Final bypass contract to be awarded Tuesday
By Steve Herring
Published in News on June 18, 2012 1:46 PM
Full Size
News-Argus/MICHAEL BETTS
The to-be-completed U.S. 70 Bypass ramp over I-795 is shown. The contract for the project is expected to be awarded Tuesday.
The state Board of Transportation is scheduled to award the contract for the final and westernmost section of the U.S. 70 Goldsboro Bypass on Tuesday.
The estimated cost for the 5.9-mile section from just west of N.C. 581 east to Salem Church Road is expected to be approximately $50.5 million.
Earlier this year, the state awarded a $104.4 million contract to Barnhill Contracting Co. of Tarboro to design and construct the bypass' eastern 10.8-mile stretch from just east of Wayne Memorial Drive to east of Promise Land Road in Lenoir County.
Barnhill also built the first section of the bypass from just east of Wayne Memorial Drive to just west of Salem Church Road.
Work began Sept. 29, 2009, on that 3.3-mile, $65.3 million section that has been designated as N.C. 44 until the bypass's anticipated completion by the summer of 2016.
Another project indirectly connected with the bypass is the widening of a section of Wayne Memorial Drive to create left-turn lanes at Tommy's Road. That project is expected to cost about $225,000.
At times when a vehicle is unable to turn left onto Tommy's Road, traffic is backing up along Wayne Memorial Drive, sometimes as far north as the exit off N.C. 44.
The turn lanes were approved by Wayne County commissioners this spring when they adopted the county's secondary road plan. DOT District engineer Chris Pendergraph said he is unsure how soon the project would start, but that it is possible it could be done before winter.
The state also continues to examine the feasibility of building an interchange at the U.S. 117 South intersection with O'Berry Road at Dudley. An interchange would eliminate the only traffic light on the highway between the Wayne County Fairgrounds and Interstate 40 in Duplin County.
An interchange there would have an affect further south where Country Club Road crosses U.S. 117. As part of the interchange project, the state would close the Country Club Road crossover.
The project could also mean that the state could increase the speed limit on U.S. 117 between its intersection with U.S. 117 Alternate and Mount Olive.
Pendergraph said survey teams have been at work in the area and that the project should be in the design phase.
"Our direction is for the intersection," he said.