NCDOT's plan for the Fire Tower Road and Evans Street intersection removes left turns from Fire Tower onto Evans and Old Tar Road. It keeps left turns from Evans and Old Tar onto Fire Tower. Anyone who lives near the corner of Evans and Fire Tower, where Paramore Farms sits, will see the change on some trips and never notice it on others.
The Daily Reflector laid this out in a September 2025 report on the three widening projects reshaping central Greenville. It is worth reading closely, because the rule has two halves and only one of them takes something away.
The Rule, Movement by Movement
The Reflector's reporting quotes NCDOT's Whitley describing an alternative intersection design. Cars traveling east and west on Fire Tower will no longer be allowed to turn left onto either Old Tar or Evans. The reverse trips keep their lefts.
| Movement at Fire Tower and Evans/Old Tar | Planned rule |
|---|---|
| Fire Tower, either direction, left onto Evans | Eliminated |
| Fire Tower, either direction, left onto Old Tar | Eliminated |
| Evans, left onto Fire Tower | Stays |
| Old Tar, left onto Fire Tower | Stays |
The Fire Tower and Charles Boulevard intersection gets the same quadrant treatment. Left turns are eliminated there too, and crews will install U-turn designs, roundabouts, sidewalks and bike lanes as part of the package.
Why Evans Keeps Its Lefts
The asymmetry has a stated reason. Whitley told the Reflector that drivers will still make lefts off Evans and Old Tar onto Fire Tower because there was no room for U-turn bulbs on Evans. The design removes a left only where a U-turn can replace it, and Evans is too tight to take one.
That detail matters for how the corner will actually work. A trip that starts on Evans and ends on Fire Tower stays as it is. A trip that starts on Fire Tower and ends on Evans or Old Tar changes. The reporting describes U-turn designs as the replacement for the lost left, but it does not say where the bulbs on Fire Tower will sit. Nobody can yet say how many extra minutes the detour adds.
The Evans work reaches well past this one corner. The Reflector describes a 4.4 mile project running from Old Tar and Worthington Road, through the Fire Tower intersection, to Greenville Boulevard. When finished, Evans becomes a median-divided road with sidewalks and 5 foot bike lanes on both sides. Several signals change along the way.
- The signal at Evans Street, South Hall Drive and Donald Drive stays in place.
- The signals at Evans and Regency Boulevard and at Evans and Martinsborough Road also stay.
- A new signal goes in at Evans and Pinewood Road.
- Worthington and Old Tar becomes a signalized intersection, along with Main Street and Laurie Ellis Road.
- The Vernon White intersection is realigned to meet Tabbard Road.
- Evans and Greenville Boulevard, already one of the largest intersections in town, grows larger still.
The Donald Drive signal is the one to note for Paramore Farms. Its existing signal is not on the list of changes, so the entrance off Evans keeps the control it has today.
The Calendar Is Less Settled Than the Design
The design is specific, and the schedule is not. The Fire Tower and Portertown Roads project has been described with different start dates for close to a decade.
- NCDOT's own response to public comments, written after an early public meeting on the project, listed right of way as beginning in late 2017 and construction in 2019.
- In February 2024, WNCT reported that NCDOT expected construction on the Fire Tower and Portertown widening to begin in 2026, with right-of-way acquisition underway.
- A summary of the project published in late 2024 by a North Carolina land-condemnation law firm put right-of-way acquisition at summer 2026 and construction at summer 2028.
- The Reflector's September 2025 article described the 14th Street widening as coming in 2028 and the Fire Tower widening as coming in 2029.
Those dates do not agree, and this post does not pick one. The Reflector's reporting does not pin down a construction start for the Evans Street stretch either, so that date is left open too.
Recent news does show the work advancing. On August 11, 2026, Greenville City Council approved right of way and easements for the NCDOT project to widen East 14th Street from Red Banks Road to East Fire Tower Road, according to WCTI12. NCDOT's project page, last dated August 2025, describes a 2.8 mile widening of Fire Tower and Portertown roads. It includes improvements at the Charles Boulevard and Arlington Boulevard intersections, and it says the two earlier project segments have been combined into one.
The stated purpose on that page is to improve traffic flow, reduce congestion and crashes, and create greater connectivity. Every date above is a planning date, and planning dates for this corridor have moved before.
Paramore Park Sits on the Same Road
The corridor also has a public destination on it. Paramore Park is at 401 E. Firetower Road, and the City of Greenville lists a playground, a picnic shelter, walking trails and open space there. NCDOT's design for the Fire Tower and Portertown widening includes a five-foot bike lane in each direction, and the park sits on that same road.
Where to Watch for the Next Date
NCDOT's Fire Tower/Portertown Roads Widening page is the place where a revised schedule would appear first. Council agendas are the other early signal, because right-of-way approvals like the August 11 vote come before construction crews do. The Daily Reflector's September 2025 report has the fullest description of the turn rules and signal changes on Evans.
If the Fire Tower and Evans work affects a plan you are weighing for a Paramore Farms home, whether that is a timeline, a list date or a question about what the corridor will look like, the team at Kunny Brothers is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.
