In a few weeks time, Wendell town commissioners will gather for their annual retreat. The event is usually filled with candid conversations about a lot of topics. No decisions are made, but it gives everyone a much clearer idea of where priorities lie with local elected leaders.

We hope that commissioners will use that opportunity to renew their dedication to the idea of constructing a second east-west corridor through the town.

It is a long, cumbersome process. Just ask the folks in Wake Forest, who lobbied for 30 years before they finally got a bypass constructed to take traffic off N.C. 98 through the heart of town.

Or just ask folks in Youngsville, who started talking about the need for N.C. 96 to be rerouted along the edge of town way back in 1991. Twenty years later, that two-lane road still snakes through downtown Youngsville, bringing every passenger car and every tractor-trailer on the road right through Main Street.

Closer to home, ask Knightdale leaders how long they worked to get the Knightdale Bypass to become reality.

Chances are, none of the commissioners now sitting on the Wendell town board are likely to still be serving if and when a second east-west route through Wendell is finally opened to traffic.

But the need is there now. And it’s time to start strumming a steady drumbeat with those folks who control the purse strings for such projects.

It has been suggested that developers should carry much of the load for getting such a road built. That would certainly lead to a quicker solution if and when the real estate economy recovers to pre-2007 levels.

But the fact is transportation is more of a government responsibility than a private enterprise. Government works best when it meets a need the private sector can not meet. National defense is best left to the government rather than disparate bands of gun-toting mercenaries. Emergency services are more efficiently provided through a government system that serves all customers alike.

Roads are best built under the supervision of a government body looking to serve the greater good rather than just the folks who will live in a string of new subdivisions.

So, as Wendell commissioners gather later this month, we encourage them to begin discussing how Wendell’s transportation needs could best be served over the long haul.

And then start trumpeting the need to everyone who will listen.