Raleigh, N.C. - For now, the trickiest drive at the Wil-Mar Golf Club isn't over the water hazard on the third hole, but the 400-yard shot past the road block into the parking lot.
The course is caught in a section of Old Milburnie Road that is blocked off, pending completion of an Interstate 540 bridge that will tie up local through-traffic for close to a year.
The section of the Outer Loop under construction -- between Capital Boulevard and U.S. 64 -- is on schedule to be completed in April 2006. The state DOT plans to open the section in one chunk, though opening exit-by- exit hasn't been ruled out, said Reese Briley, assistant resident engineer for the project.
Once the stretch of I-540 is completed, the golf course will be right off of the interstate and will enjoy an influx of traffic from U.S. 64 near Knightdale.
But for now it is an example of how the huge construction project can hurt some businesses before it helps them.
The over 40-year-old golf course has seen a drop in attendance since the detour off of Old Milburnie Road went up at the beginning of the summer.
Fran Wilkerson, who co-owns Wil-Mar with her brother, Marty Allen, said that the course's income has dropped about 30 percent since the traffic shift started. There were minor problems with the course, but she puts most of the blame on the detour.
"Certainly the drop-off happened when the road closed," Wilkerson said. "The detour is not complicated, but confusing."
The year-round pay-for-play course relies on individual fees for the bulk of its revenue, not memberships like higher-tier, members-only courses.
The club has limited memberships, but not enough to depend on a sustainable income, Wilkerson said.
Antho Moody, a regular, doesn't have a problem navigating the roadblocks, but she has been teeing off at Wil-Mar for over a decade.
"It's hard if you don't know your way around," Moody said.
For now, Wilkerson has put up her own signs directing people to the course, but they're dwarfed by the flashing detour signals telling motorists to bypass Old Milburnie Road to loop around on Tarheel Club Road.
For Wil-Mar, the DOT will add more signage to indicate the course is beyond the local traffic only block by a DOT sign.
Wilkerson believes that her traffic woes will only be temporary, and DOT agrees.
"They'll reap the benefits of any inconvenience they've had," said Briley, the DOT engineer.
Source: The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
