Due to water main construction on North Roxboro Street, the City of Durham has switched the traffic light for Roxboro Street at the intersection of N. Roxboro/Lavender Ave. to flashing yellow. In addition, the city staff have disabled the push buttons for pedestrians to allow them to cross safely. This is due to the fact that the vehicles on Roxboro Street have a permanent yellow flashing light that allows traffic to flow without stops, leaving few opportunities for pedestrians to cross due to heavy traffic.
Notably, this new traffic light configuration is preventing pedestrians and cyclists who live in the Colonial Village neighborhood from crossing Roxboro Street safely to access Northgate Park, which is frequently used by Colonial Village residents to access the park, the Club Boulevard School and the trails.
Although there is an option a few blocks south to cross at Club Boulevard and Roxboro Street, that intersection is unsafe for pedestrians.
The Durham Water Management Department is currently performing a water main replacement of the entire 2600 block of N. Roxboro Street (between Lavender Avenue and Hammond Street). The work started on Monday, September 26 and is expected to last for several weeks until the replacement is complete. This is an old section of pipe that has caused multiple issues for the Water Management Department, and it needs to be replaced.
The current plan is to reduce traffic in this construction zone along N. Roxboro Street to one lane in each direction (one northbound, one southbound) for the duration of the work. Barricades have been placed along Roxboro Street to prevent traffic from using side streets to avoid the construction.