The City of Graham is situated in the center of Alamance County, North Carolina. It is located between the Triad and Triangle areas of North Carolina. The City of Graham is bisected from east to west by Interstate 40/85 and from north to south by NC 87. NC 54 is located on the eastern side of the City. With a population exceeding 14,000 residents and steadily growing, the City of Graham desired to improve traffic conditions at two (2) major intersections along NC 54 to provide not only capacity for future growth but also improved safety, especially for truck maneuvering.

In 2009 Davenport Transportation Consulting (DTC, formerly John Davenport Engineering) contracted to the Burlington-Graham Metropolitan Planning Organization to perform study of the East Harden Street/NC 54 at Riverbend Road and East Harden Street/NC 54 at East Elm Street intersections in Graham, NC. The scope of services for this project included:

• Traffic capacity analysis utilizing Synchro under the scenarios of existing conditions, future build-out conditions, and future build-out conditions with mitigation
• Traffic safety analysis, with DTC conducting crash analysis for the intersections and adjacent area, with summarization of safety needs
• Conceptual design for the intersections to improve the level of service and overall safety, based on the findings of the analysis
• Engineer’s cost estimate based on the conceptual designs.  

DTC’s capacity analysis revealed queuing issues on certain approaches of both intersections studied. Field observations and auto-turn analysis confirmed both intersections were experiencing off-tracking issues. Off-tracking is a phenomenon in which, at low speeds, the rear wheels of a vehicle do not follow the same path as the front wheels. This is mainly due to the current geometric configuration with narrow turning radii at both intersections.

DTC identified all areas of deficiency and made recommendations for improvements for each intersection studied. The recommended improvements were for 2019 future conditions. DTC’s analysis indicates that the recommended improvements, if implemented, will address the capacity, safety, pedestrian accommodations and access management issues.

Reference:
Mike Nunn
Burlington-Graham MPO
425 S. Lexington Ave.
Burlington, NC 27215