DOT launches

two projects
By Scott Nicholson

Two significant road projects will soon get under way that will affect most local motorists at one time or another.

An upcoming major resurfacing project could lead to traffic delays at the end of the month. Paving on N.C. 105 will take place at night, but delays are expected and motorists are encouraged to seek alternate routes. The paving is in conjunction with improvements to the Baird’s Creek Road intersection. The milling and paving will take place from Shulls Mill Road to State Road 1594, with the work conducted by Maymead Inc.

Milling and paving are scheduled to begin the week of July 26 and continue through Aug. 28.

The widening and improvements to a 1.1-mile section of King Street will be under way next week. A pre-construction meeting with the contractors is scheduled for July 22, with expected beginning date of July 27.

“We’ve got a real extensive traffic-control plan showing where to build first and all kinds of different time frames,” said state transportation department district engineer Frank Gioscio. “This is probably one of the more extensive traffic-control plans I’ve had in a long time.”

Gioscio said the challenges would begin immediately with the demolition of buildings along the route. The removal of underground lines will take a place at night as one of the first parts of roadwork. Due to restrictions in the contract, there will be few times the road will be closed, though occasional lane closures are expected.

The plan has on-the-route detours that may be used temporarily, and some traffic could be detoured around New Market Boulevard.

The improvements will be made between Jefferson Road/N.C. 194 and Hardin Street, with additional turn lanes and sidewalks, at a construction cost of $15.2 million. The work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2011.

On U.S. 321 below Blowing Rock, the work continues, with more paving under way that will soon lead to shifting of lanes onto the new sections on the upper end of the project , though blasting and rock removal remains on the lower section in Caldwell County. The project was supposed to be complete by August 2008.

Gioscio said the push right now is to open the northern section of the route, with a goal of completing that portion by October. “The whole entire project probably won’t be finished until spring,” he said.

Right-of-way purchases for the third phase of the U.S. 321 widening through Blowing Rock have started again after being halted due to lack of transportation funds.

Money from the federal stimulus package has restarted stalled road projects