Engineers with the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization told commissioners Monday night they needed to settle on one of several options presented to commissioners earlier this fall within a year in order to try to win a spot on CAMPO's long-range plan.

Jody Lewis with Martin, Alexiou and Bryson Engineers and CAMPO's Chris Lukasina met with commissioners last week to explain the advantages of some of the options commissioners have been reviewing since an October meeting.

Traveling east through Wendell, the intersection at North Selma Road is the fork in the road for Wendell Boulevard and Old Wilson Road. But two side-by-side roads create traffic confusion and safety concerns at the intersection.

Lewis and Lukasina focused on two proposals from the intersection redesign study.

Both options would close Old Wilson Road at the current intersection, creating a Wendell Boulevard/Selma Road T-intersection, then connect Old Wilson Road to Wendell Boulevard at a new stoplight farther east.

One option would reroute Old Zebulon Road east to change the Wendell/North Selma T-intersection into a four-way intersection.

"The advantage of (the first option) is it simplifies the intersection," Lewis said.

Lewis said the study proposed moving Old Zebulon Road east from its current route using an S-curve to connect to the Wendell Boulevard/North Selma Road intersection and avoid building a new road through part of the town's historic district.

"If you can't realign Old Zebulon Road, (we can) add a left turn lane (on Wendell Boulevard) which would clear up accidents that have occurred there and increase the capacity on the roads," Lewis said.

The other alternative adds a roundabout at the Wendell Boulevard/Selma Road T-intersection, with the option of adding Old Zebulon Road at a four-way stop.

Lewis said building the roundabout would work best if the town decides against rerouting Old Zebulon Road.

The roundabout would be designed wto accommodate the largest trucks NCDOT considers in the design process.

He added that using the engineering firms' traffic models, a roundabout would provide the best option to cut down on lines of cars having to wait to get through the intersection during the heaviest traffic times.

Lukasina told commissioners if Old Zebulon Road was rerouted to line up with Selma Road there would be problems to work out involving property in the town's historic district, property belonging to a church and environmental protections that cover some property along the proposed road route.

Lukasina added the historical and environmental requirements could make it difficult to receive state or federal funding for the road project.

Commisioner Carol Hinnant asked Lukasina if the engineers had considered different ways to reroute Old Zebulon Road to minimize the damage to properties.

Lukasina said the proposed design was only meant to show the general idea of how the current road system could be rearranged.

"If the project goes to a full design we can look if there are ways to minimize damage to adjacent properties," Lukasina said.

The discussion of federal and state funding, which usually requires matching funds from the town, led Hinnant to question who would have to pay for the intersection project.

"N.C. 231, Old Zebulon Road, Old Wilson Road and Wendell Boulevard are all state-maintained roads, but we would have to pay?" Hinnant asked.

Lukasina said more projects are run as Locally Administered Projects, which are repairs or improvements to NCDOT roads that are managed by local government.

For those projects, federal or state funding typically covers up to 80 percent of the cost, with the town covering the rest.

"When it comes to funding improvements we need or want, we are moving away from asking the state, then waiting for it (to happen)," Lukasina said.

Commissioner Sid Baynes said there are four planned residential developments north of the Wendell Boulevard/North Selma Road intersection, which will only add traffic to the area.

He added that already drivers are using residential streets to try to avoid the traffic jam at the intersection, so it is important to find a way to tie Old Zebulon Road into the intersection.

Baynes asked what type of endorsement CAMPO needs from Wendell to add weight to the need for redesigning the intersection.