Chapel Hill rerouting traffic on these 3 busy streets for months. What you need to know.

If you’re heading to or from downtown Chapel Hill or points along Fordham Boulevard this fall you may need to give yourself a little extra time.

Starting as soon as Monday, Aug. 21, the town will be making way for future development with three “separate and significant road projects”:

• A six-month road closure on East Rosemary Street near Columbia Street

• A three-month lane closure on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near Estes Drive
  
  

• A two-month closure on Ephesus Church Road between Fordham Boulevard and South Elliott Road

The closings come as 30,000 students returned to town this week for the start of fall-semester classes Monday.

A town spokesperson said Friday that digital sign boards are already up to alert drivers to the coming changes

East Rosemary Street

As soon as Monday, Aug, 21, a contractor will close East Rosemary Street to through traffic from the Rosemary/Columbia Parking Lot to the Wallace Parking Deck for the East Rosemary Redevelopment Project.

The project includes a 1,100-space parking deck and an office building with web lab space that the town estimates will bring a $50 million investment and 800 jobs.

The affected portion of East Rosemary Street will remain closed 24 hours a day, seven days a week for about six months, according to a news release.

Drivers will be directed to detours on Columbia, Franklin and Henderson streets.

You’ll still be able to walk on the sidewalk along East Rosemary Street, but the contractor will sometimes need to briefly stop people on foot to move equipment. There will be a marked pedestrian detour accessible to people with disabilities, the release stated.

The parking lot and deck will remain open while the street is closed. You’ll be able to enter the Rosemary/Columbia Street lot from Columbia Street and the the Wallace deck from Henderson Street.

For more information about the East Rosemary Redevelopment Project, visit townofchapelhill.org/rosemary-project.

See these related stories:

• “Chapel Hill OKs high-rise apartments downtown with affordable housing, retail”

• “Chapel Hill gives developer ‘huge responsibility’ to shape downtown skyline, future”

• “Life sciences project grows larger. Are downtown Chapel Hill businesses, vibe at risk?”

Northbound Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard

On Wednesday, Aug. 23, contractors for the Estes Drive Connectivity Project and the Aura mixed-use development will start work on the sidewalk between the YMCA and Shadowood Apartments driveways.

They will close the northbound outside travel lane to vehicle traffic and turn it into a protected walkway for people to safely move around the sidewalk closure, according to the news release.

The Chapel Hill Transit bus stop serving YMCA will move south, near the Airport Road crosswalk. The town suggests using Chapel Hill Transit as an alternate to driving during the lane closure.

This work supports Vision Zero, the town’s guiding principle for transportation, planning, street and sidewalk design, the maintenance of public rights-of-way, and traffic enforcement.

For weekly construction updates, join the Estes Drive Connectivity project listserv at https://chplan.us/30y4kjd

Ephesus Church Road

Also as soon as Monday, Aug. 21, Ephesus Church Road will close between Legion Road and South Elliott Road, the town announced Friday.

The town and the N.C. Department of Transportation are replacing a stormwater pipe under Ephesus Church Road. This work could take until late October.

The newly opened South Elliott Road Extension will provide a detour for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians around the closure.

The Orange Report

Calling Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough readers! Check out The Orange Report, a free weekly digest of some of the top stories for and about Orange County published in The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun. Get your newsletter delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday at 11 a.m. featuring links to stories by our local journalists. Sign up for our newsletter here. For even more Orange-focused news and conversation, join our Facebook group "Chapel Hill Carrboro Chat."