U.S. 70 bypass to open Friday
By Steve Herring
Published in News on May 22, 2016 1:45 AM
The new U.S. 70 Goldsboro Bypass will open to traffic Friday following an 11 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony for the highway's final section -- some 20 years ahead of when the road had been expected to be completed.
The ceremony will be held just a short distance from where the new highway merges with the existing U.S. 70 east of Goldsboro -- the same location where Gov. Pat McCrory, state Secretary of Transportation Nick Tennyson and Congressman G.K. Butterfield unveiled future Interstate signs in March.
Nearly 100 people attended that ceremony. Details about next Friday's ceremony had not been announced prior to press time on Saturday.
"It is good news opening up right before Memorial Day," said Gus Tulloss, of Rocky Mount, who represents division four on the state Board of Transportation. "There will be some happy campers from Raleigh (heading to the coast)."
The eastern leg of the highway is the last to open in the 22.5-mile, $234 million bypass that stretches from N.C. 581 west of Goldsboro east to Promise Road in Lenoir County.
Work started on Sept. 29, 2009, on the 3.9-mile, $65.3 million middle section, designated as N.C. 44,. It opened in December 2011 and stretches from Interstate 795 to Wayne Memorial Drive.
There are interchanges at I-795, U.S. 117 (North William Street) and Wayne Memorial Drive.
The 5.9-mile, $62,4 million western section between U.S. 70 west of Goldsboro to Interstate 795 opened in mid-October. There are interchanges located at U.S. 70 and N.C. 581.
The $104.4 million, 12.5-mile eastern section of the bypass has interchanges at U.S. 13, Parkstown Road and U.S. 70.
When the work first began the highway had not been expected to be completed for almost another 30 years because of a lack of funding.
However, in October of 2010 the Transportation Board combined the two eastern segments of the bypass into one project to speed up construction.
Both the U.S. 70 corridor and the U.S. 117 corridor were designated as future Interstate in December when President Obama signed into law a new five-year transportation bill.
The bill does not provide any funding for the two highways, but does provide a strong bargaining tool for future funding, local leaders said.
The future Interstate along the U.S. 70 corridor does not yet have a number. That that is expected within the next few months from the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials.
As for U.S. 117, the goal is to designate it as Interstate 795 from where the Interstate now ends in Goldsboro all the way to Interstate 40 in Sampson County.