For projects initiated through the CIP process, the City usually holds one to two public meetings with residents to discuss a particular road improvement project. The City also issues news releases to the media and places legal advertisements in the newspaper to notify residents about a public meeting. The purpose of the meeting is to provide an overview of the project, answer citizens' questions and gather comments from citizens about the design of the project. Several public meetings were held on construction of the Western Boulevard Extension because of the project's complexity and its impact on developed areas. Preliminary work must be done before construction begins.
Actual construction can take one to two years.
Summarily, the average time span from planning and design to completion of construction is three to five years. Generally, the City initiates major improvements to roads. All requests to repave a street will be referred to the City's Street Maintenance Division to be checked against their listing of proposed projects and to verify that the street would meet the criteria for repaving. Street Maintenance's annual repaving program surveys all non-standard streets in Raleigh and selects those in most need to be included in the following year's repaving program. If the City Council agrees with the petition, the project would be included in the next annual repaving program.