Forestville Road Near Knightdale Closes One Month for Pipe Replacement

Starting at 7 a.m. Sunday, both directions of Forestville Road at Needham Road will go dark for a full month while crews dig out and replace a large drainage pipe buried beneath the corridor north of Knightdale.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation announced the closure April 2, setting an end date of May 6, weather permitting. The agency will detour traffic around the closed segment via Buffaloe Road and Old Milburnie Road, the two alternate corridors connecting either side of the work zone.

The pipe replacement is driven by safety and infrastructure reliability. Aging drainage systems beneath heavily traveled roads in fast-growing Wake County can undermine the roadbed over time, especially under the kind of heavy rainfall the region has absorbed in recent years. Replacing the pipe now prevents the more costly scenario of a road failure or flooding event forcing an emergency shutdown.

Because heavy excavation equipment will occupy the work zone continuously, NCDOT opted for a full closure rather than alternating single-lane traffic, a common practice when the scale of underground work makes flagging operations unsafe for both crews and drivers.

Commuters, school buses, and delivery vehicles that regularly use the Forestville Road corridor should build extra time into their schedules beginning Sunday. Detour routes through Buffaloe Road and Old Milburnie Road will absorb that redirected volume, and drivers in those neighborhoods should expect heavier-than-normal traffic through early May.

NCDOT urged all drivers to follow posted detour signage, slow down near the work zone boundaries, and check DriveNC.gov for real-time traffic conditions before heading out. Parents and guardians with students whose school bus routes use Forestville Road should contact Wake County Public School System transportation offices directly for routing updates. Residents with questions about mail delivery or emergency service access during the closure can reach out to their local municipal offices.

If crews finish ahead of schedule, NCDOT will reopen the road before May 6. If weather or unforeseen underground conditions cause delays, the closure could extend beyond that date.