Crews prep for U.S. 117 project
By Steve Herring
Published in News on February 8, 2016 1:46 PM
Crews have been testing subsurface conditions at U.S. 117 at Country Club Road at Mount Olive and at O'Berry Road at Dudley in preparation of building an interchange there in 2017.
"The work that you are seeing now ... basically they are just trying to make sure they get the subsurface information for all of the foundation designs," said Jiles Harrell, Department of Transportation District 3 engineer. "That is what they have been working on this week.
"I am sure you saw that little rig on tracks like a little drill rig. That is what they are doing out there. Basically, it comes after the survey. They have done the survey out there, and now they are rolling on with investigatory work as part of the plan preparation. Basically it is what we start our design on."
The Country Club Road interchange and one at O'Berry Road at Dudley were among the highway projects that were accelerated by the N.C. Board of Transportation earlier this month.
A third project, improvements to U.S. 117, was added to the State Transportation Improvement Program, the DOT's 10-year construction plan, by the DOT board.
That project would upgrade U.S. 117 to freeway status, including a portion on a new location, from N.C. 55 north to Goldsboro.
These changes, called amendments, were made possible thanks to Governor Pat McCrory's 2015 budget.
"The reforms I signed into law will get these roads built sooner," McCrory said in a press release. "The primary purpose of the reforms was to ensure transportation funds were being spent on transportation projects and not diverted to other state programs."
In December, President Obama signed into law a new five-year transportation bill designating the U.S. 117 and U.S. 70 highway corridors as future Interstates.
The goal of local leadership is to extend Interstate 795 from Goldsboro south along the U.S. 117 corridor to Interstate 40 in Sampson County just west of Faison.
The upgrade would require a new roadway from Ash Street to south of Goldsboro with the remainder using the existing U.S. 117 South.
Right-of-way, expected to cost $31.592 million, and utilities at $3.791 million, are both scheduled for 2024.
The construction cost of $194,826,000 has not been funded and has yet to be scheduled.
Both interchanges are "pretty much" on the same schedule, Harrell said.
Right-of-way acquisition for both interchanges is scheduled for fiscal year 2016 with construction the following year.
The state budgeted $1.380 million for right-of-way for each interchange.
"I think for both of those projects that we have a lot of right-of-way acquired as part of the original 117 project, especially at O'Berry," Harrell said. "There is a pretty good amount of room for ramps to come in there.
"I would anticipate it (land acquisition) as minimal. But they are trying to proceed with getting some plans together and start right-of-way acquisition later this year."
Construction cost is budgeted at $7.296 million at O'Berry Road and $10.260 million at Country Club Road.
"I believe that 117 is going over Country Club and O'Berry is going over 117," Harrell said.
There is not enough distance separation between U.S. 117 and U.S. 117 Alt. to pull a Country Club Road overpass back down to U.S. 117 Alt., he said.