Call it the long and winding road from Spring Lake that leads into Moore County toward Crain’s Creek, Mount Pleasant, Lobelia, Woodlake and Vass.
Picturesque, it is with the tall pines lining the way.
Motorists who show the 19.3 miles of two-lane N.C. 690 no respect, and the roadway can be deadly.
“Six-ninety has always been on the radar,” said Col. Freddy Johnson Jr., the 52-year-old Cumberland County native and commander of the N.C. Highway Patrol. “This year, there was one fatal, and last year, three.”
And one fatality, Johnson says, is one fatality too many. Johnson welcomes safety improvements to the roadway.
And so does Sen. Tom McInnis, the 21st District Republican legislator from Ellerbe, who represents all of Moore County and parts of Cumberland County in the state legislature.
“So many accidents and fatalities,” McInnis, 70, said. “We hope to save (motorists) from fatalities. That’s the hope.”
Safety improvements from Manchester to the Moore County line are already underway, according to a news release from the N.C. Department of Transportation.
“About 6 miles of N.C. 690 on Fort Liberty between N.C. 24/27 and the Cumberland-Moore County line have been resurfaced with wider paved shoulders” on the two-lane roadway, the press release reads. “High-visibility pavement markings and rumble strips along the centerline and edge lines,” the release says, are coming to warn motorists.
“The additional roadway width — we added two feet of paved shoulder for the 10 miles resurfaced in Cumberland County — was to enable us to go back with six-inch-wide life pavement markings, rather than the standard four inches, and add the rumble stripes,” said Andrew Barksdale, a spokesman with Division 6 of the NCDOT. “We wanted to match what Division 8 was doing. There are run-off-the-road crashes along the entire section, including at least three fatal and one severe-injury crash.”
June 7, 2023
There have been 142 vehicular wrecks along N.C. 690 in studies from 2018 to 2023, according to the NCDOT, including 54 head-on and run-off-the-roadway accidents. ABC11 WTVD reported in July 2023 that over 460 crashes have occurred in the last 10 years on the roadway in Moore County.
A 36-year-old woman died in a single-vehicle accident in January, according to WRAL News, when the pickup truck she was driving collided with a tree near Lakebay Road in Moore County. The woman died at the scene.
The more heartbreaking fatality occurred on June 7, 2023, when Moore County sisters Gloria Medlin McCrimmon, 72, Cheryl Elaine Medlin, 63, and Viola Medlin Singletary, 74, according to published reports, died when a motorist crashed head-on into their Hyundai vehicle in the winding and curving N.C. 690 roadway near McGill Road in Moore County. The driver of the on-coming Kia, according to published reports quoting the Highway Patrol, crossed the centerline in a curve. He also died. Published reports quote state troopers investigating the deadly crash, who say speed and reckless driving contributed to the fatal wreck.
“NCDOT is aware of public safety concerns regarding N.C. 690 in Moore County,” said Jonathan Rand, a spokesman for NCDOT Division 8 in Moore County. “Although the project in the State Transportation Improvement Program R-5824 includes intersection and alignment improvements, NCDOT has expedited some safety improvements on some stretches of roadway.”
Motorists now will find roadway safety improvements, including flexible bollards at the curving intersections of N.C. 690 and Lakebay Road in Lobelia. There also is a 4-way stop at Crain’s Creek Fire Station and Mt. Pleasant Christian Church.
“The department’s plan is to widen and resurface sections of N.C. 690 in Moore County to match what has been completed in Cumberland County,” Rand said. “This will include wide pavement markings, and rumble strips will also be added in the centerline and on the paved shoulders as well. The rumble strips added are designed to deliver the necessary auditory and vibratory cue to alert drivers of their vehicle leaving the travel lane.”
The plan, according to the NCDOT, is for Division 8 to later add turn lanes and other safety improvements in a separate project scheduled for construction in 2028.
Cost for roadway improvements for N.C. 690 in Cumberland County, according to the NCDOT, was $2.6 million. Estimated project cost for the resurfacing of N.C 690 within Moore County, according to the NCDOT, is $3 million; and for R-5824, the future project for N.C. 690 within Moore County, is $15 million.
Epilogue
Call it the long and winding road from Spring Lake and Manchester in Cumberland County toward Crain’s Creek, Mount Pleasant, Lobelia, Woodlake and Vass in Moore County. The roadway is fraught with its share of sharp and blinding curves from east to west, with its share of motorists ignoring the posted 55 mph speed limit.
Some of us have driven N.C. 690 all of our lives, and you can count me among them for 58 years, and as a passenger from age 4, when my late mother would visit her parents in Vass, where Mama grew up as a young woman.
“On the Cumberland County side of 690, we’ve had no fatal collisions there,” Col. Freddy Johnson Jr. said, but excessive speed is a factor on the long roadway, much like the June 7, 2023, head-on collision that took the lives of the three Moore County sisters. “The patrol is doing joint enforcement projects across both county lines. Maybe, we can slow them down. NCDOT has made improvements on the Cumberland County side, and it appears it works.”
But safety improvements or not, obeying the 55-mph speed limit and other speed limit postings in more congested areas is paramount. And don’t forget to buckle your seatbelt.
“The troopers write a lot of speeding tickets,” Johnson said. “Troopers are the ones who have to investigate these tragedies. We don’t want to have to knock on somebody’s door” to break the news that a loved one has lost his or her life and will not be coming home.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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