ROCKY MOUNT – A pair of roundabouts will be built next year on Goldrock Road (N.C. 48) to improve safety.
The N.C. Department of Transportation awarded a $380,000 contract this month to Raleigh-based Fred Smith Co. to reconstruct these intersections with Goldrock Road:
- Waterloo Drive/Roundtree Road
- Greyson Road/Cunningham Drive
The city of Rocky Mount and NCDOT engineers did a joint review of these intersections after several severe crashes, and they determined these changes were warranted. The single-lane roundabouts that will be constructed will be smaller than a typical roundabout, requiring a smaller footprint to reduce impacts to any residential property.
These smaller designs, which NCDOT describes as mini-roundabouts, have shown to reduce injury and fatal crashes by 59%, according to a 2021 study by UNC-Charlotte conducted for NCDOT.
This NCDOT website illustrates the ease of navigating roundabouts.
The department has opted to let the contractor begin the project next spring, when it's consistently warm enough to place asphalt and permanent lane markings. The improvements are expected to be complete by July.
During construction, the project will require one intersection at a time to close to traffic for about two weeks. When those closures are scheduled, the contractor will post them at DriveNC.gov under Nash County.