City of Charlotte Engages Woolpert for $4M Craven Thomas Road/Robert Helms Road Streetscape Project

The multiyear infrastructure improvement program aims to increase connectivity, promote regional identity and better serve the transportation needs of the community.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Woolpert has been contracted by the city of Charlotte, N.C., to provide neighborhood, roadway and utility infrastructure improvements for its $4 million Craven Thomas Road/Robert Helms Road (CTRH) Streetscape project. Goals of the project include unifying and revitalizing the neighborhood through infrastructure improvements, strengthening and connecting the community, improving safety and aesthetics, supporting bicyclists and pedestrians and better serving adjacent neighborhoods and businesses.

In tandem with years of planning, Charlotte voters approved $30 million for the Comprehensive Neighborhood Improvement Program (CNIP) in 2014. The streetscape is being funded under the CNIP for Prosperity Village. This neighborhood is located nearly 16 miles north of uptown Charlotte.

The CTRH project area, located between the Benfield Road Exit and the Prosperity Church Road entrance off Interstate 485, was established in Prosperity Village in 2015. It comprises a nearly mile-long stretch of two one-way frontage roads, Craven Thomas and Robert Helms, as well as six roundabouts and three bridges.

To determine and evaluate options to best support the goals of the streetscape, the city contracted with Woolpert in 2016 to solicit local input through community charrettes, meetings and workshops. This process, completed in 2018, helped outline priorities for the streetscape project, including expanding sidewalks to accommodate both bicyclists and pedestrians, improving lighting throughout the area, enhancing bike lanes to make them more visible to drivers, planting trees and creating greenway and bus stop plazas.

“Establishing and maintaining a regional identity is very important to the residents of the area, and this can be done in several ways,” Woolpert Project Manager Katie Thayer said. “In addition to supporting the desired bike/pedestrian network, we will also promote identity with site furnishings, lighting, public art and other consistent aesthetic enhancements.”

Thayer added that multiple Woolpert experts are contributing to this infrastructure project, including site and civil engineers, structural engineers, utility engineers, survey technicians and a mobile mapping team.

“Our experience navigating rights-of-way, permitting and regulations, as well as the moving parts of a municipality, comprehensively support this project,” Thayer said. “We’re excited to help further transform this area into a destination that truly reflects the wants and needs of the community.”

The design phase of this project is now underway. To stay up-to-date on this and other projects in the Prosperity Village CNIP, visit CharlotteFuture.com/Prosperity or text the phrase “charmeck cnip2” to 468-311 to get updates via text message. 

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