Wake Forest Road is a former alignment of US 1 through Raleigh and Wake Forest. The roadway exists in three segments.
Route Description
-
South Segment
Wake Forest Road begins in the Capital District of Downtown Raleigh, continuing from the one-way pair of Blount and Person Streets. The roadway travels northeast as a three-lane undivided street. The shortest of the three segments, this section of Wake Forest Road primarily travels through the Mordecai neighborhood, with numerous houses located directly on the roadway. Wake Forest then has an interchange with US 401/Capital Boulevard, ending here, opposite the south end of Atlantic Avenue.
-
Central Segment
The longest segment of Wake Forest Road begins at an interchange with Capital Boulevard, just south of the Atlantic Avenue interchange. The roadway carries five lanes north through a residential area, with occasional retail. Wake Forest crosses a narrow bridge over Crabtree Creek, then "widens" to seven lanes (really a five-lane roadway restriped to appear as a seven lane road, resulting in nine-to-ten foot-wide lanes) at Six Forks Road. North of Six Forks Road, Wake Forest Road begins traveling through a commercial area, in the mist of this, having an interchange with I-440 and passing by Duke Hospital. 1.23 miles to the north, Wake Forest Road meets the south end of Falls of Neuse Road, turning right onto a two-lane road signed as Old Wake Forest Road. Development on Old Wake Forest Road is primarily residential, traveling due northeast. At Millbrook Road, Old Wake Forest travels through an area once known as the town of Millbrook, after which it changes names to Forest Oaks Road in the middle of an apartment complex, which then ends at Atlantic Avenue.
-
North Segment
This final segment of Wake Forest Road begins as a two-lane road at a complex intersection with Atlantic Avenue, Litchford, and Dixie Forest Roads. It travels northeast as Old Wake Forest Road through a mixture of industrial and residential development. At an intersection with Capital Boulevard, Old Wake Forest Road widens to five lanes and travels east along the north side of Triangle Town Center Mall, running parallel to I-540. About a mile to the east, Old Wake Forest Road ends at Fox Road.
Future Improvements
As part of the Midtown-St. Albans area plan conducted by the city of Raleigh, a stretch of Wake Forest and Falls of Neuse Roads between Millbrook Road and St. Albans Drive is being considered for improvements.
A project in the same area will involve overhauling the I-440 interchange, with the current tight diamond interchange becoming a diverging diamond interchange.
