ELIZABETH CITY

Road Street at its intersection with U.S. 17 will be closed to traffic Monday, and motorists trying to access the U.S. 17 business route will have to use Elizabeth Street/U.S. 158.

But the weeklong inconvenience should help minimize future waits at the U.S. 17 intersection with the installation of a new left-turn lane on Road Street.

On most days, the line of traffic waiting to make a left onto Road Street from U.S. 17 stretches beyond the single turn lane, stacking traffic to the Knobbs Creek Bridge.

The problem is not on U.S. 17, but on Road Street itself. Once the left arrow on southbound U.S. 17 flashes green, traffic moves in a slow crawl to the intersection and turns onto two-lane Road Street.

But in many cases, the line comes to a complete stop as a single car waits to make a left turn onto Ward Street, which leads directly to the waterfront at Poindexter Street.

Gretchen Byrum, DOT district engineer, said that when she sees a line of traffic behind her, she usually skips the left turn onto Ward Street to avoid blocking others.

Unfortunately, she said, that's not a common practice among drivers.

The effort to add the lane on Road Street began in 2004, when city officials were working with the North Carolina Department of Transportation to make traffic flow improvements there.

The intersection will be closed to traffic Monday at 7 a.m., and the new left-turn lane should be completed by the end of the week.

It should be reopened to traffic no later than Friday at 5 p.m.

Lauren King, (252) 338-2413, lauren.king@pilotonline.com