SMITHFIELD - The Town Council aims to borrow $6.55 million to ease traffic congestion on Industrial Park Drive, home to outlet shops, hotels and restaurants.

Last week, the council heard a presentation on the road project's design and held a public hearing - a required step before seeking a loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development agency.

"It should be an immense help in getting you to the right location, in getting you to the mall," said Ramey Kemp, the engineer overseeing the project.

Especially during the holiday shopping season, Industrial Park Drive can become so congested that traffic backs up onto Interstate 95. That hazard worries state transportation officials, who have threatened to close the I-95 exit if Smithfield doesn't act.

The town's plan begins with the unnamed street that starts at East Market Street between Hess and Checkers. Currently, that street runs a short distance before making a sharp right turn and running behind Ruby Tuesday and Zaxby's. It ends at Industrial Park Drive between Cici's Pizza and Texas Steakhouse. The town's plan is to extend the street past the sharp turn to a point just past Smithfield Cinemas. Eventually, the new street could run all the way to Venture Drive.

From the new, four-lane street, a second street will connect to Industrial Park Drive, using that portion of the unnamed street that currently runs between Cici's and Texas. It will end in a roundabout that will funnel traffic on to and off of Industrial Park Drive.

Roundabouts, common in Europe, might be unfamiliar to drivers here, but they keep traffic flowing, Kemp said. "The roundabouts have been shown to be very effective," he said. "It takes a while for some people to get used to them, but they're very efficient."

Also under its plan, the town will widen East Market Street from the Waffle House to Intertate 95.

Golden Corral, which is building a restaurant on the south side of Market Street, will pay for an extra eastbound lane.

"We are tickled to death to see progress," Golden Corral owner Eric Brownlee said. "There's plenty of places up and down I-95 for people to stop, but we want them to stop in Smithfield."

Neighbors concerned

Not everyone at last week's hearing was pleased with the street project.

About a dozen residents of the nearby Pine Acres neighborhood turned out to voice concerns about traffic, noise and water runoff.

"I'm not going to be able to sleep," said James Lowe, who lives on Dogwood Drive. "The business is good, but what about the neighborhood?"

James Barbour agreed, saying he wanted to see sound-buffer walls similar to those along Interstate 40 in southeast Raleigh.

But Kemp, the engineer, said he doesn't think the noise will be any louder than the I-95 truck traffic Pine Acres residents can already hear.

Residents said they were worried too about stormwater runoff.

The town plans to take out a stormwater ditch near the neighborhood and send rainwater into expanded underground pipes. But neighbors wonder how that will impact their properties, since Pine Acres streets often flood during storms.

Planning director Paul Embler responded that the pipes should take care of the project's expected runoff.