02/25/07 — Bridge work gets started

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Bridge work gets started

By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on February 25, 2007 2:00 AM

State highway officials began construction last week to fix the bridge on Kelly Springs Road, which was heavily damaged during Tropical Storm Ernesto last September.

A part of Kelly Springs Road, a road east of Mount Olive that connects Wayne and Duplin counties, washed out during Ernesto after three lines of pipe caved in and has been closed for about six months.

Bridge Maintenance Engineer Jimmy Marler said construction would have began sooner on Kelly Springs, but the road fell behind other repair projects with heavier traffic counts, such as the damage at U.S. 70 and Cogdell Pond last fall.

Then crews had to wait until all construction and environmental permits were obtained before workers earlier this week could begin constructing the box culvert that will support the road, Marler said.

The estimated $250,000 project could take about five weeks to finish, but Marler said he hopes the weather will allow workers to finish the project by the end of March.