| Falls of Neuse has run north from Raleigh into northern Wake County since the 1930s, along the same general route as it does today. The only rerouting of the road took place when it was widened in 1964, moving off an alignment along what is today Bland Road to meet Wake Forest Road at the current southern terminus.
The road takes its name from the "falls" (really no more than rapids) which existed on the Neuse River near the Falls of Neuse bridge until Falls Lake's completion in 1983. Most of the falls are submerged under Falls Lake, though the stretch of the Neuse surrounding the bridge still runs through some rapids.
In 1984, at the same time Wake Forest Road was restriped from five to seven (very narrow) lanes, the southern mile of Falls of Neuse from Wake Forest to Quail Ridge Road was also expanded to seven lanes. Like Wake Forest, the lanes along this stretch of Falls of Neuse are much narrower than the standard twelve-foot lanes, resulting in a difficult drive even in light traffic.
Falls of Neuse was the eastern terminus of I-540 for just over a year in late 2001 and early-to-mid '02, and the freeway was completed before the in-progress widening was finished, resulting in a six-lane freeway ending at a two-lane road. The five-lane widening of Falls of Neuse in the immediate vicinity of the freeway was completed just as 540 was finished east to Capital Boulevard in August of 2002, and the widening of the entire stretch from Strickland Road to Raven Ridge Road was completed late in 2003.
North of Raven Ridge, current plans call for the five-lane section to be extended north almost to the Neuse River. Residents successfully petitioned the city to make this stretch four lanes with a median, rather than five with a center turn lane. At approximately the Falls fire department, just south of the current river bridge, Falls of Neuse will cross the river on a new bridge, meeting the existing New Falls of Neuse Road running through Wakefield and ending at Capital Boulevard. The new bridge should be complete by 2011, with the widening of the stretch from Raven Ridge to the new bridge scheduled to be finished in 2013.
When the Neuse River was dammed in the early 1980s to create Falls Lake, it submerged a section of NC 98 west of the north end of Falls of Neuse Road. NC 98 was rerouted to a new alignment about a mile to the north, but Falls of Neuse itself remained on its original alignment and ended at what became known as Old NC 98. With the completion of the NC 98 Wake Forest bypass in August 2010, Falls of Neuse was rerouted to meet the new bypass about a half mile to the east of its former terminus. It forms a continuous road with the new NC 98 Business, which runs over a portion of what was Old NC 98 into downtown Wake Forest. |
