Bridge slated for repairs
By Staff Reports
Published in News on April 21, 2013 1:50 AM
A $614,258 contract has been awarded to replace the bridge on Oakland Church Road over Beaverdam Creek west of Goldsboro in Wayne County.
The N.C. Department of Transportation Thursday announced that the project had been awarded to S.T. Wooten Corp. of Wilson. Construction is currently scheduled to begin in early May, with the bridge opening to traffic no later than Sept. 1.
All replanting of vegetation would be done by Feb. 28, 2014.
The bridge site will be closed to traffic during construction and a detour will be in place. Motorists will use Oakland Church Road, Princeton Road and Old Smithfield Road to travel around the construction site.
The existing bridge, which was constructed in 1950, is classified as structurally deficient. This does not mean the bridge is unsafe, but there are elements of the bridge that need to be monitored to maintain its structural integrity, DOT officials said.
"The new bridge will be wider to meet current design standards, making it safer for drivers," said John Rouse, DOT Division Four engineer. "It also will be lengthened, so that during a storm there will be more room for water to flow under the bridge, lessening the chances for flooding on the bridge."
The contract was one of 27 awarded totaling $106.9 million in March for highway and bridge projects across the state.
DOT awarded the contracts to the lowest bidders, as required by state law. The bids received on the projects awarded came in about 5.3 percent, or $5.9 million, below DOT estimates.