Ashcroft residents demand light

One intersection, six lanes of traffic to cross over and no stoplight are what has residents of a Reidsville neighborhood outraged over the new Freeway Drive project.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) is planning on putting six lanes of traffic at the intersection of Ashcroft Drive and Freeway Drive, but as of right now the project has no plans for a stoplight, something residents of Ashcroft Drive are not happy about.

Tom Schoolfield is one of those residents speaking out. Schoolfield held a meeting for the residents living on this road last Thursday to show them NCDOT’s plans and discuss what to do regarding the lack of a traffic signal.

“We’re really concerned as a neighborhood,” Schoolfield said.

Schoolfield said a lot of residents in Ashcroft are under 18 years old or over 65. During the meeting the parents who are just becoming comfortable allowing their newly licensed children to drive expressed concern they would no longer be comfortable with their children crossing six lanes of traffic with no light.

Schoolfield also said a dance studio, Dance Elite, is in the Ashcroft Commons shopping center and many teen dancers drive themselves to the studio. Parents would most likely not be concerned about this, but now NCDOT is planning on closing the driveways into the shopping center.

Instead, a new access road will be opened behind the Ashcroft shopping center, which means in order to get into the studio or any other businesses, the driver will have to enter the Ashcroft neighborhood and drive to the new entrance behind the shopping center.

Fursty’s owner Tom Furstenburg said the access road will be built prior to the driveways being closed. Furstenburg said there is access between two buildings in the shopping center, which will allow customers to continue to access the current parking lot. Congestion may occur between buildings, causing Furstenburg’s landlord to consider taking out one of the buildings to make more room, although this is just speculation at this point.

Fustenburg said he heard this project is costing up to $50 million, and he’s not sure this is the right thing to do in the current economy, but he understands it is intended to help the growth of Reidsville.

Furstenburg said there is some concern about closing the driveways and the new access road, but he said he’s been through this before at other locations and he’ll wait and see what happens.

Schoolfield and his fellow residents, however, are not going to wait and see. Many complaints have been lodged to NCDOT, and Division Seven Engineer Mike Mills said NCDOT has heard the complaints and will look into the situation.

Reidsville city officials have also heard the complaints. City Manager Michael Pearce said the city encouraged DOT to include a light and was disappointed the last design did not show one.

Reidsville Mayor James K. Festerman brought up the complaints during the Reidsville City Council meeting on Wednesday. Festerman warned the council the residents of this area are concerned and councilmembers will probably receive phone calls.

Festerman said when the council received original plans the intersection had a light listed, but somewhere along the way, the DOT dropped the light from its plans.

Festerman said Pearce has been proactive in contacting DOT and explaining the concerns of the Ashcroft community and they’re hoping to be able to resolve this concern for the residents.

Mills said he plans to hold a meeting for Reidsville residents toward the end of February to explain the plans for the Freeway Drive project and, at this point, he hopes to have an answer for Ashcroft. Mills said the date of this meeting has yet to be set up and the meeting will not be a public meeting. Therefore, while the public is asked to attend the meeting and listen to an explanation, DOT officials will not hear cases which people may want to bring before them.