October 15, 2026
Two intersections on Waxhaw's northwest side are being rebuilt at the same time, and new home construction is the reason for both. At Rehobeth Road and NC-75, Pulte Homes pays for the improvements, and the Town has tied move-ins at Pulte's new subdivision to how far that work gets. At Pine Oak Road and Waxhaw-Marvin Road, the Town pays most of the cost, and two nearby developments contribute.
So the officer in a reflective vest at the rail crossing and the surveyors you might have missed at Pine Oak are on the same timeline as the new homes. How fast the road gets fixed decides how fast the houses fill.
Since Tuesday, September 1, an off-duty Waxhaw Police officer has directed traffic where Rehobeth Road meets W. S. Main St./NC-75. The officer works weekday rush hours, roughly 6:30 to 9 a.m. and 3:30 to 6 p.m., and will also cover any special events at the intersection.
Pulte arranged and pays for the officer, and it was one of three conditions the Town set for the first phase of work tied to The Preserve at Forest Creek, Pulte's subdivision off Rehobeth Road. According to the Town of Waxhaw's August 28 notice, Pulte had to:
CSX is part of the deal because the intersection sits on a rail crossing. A new signal there involves the railroad as well as the state, which explains why the agreements are taking time. The officer stays until the permanent signal is installed. Neither the Town nor anyone else has published an installation date yet.
Once Pulte met those conditions, the Town let it start receiving Certificates of Occupancy, the final approval a finished home needs before anyone can live in it. The cap is three homes per month, starting September 1.
The Town explains why: "Rather than allowing occupancy to move forward without safeguards, the Town negotiated a phased approach that ties new home occupancy directly to Pulte's progress on the infrastructure improvements the intersection needs."
Two dates control what happens next. If Pulte submits executed agreements with NCDOT before December 1, monthly certificates keep coming through August 2027. If the intersection work finishes before that, the Town releases the remaining certificates without the monthly cap. From September 2026 through August 2027 is twelve months, so at three a month that comes to no more than 36 occupied homes if construction runs the full schedule. Finishing the signal sooner is the only way to go faster.
That puts the builder's interest and the commuter's interest in the same place. Each month the signal is late, the builder gets fewer move-ins. The December 1 deadline is seven weeks away.
Here is what the Town says the completed project includes:
The fourth item will affect habits the most. Anyone used to taking turns at the four-way stop on W. N. Main will find that one direction now drives straight through. That is a stop-sign change at the north end of Rehobeth Road, separate from the signal at the south end on NC-75, and it is the one most likely to surprise drivers who learned the old pattern.
About the time the officer started at Rehobeth Road, construction officially began at Pine Oak Road and Waxhaw-Marvin Road. Today the two roads meet at a sharp-angled T, and the only control is a single stop sign for drivers turning from Pine Oak onto Waxhaw-Marvin. The project realigns the roads so they meet at a right angle, adds turn lanes on all three approaches and installs a traffic signal.
The funding works differently here. The Town's August 12 announcement says the Town of Waxhaw pays for most of the project, with financial help from the Prescot Village and Belshire (Cottage Park) developments. The contractor is Widewaters Construction, Inc. On the project page, the arrangement is listed as a "Town Partnership with Development Mitigations."
The Town also gave a safety reason for this location. The Waxhaw Safety Action Plan lists the intersection as a top priority on the Town's high-injury network, which is the set of roads where serious crashes are most concentrated. In the Town's announcement, Assistant Town Engineer James Kelly said the current layout forces "a left turning angle movement, which is one of the most dangerous traffic movements," and that the improvements move Waxhaw closer to its Vision Zero goal for 2045.
If you've driven past since mid-August and wondered where the construction is, the Town has addressed that. Its September 11 update said:
"We said construction would start in mid-August, and we should have been clearer about what that would actually look like on the ground. For that, we apologize and appreciate your understanding."
The gas and water lines have to be moved before heavy work can start, and the contractor was still getting permits for that. Surveying had been done, but that is usually one or two people without heavy equipment, so it's easy to miss. The Town expected visible work "in the coming weeks."
When work does start, it happens in two phases. First the new roadway is built next to the existing one while the old road stays open. Then traffic moves onto the new alignment and crews finish the old road. No detours are planned. Work is limited to daytime unless the Town and NCDOT approve otherwise, and nearby residents keep driveway access the whole time. The Town estimates about seven months, weather permitting, and is aiming for spring 2027.
| Rehobeth Rd at NC-75 | Pine Oak Rd at Waxhaw-Marvin Rd | |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays | Pulte Homes, backed by a $2 million bond | Mostly the Town of Waxhaw, with help from Prescot Village and Belshire (Cottage Park) |
| Tied to | The Preserve at Forest Creek | Prescot Village and Belshire (Cottage Park) |
| What you see now | Officer directing weekday rush-hour traffic | Little visible work while utility relocations are permitted |
| Finished result | Signal, rail crossing upgrades, turn lanes; W. N. Main/Rehobeth becomes a two-way stop | Realigned right-angle intersection, turn lanes on all approaches, new signal |
| Timeline | No published signal date; occupancy cap runs through August 2027 if NCDOT agreements are executed before December 1, and lifts sooner if the work finishes early | Started August 17, 2026; target spring 2027 |
Downtown, the work is underground. Union County Water and the Town are replacing about 8,000 linear feet of cast-iron water mains that were laid in the 1930s. Dawn Development Company is the contractor, and work began September 29, 2025. The Town's project page says Union County Water expected the water main work to be finished by October 2026. As of this writing, nothing published confirms it is done.
A second phase follows, replacing about 4,000 feet of downtown sewer lines with a mix of trenchless methods and traditional digging. That phase was expected to take about 10 months. The Town says the whole program is meant to strengthen the water and sewer systems and "support long-term commercial growth," and that downtown businesses stay open and reachable during construction.
The pipes downtown and the signals on the northwest side are both cases of infrastructure catching up to growth that was already approved. On Rehobeth Road the catching up has a deadline, because new residents can only move in as fast as the work allows.
December 1 is the date for the NCDOT agreements at Rehobeth Road, and it decides whether the three-a-month schedule continues through August 2027. The Pine Oak site should start looking like a construction zone once the gas and water relocations are cleared. The downtown water main is near its October forecast, and the sewer phase continues after it. Spring 2027 is the target for drivers to use the realigned Pine Oak intersection with a working signal. The Town posts project updates at waxhaw.com/trafficprojects.
Road projects like these shape how a part of town works every day, and they figure into how buyers judge a location and how sellers should present one. If you own a home near Waxhaw-Marvin Road and want to talk through how this corridor's changes fit into your plans, Sally Awad offers a Private Luxury Consultation grounded in what is happening on your own streets.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
Ten years into her real estate career, Sally remains just as committed to her clients as she did when she first earned her license. She thoroughly enjoys partnering with clients to realize their dream of homeownership, genuinely striving to have each and every client feel valued, heard, and understood throughout their home-buying journey.
