Widening project

begins today
By Scott Nicholson

The contractor for the US 421/King Street widening planned to begin work Monday, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation. With utility crews already working to remove or replace lines, contractors will be placing orange construction signs to notify motorists. This will be followed by the demolition of the buildings on the south side of 421.

The initial work will have minimal, if any impact on traffic flow, according to NCDOT.

The work will widen US 421/King Street to a six-lane divided highway from Grove Street east of NC 194 to US 221/NC 105. From US 221/NC 105 to U.S. 321/Hardin Street, the road will be a four-lane divided highway.

Additional improvements include constructing 12-foot-wide inside travel lanes and 14-foot wide outside travel lanes to accommodate bicycles; building five-foot wide sidewalks along both sides of the highway; and separating opposite direction travel lanes by a continuous four-foot wide concrete median.

The median will be 30 feet wide between the double-left-turn lanes at US 321 and US 221/NC 105, because there is not enough distance to reduce its width significantly, according to NCDOT. The project will also realign Daniel Boone Drive to tie into the existing US 421-221/NC 194 intersection.

Demolition will be the first major task of the project, with a number of buildings on the south side of King Street marked for removal.

Contractors will be developing regular plans to notify the public of expected delays, though much of the road work will take place at night.

The work is expected to cost $15 million and be complete by the end of 2011. Updates and a video depiction of the project are available at www.ncdot.gov/projects/US421Widening/