CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Union County wants your help to determine what intersections to repair or improve along its roadways.

Through early May, residents can give public input for the county’s critical intersection program.

The program compiles residents’ feedback to put together a list of more than a dozen intersections to prioritize for planning and fundraising. 

What You Need To Know

  •  Critical intersection program returns for a third time in Union County

  •  Residents have until early May to weigh in on future intersection projects

  •  As new projects are being considered, at least one resident is frustrated with a stalled project near his house

This year counts the county’s third time asking for input. In 2015 and 2019, senior planner Bjorn Hansen says the public’s involvement was crucial in selecting the right projects.

“It’s a large county. It’s over 600 square miles. We don’t have perfect information on every single intersection. So, that public input helped us focus more closely to find out if there’s a viable project there,” Hansen said. “Also, the flip side is, there were some locations we thought were problems that the public actually said, ‘No, this isn’t that bad. You should focus your efforts elsewhere.’"

To take part, residents can visit the county’s website and fill out the survey.

The survey informs residents of the ongoing intersection and road projects. Hansen says survey participants can weigh in on intersections already marked as approved for future fundraising and construction, to ensure priorities have not changed in the last four years.

But the potential list of projects will not be a quick fix. If the list gets county commission approval in the fall, it could still take years for the local governments and N.C. Department of Transportation to agree on designs and funding.

“It would take three years from a project identified today to actually receive money for construction, which sounds like a long time, and it is a long time. But the opposite of that is you end up with projects that maybe aren’t well defined,” Hansen said.

The 2015 and 2019 selected projects, usually 15 intersections a cycle, had a 66% success rate of eventually receiving designs and funding.

NCDOT owns almost all the roads in Union County and across the state, according to Hansen. So road projects and construction cannot proceed without its involvement, approval and, at the very least, partial funding, he added. 

In the first few weeks of the public input period, Hansen says 1,200 residents have participated. But he urged residents from all parts of the county to participate so the input isn't skewed to one area.

One resident, who’s been pushing for an intersection improvement near his home for years, says he hopes anyone participating in the county’s program packs their patience.

“They will need the patience of Job,” David Allison said.

Spectrum News 1 has chronicled Allison’s personal quest to get the intersection of Potter Road and Pleasant Plains Road replaced for years. In early 2021, Allison gained notoriety for standing at the intersection for hours at a time, with a sign directing people to his website, FixPotterRd.com.

“It’s kind of a labor of love,” Allison said this week.

Allison said the intersection needs a facelift, improvements to traffic flow and congestion, and safety and infrastructure improvements for nearby plots of land. 

“Safety — there have been 104 crashes here since the town agreed to repair the road eight years ago. Nothing’s been done," Allison said. "It’s not fair to the property owners who don’t have sewer through here. This is United States of America 2023, and we have a section that doesn’t have sewer?”  

For 10 years, the town of Stallings, Union County and NCDOT have hit dozens of delays while planning the project. The town’s website has kept a running list of the project’s twists and turns the last decade, with its last update from April 2022.

“All of these things move very slowly,” Allison added.

While he preaches patience, Allison said it is frustrating that new projects are being considered as his lingers.

“They recently patted themselves on the shoulder, [NC]DOT, for putting a traffic circle in a rural area where there’s been 10 accidents in the last five years. Well, we have 10 accidents in probably every six months. So, that’s frustrating,” Allison said. 

When Spectrum News 1 last spoke with Allison and NCDOT in the fall of 2022, the hope was to put the intersection project out for bids this spring or early summer. Now, there has been another delay.

“About a month ago, NCDOT learned there were some utilities that had not been relocated that must be moved before the project can begin. We anticipate advertising the project for bids late this year with construction starting in spring 2024,” wrote NCDOT communications officer Jen Thompson. 

In the meantime, Allison said he is working on installing permanent signs on the four pieces of property surrounding the intersection, urging NCDOT to finish the project.