By: Elizabeth Klein

Heritage students, be warned: upcoming construction on Heritage Lake Road this fall will obstruct the daily routes of many Heritage High School students living in Heritage, Wake Forest.  The construction will take place on the part of Heritage Lake Road between Bexley Apartments and Charlie’s Kabob Grill.  This road segment was never meant to withstand the amount of traffic it does today.; however, because it’s a necessary point to cross over for high school students living in all the Heritage neighborhoods and Bexley, it has sustained especially bad road damage.

The road in its current form does not pose any immediate threats to drivers.  However, if the same patterns of traffic continue on this relatively weak and old section of pavement (as is predicted), the many small damages on the road will compound to ruin the surface of the road within a year and a half.  Construction workers plan to take a preventative approach against alligator cracks, expanding transverse cracks, and severe depressions that are all caused by structural damages.  To fix these issues, construction workers plan on removing and replacing the severely cracked, damaged layers of pavement.  This process usually takes more than six months, but Wake County has assured Wake Forest residents that they’ll work as quickly and efficiently as possible to get the road done.

“We understand the importance of this section of Heritage Lake Road, especially for Heritage High students,” said Louis Carosella, Senior Director of the Repaving branch of the Department of Transportation.  “We’re going to try and make this process as fast as we can, and in the end, we’ll have a road that’s much safer for students.”

Carosella says construction will begin in September, but no start or end dates have been decided.  The best route for Heritage students living behind the constructed is to drive down Heritage Lake Road away from Forestville, get onto 98, and turn onto South Main Street.  After that, drive up Rogers until you get to the Publix and take a right to turn into school.  All in all, it should take about 20 extra minutes.

It’s certainly not ideal, especially as it comes right after the 2018-19 school year begins.  However, after the road is replaced, driving to school will be a lot safer for all students.  In the meantime, we’ll just have to suck it up, set our alarms earlier, and go the extra distance.