For 20 years, Jenny Sellars and her mother, Susan Foster, have collected and sold antiques. In the last six years, they moved their business, SuzAnna’s Antiques, from Raleigh into one of the oldest buildings in Rolesville, right at the corner of a historic intersection.

Sellars gushed about how much she loved the area, loved the people and loved the location. However, she categorizes the past several months as one full of trials and tribulations due to construction that shut down the intersection of Main and Young streets.

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“People can't find us. We get 10 calls a day; 9 of them are 'This is where I'm at. How do I get there from here?'” Sellars told WRAL News.

 The town closed the intersection as part of the $23 million Rolesville Main Street Project. The goal is to create a safer, more attractive Main Street.

“Once the road is done, we're thrilled. It's going to be beautiful. We're getting beautiful scenery; It's going to be really walkable. Getting to that point has been a trial and tribulation,” Sellars said.

“We're really trying to create a downtown destination and reclaim our Main Street,” said Rolesville Economic Development Director Mical McFarland.

The intersection has been closed since June 17. It was due to reopen by Sept. 15. But wet weather and utility conflicts have put the project behind schedule. McFarland said the new target date is Oct. 4.

“It's something that you don't know what's there until you start digging. This is a historic downtown area. I don't think, for years, that anyone has gone and explored what's under there,” he explained.

Town officials say the project requires the cooperation of Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, NCDOT, City of Raleigh Utilities, NCDEQ, USACE and private developers.

Crews identified the following issues:

  • During storm drainage installation, they uncovered an existing City of Raleigh water line that was in disrepair and needed to be relocated. Multiple leaks have been encountered, and additional coordination is underway with the Town of Rolesville, City of Raleigh Utilities, and the contractor, Fred Smith Company, to repair the problems.
    • An underground fuel tank was discovered at the intersection that needs to be remedied per NCDEQ guidelines. Coordination is currently underway. Additional underground exploration is anticipated to determine the level of contamination and steps to mitigate and avoid it.
      • A gas line move was delayed because of the underground fuel tank.
        • Some existing sewer and water lines were not shown on utility reference plans and were therefore not depicted on design plans. Additional coordination is underway with City Utilities, design engineers, property owners, and the contractor.

          Sellars said says business owners are dealing with problems that could have been prevented if planners included in them in the plans and better understood each business's needs. Since the construction started, she said foot traffic has dropped by half for her business, and it’s affecting the bottom line.

          “We've had to furlough some of our employees, because we just can't afford to have them in,” she said. “When you're being told 6-8 weeks for construction, and you're going into month four, it's bothersome.”

          McFarland says the town has continued to promote the small businesses at the intersection through social media and signage and has met with business owners. The town also created a parking lot for customers.

          “It might be a little harder to get to," he admitted.

          "Our hope is that some of these temporary setbacks will be outweighed by the long-term benefits this project will bring."

          Despite the delays, McFarland said the project is still set to be completed on time and on budget.

          “We're still looking at being within that two-year timeframe for the project overall,” McFarland said. “I think we've identified most of what's been causing the delays up until now.”