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Wrightsville Beach
Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Grant to fund Coral Drive sidewalk

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“I think we all are in agreement that [a sidewalk] is needed there,” Mayor Bill Blair said after the Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen’s discussion of a proposed Coral Drive sidewalk during its March 12 meeting.

In 2014, the town received a $292,000 Surface Transportation Project-Direct Apportionment (STP-DA) grant from the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization (WMPO). Since the transportation project for which the grant was originally intended was not feasible, the board voted March 12 to instruct town manager Tim Owens to ask the WMPO to transfer the funds to the sidewalk project. Surveying, engineering and constructing the sidewalk would take no more than $150,000, Owens said, so the rest of the money will be returned to the WMPO.

The initial sketch showed the sidewalk, which will run along the eastern side of the two-lane road, extending nearly 15 feet from the pavement into the N. C. Department of Transportation’s (NCDOT) right-of-way.

The sidewalk itself would be five feet wide and it would be separated from the road by a 9- or 10-foot grassy area graded into a shallow swale. Owens said the proposed design would improve safety and drainage, two of the main issues along Coral Drive.

Several Coral Drive residents said, while a sidewalk is a necessary safety feature for the Wrightsville Beach School students who walk down the road, they objected to the proposed sketch.

“I thought that street should have had a sidewalk a long time ago,” Layne Smith said, “but  …  that cuts into my grass and it’s going to make me have to move my landscaping. I watch people walk up and down the street on a regular basis and it’s unsafe . . . but I haven’t seen a five-foot sidewalk . . . and that much green space between a sidewalk and road at Wrightsville Beach.”

Resident Joseph Walsh agreed, saying he would support a sidewalk abutting the road with a curb and gutter.

Owens said that sort of design would only exacerbate the area’s drainage problems. Whereas a shallow swale with sandy soil would hold and filter stormwater runoff before it enters the outfall pipes, a curb and gutter design would allow untreated water to run directly into the surrounding marsh.

Alderwoman Lisa Weeks said, as a North Harbor Island resident herself, she agreed with the public’s concerns over losing landscaping and parking. She wondered if the NCDOT would accept less separation between sidewalk and road since the speed limit on Coral Drive is only 25 mph.

“I’m optimistic we can work with them on that,” she said. “If we can’t, then a lot of us complain that road is not very attractive so we could do some vegetation between the sidewalk and street to make a nice vegetation buffer.”

Owens said once the area has been surveyed, the town would hold an open house so residents can voice their concerns about the sidewalk design directly to the engineer.

Blair agreed the open house would help the town come to a good compromise to meet the needs of residents on both sides of the issue.

“Even when my kids walked down that street I wished [the sidewalk] had been there,” he said. “Safety is No. 1, but fitting into the neighborhood pattern is No.2.”

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