About six hours after Estes Hills Elementary and Phillips Middle School families did their final school pick-up of the year on Wednesday, Chapel Hill public works crews began removing some of the ‘Road Closed’ and ‘Detour’ signs that have sat along North Estes Drive for months. Not long afterward, drivers and vehicles began doing something not done within the last two years: driving westbound on the road all the way to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The project broke ground in March 2022, with the closure of westbound traffic happening shortly after to allow for the construction of the bike lanes and sidewalks on the north end of the road. But now, the work to build sidewalks on both sides of the street, new crosswalks and wider lanes is complete. While finishing touches will be done in the coming weeks and the town urges drivers to take caution, two-way traffic has officially returned and several town-organized events are being planned to celebrate the project’s completion. Tap ...