U.S. 117 utility work to begin
By Steve Herring
Published in News on April 19, 2016 1:46 PM
Motorists on U.S. 117 South can expect to see utility relocation work begin within the next few months at the highway's intersections with O'Berry Road at Dudley and Country Club Road just north of Mount Olive.
That work will precede the start next summer of the construction of interchanges at the two locations.
Meanwhile, the eastern and final leg of the U.S. 70 Goldsboro Bypass remains on schedule for a first-of-June opening.
The two U.S. 117 interchanges are among highway projects that were accelerated by the N.C. Board of Transportation earlier this year and were made possible thanks to Gov. Pat McCrory's 2015 budget.
The state has budgeted $1.38 million for right of way for each interchange.
Construction cost is budgeted at $7.296 million at O'Berry Road and $10.260 million at Country Club Road.
Crews already have tested the subsurface conditions at the two locations for the overpass foundations.
"We are getting close to having right-of-way plans ready to move forward with right-of-way acquisition," said Jiles Harrell, district 3 engineer for state Department of Transportation Division 4 that includes Wayne County. "There is very limited right of way that will have to be acquired in this project. O'Berry Road is going to be a typical interchange, and O'Berry Road is going to go over 117. It will be your typical diamond-shaped interchange.
"Country Club Road, just due to the proximity of old 117 on the east side of 117, we are not able to tie back down. I believe it is only 400 feet (between the two roads). So what we are doing, we are actually going to build two bridges for each direction on 117. We are going to carry 117 over Country Club Road. Then we are going to have our standard diamond interchange there with on-bound and off-bound ramps on both sides."
It has not yet been decided how traffic will be temporarily detoured during construction, Harrell said.
Harrell said he did not yet have a construction timetable.
"Both projects, we are looking at letting them together, combining them" Harrell said. "Those projects right now we are targeting June of next year to be let. That will put us in construction late summer, or into the fall of next year to begin construction. We will put it out for contract next June and with the limited right of way we have out there, we shouldn't have any issues getting there. It has a little shorter right-of-way window than we normally have for most of our projects."
But to make the start next year happen, the utilities relocation probably needs to start this June, he said.
"That is the next step," Harrell said. "Usually when we get right-of-way plans is when we go into our utility relocation and right-of-way acquisitions. Basically both of those happen at the same time. So we will be moving forward with our utility relocation, probably here in the next couple of months."
During its April 11 meeting, the Mount Olive Town Board approved an agreement with the DOT allowing it to relocate a water line that runs under Country Club Road.
The DOT will pay the cost of the $150,000 project to move the six-inch water line south of its current location.
The interchanges are part of a long-range goal by local leaders 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.
However, construction cost of $194,826,000 has not been funded and has yet to be scheduled.
Last 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 first such sign has been erected on the uncompleted eastern section of U.S. 70 Bypass.
"We are still shooting for June (opening)," Harrell said. "Basically, they are paving final inch now. They are wrapping up the eastbound direction this week. They will start working on the westbound direction with the paving train next week on final inch.
"You can anticipate over the next couple of weeks lane closures down near the tie-ins at U.S. 70 at the Lenoir County line with them finishing up those piece down there," Harrell said. "Other than that you have all of the incidentals of a project like that wrapping up."
That includes things like signs and railings, miscellaneous cleanup and ensuring there is enough vegetation on the road shoulders, he said.
The 22.5-mile bypass is being built in three sections.
The first 3.9-mile section, designated as N.C. 44, opened in December 2011. It stretches from I-795 to Wayne Memorial Drive north of Goldsboro. It will not become U.S. 70 until the entire bypass opens.
There are interchanges at I-795, U.S. 117 (North William Street) and Wayne Memorial Drive.
The western 5.9-mile section between U.S. 70 west of Goldsboro to I-795 has interchanges at U.S. 70 and N.C. 581. It opened in October of 2015.
The 12.5-mile eastern section of the bypass has interchanges at U.S. 13, Parkstown Road and U.S. 70.