— With traffic from North Carolina State University and the recently opened Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Western Boulevard, Centennial Parkway and Avent Ferry Road in Raleigh can get busy, but a project more than 50 years in the making is about to provide some help.

N.C. State student Bryan Kim attends class on the Centennial Campus twice a week, often fighting traffic on surrounding roads.

“Sometimes I go the backroads to main campus drive,” Kim said.

Kim’s trip is about to get a little easier as the city plans to extend Pullen Road from Western Boulevard to Centennial Parkway. The plan connects Pullen Road with Bilyeu Street, where crews will install a roundabout.

The extension will connect with Centennial Parkway at Oval Drive, near the new cathedral. It’s going to provide relief for cathedral traffic as well as open a new connection between the Centennial Campus and Main Campus of N.C. State.

Student Hitesh Tolani, who takes the Wolfline bus four times a day, said he thinks the extension will make his bus ride and walk to campus faster.

“If you’re walking, there’s a lot of traffic during rush hours, so it would be a nice walk, I would think,” Tolani said.

Construction on the project is expected to begin in the next few weeks. The city hopes to have the extension open by next summer.

“It’ll be easier on the drivers and the buses as well and save me a lot of time, probably,” Kim said.

The new extension will include bike lanes, medians and sidewalks.

The project is expected to cost about $3 million, half of which will be paid for by the city. N.C. State and the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh will pay for the rest of the project.