned 12-foot trail on Rupple will one day connect Fayetteville’s trail system to the recently acquired Mount Kessler land that includes over eight miles of hiking and mountain biking paths near a planned 200-acre regional park.
The existing roadway on Rupple from Persimmon Street to Wedington Drive will also be widened to four lanes, along with a short stretch on the north side of Wedington to Congressional Street.
The $7.3 million project is being funded using transportation bonds approved by voters in 2006.
A future phase of the project includes relocating the northern portion of Rupple Road to align with an existing signalized intersection on Mount Comfort Road. The work will include a four-lane road with a tree-lined median, 6-foot sidewalks on the east side of the road, a 12-foot trail on the west side of the road, and a four-lane bridge over Hamestring Creek.
