U.S. 70 Bypass project moving along
By Steve Herring
Published in News on August 14, 2015 1:46 PM
The western leg of what eventually will be the U.S. 70 Bypass is expected to open to traffic this fall, possibly as early as October.
The eastern, and final section, was scheduled to be open to traffic by early next year. But now, because of weather delays, the opening has been pushed back to June 2016.
And that delay in opening the full length of the highway caused some Wayne County Transportation Committee members to worry Thursday about creating even more traffic congestion on Wayne Memorial Drive.
The concern is that motorists on eastbound U.S. 70 will see the new road and think the bypass is open only to find they have to exit onto Wayne Memorial Drive to get back to U.S. 70.
"It (western section) will tie into the existing middle section that gets you over to Wayne Memorial and that will be designated N.C. 44 at the time," said Tim Little, state Department of Transportation Division 4 engineer. "The eastern end, which is lagging a little bit behind the western end is to be opened, we have a new opening date of June 1, 2016.
"So if all goes well, next summer you will be able to get on the bypass and then it will be labeled U.S. 70 Bypass at the time. There has been a lot of work done on the eastern section that Barnhill has done in the last two months. They have come a long way, made a lot of progress. We have met with them, (DOT Board member) Mr. (Gus) Tulloss and I met them and they are committed to putting just about every resource they can into that project."
Barnhill experienced "significant delays" due to wet weather, Little said.
"Now, with this dry weather, we have had they are doing a lot of catch-up," he said. "They are doing a very good job of getting that project back on track."
Fremont Mayor Darron Flowers said he was concerned about dumping eastbound traffic onto Wayne Memorial Drive.
"If you open the west in October and turn all of that 70 Bypass traffic onto Wayne Memorial Drive with all the traffic there now -- are there any plans on how that is going to be accommodated?" he said.
Little said the road would be labeled N.C. 44 and not U.S. 70 Bypass.
As such it is thought that most traffic will be local trying to get over to Wayne Memorial Drive and that most other traffic will continue on the existing U.S. 70, he said.
Labeling the road as N.C. 44 should give the impression to someone traveling down U.S. 70 that the bypass is not open, Little said.
The signs will be changed out to U.S. 70 Bypass when the eastern section opens up, he said.
"It is a nightmare on Wayne Memorial now," Flowers said. "It is going to be a real nightmare because people are going to find that road (bypass section)."
Little said he did not see how taking N.C. 44 gained any time for people traveling through the county on U.S. 70. People will find that out very quickly, he said.
"I am not going to say there isn't going to be any more traffic because I think there is, but hopefully it will be mainly local traffic," Little said.
The key is the signs in place when the road is opened up as N.C. 44, Wayne County Commissioner Wayne Aycock said.
"I tend to agree," said Commissioner Joe Daughtery, who is also chairman of the Transportation Committee. "I have the same concerns. I would suggest that you actually put a sign up before that interchange (west of Goldsboro) saying Morehead City to take U.S. 70 -- something to remind people to continue to stay on U.S. 70.
"Because if I am driving along there, and I see a brand new highway opened up, I am going to assume (it's open) and I am going to go that route. I will be one of the ones on Wayne Memorial Drive. So I think the more signage, the better."
Little said the DOT would look into such signs.
"But we didn't want to leave it closed because if you leave it closed in the lag time you get vandalism on the roadways," he said. "It is not good to let a road sit out there and not have traffic on it. Then you get people driving on it who really shouldn't be."
Goldsboro senior planner Jennifer Collins said that the county is also seeking assurance from the state that the new road be designated as U.S. 70 Bypass and that the names of U.S. 70 and U.S. 70 Business would not change since that would in turn require residents and businesses to have to change their addresses
When completed, the U.S. 70 Bypass will stretch from U.S. 70 just west of N.C. 581 in Wayne County to U.S. 70 just east of Promise Land Road in Lenoir County.
The road is being built in three sections.
The first 3.9-mile section, already designated as N.C. 44, opened in December 2011. It stretches from I-795 to Wayne Memorial Drive north of Goldsboro.
There are interchanges at I-795, U.S. 117 (North William Street) and Wayne Memorial Drive.
A $62.4 million contract was awarded to S.T. Wooten for construction of the western 5.9-mile section between U.S. 70 west of Goldsboro to I-795.
Interchanges will be built at U.S. 70 and N.C. 581.
A $104.4 million design-build contract was awarded to Barnhill Contracting Co. for the 12.5-mile eastern section of the bypass.
Interchanges will be constructed at U.S. 13, Parkstown Road and U.S. 70.