U.S. 117 upgrade in transportation plan
By Steve Herring
Published in News on August 26, 2016 1:46 PM
Upgrading U.S. 117 from north of Country Club Road at Mount Olive to south of Genoa Road near the Wayne County Fairgrounds -- the future Interstate 795 South corridor -- is included in the state's next draft 10-year transportation plan.
Three projects on Berkeley Boulevard (U.S. 13) and one on U.S. 70 at Beston Road are also among the 17 Division 4 projects to make the draft plan.
Division 4 includes Wayne, Johnston, Wilson, Nash, Halifax and Edgecombe counties.
The N.C. Department of Transportation Wednesday announced that several key transportation projects aimed at improving regional mobility and better connecting eastern North Carolina's communities will be included in the next draft plan, which will be released in January 2017.
The plan includes fiscal years 2018 through 2027. The projects have not received final approval, and the costs and fiscal years listed are projections.
While not part of that plan, construction of interchanges on U.S. 117 South at Country Club Road and at O'Berry Road at Dudley have already been approved.
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 have tested the subsurface conditions at the two locations for the overpass foundations. That work precedes the start next summer of the construction of the interchanges.
Upgrading U.S. 117 to Interstate status is broken down into two sections in the draft plan.
The first, from just north of Country Club Road to south of South Landfill Road at Dudley, came in at No. 11.
The estimated cost is $17.3 million with right-of-way acquisition in 2024 and construction in 2026. The programmed cost is $9.134 million for 2018-27.
The second segment, from south of South Landfill Road to south of Genoa Road, is No. 17 of 17.
It calls for constructing an Interstate on a new location with right of way in 2024 and construction in 2026.
The projected cost is $35 million. The programmed amount for 2018-27 is $11.834 million.
"That is just fantastic," Wayne County Commission Chairman Joe Daughtery said. "It is one thing to get the (Interstate) shield, the designation of it being a future Interstate. But now comes the hard part, and that is funding it. It is good to see that two of those projects were actually on upgrading 117 to Interstate standards. That is fantastic.
"That has been my emphasis all along, that Interstate all the way down to (Interstate) 40. To score better we have found that we have to break up our projects into smaller pieces. So you are not going to get the whole project, but you may get one or two pieces of the project every few years then usually you have the entire project maybe over a 10-year period of time."
Daughtery, who is also chairman of the county's Transportation Committee, said that the project is one that the county desperately needs.
The top-rated draft project in Division 4 is extending the eastbound left turn lane on New Hope Road at Berkeley Boulevard.
The estimated cost is $434,000 with right of way projected for 2023 and construction in 2025. The programmed amount is $434,000 for 2018-2027.
Widening Berkeley Boulevard to four lanes with a median between Hood Swamp and Saulston roads is No. 8.
The estimated cost is $19.108 million that is programmed for 2018-27.
Right-of-way acquisition would start in 2024 with construction in 2026.
The No. 12 project is also on Berkeley Boulevard.
It calls for the widening the road to multi lanes from New Hope Road to north of Hood Swamp Road.
The cost is estimated at $19.818 million which is programmed for 2018-27.
Right-of-way acquisition would start in 2023 followed by construction in 2025.
Coming in at No. 15 is U.S. 70 at Beston Road. That project calls for improving the intersection to allow for full access movement.
The cost is estimated at $1.54 million with that amount programmed for 2018-27.
Right-of-way acquisition is scheduled for 2023 with construction in 2025.
Daughtery said he was surprised that project had made the draft plan.
The projects are being paid for under the state's Strategic Transportation Investments law, which allows the department to use data and local input to fund transportation projects at three levels: Statewide, regionally and locally (also referred to as being at the division level).
The list of projects being funded at the statewide level was released in May and is available online.
Projects funded at the division level are expected to be released in late fall, and after final schedule adjustments, the draft 10-year plan will be made available.
Under this law, projects are evaluated based on a combination of data and local input.
Statewide project scores are based entirely on data-driven criteria. Regional project scores are based on 70 percent data and 30 percent local input, which is based on an established methodology. Division project scores are based on 50 percent data and 50 percent local input.
Projects that did not score high enough to be funded at the statewide level rolled over to the regional level to be considered for funding.
Projects that did not make the list for regional-level funding can still be considered at the division level.
This cascading aspect of the process helps ensure that local input plays an important role in prioritizing projects for funding, DOT officials said.
In June and July, the department's local transportation divisions and the state's metropolitan and regional planning organizations held a public comment period to receive local input on area projects.
Local input points were then assigned to each regional project by the DOT divisions and the planning organizations based on this feedback to determine the projects' overall scores.
Now that the regional projects have been finalized, another public comment period will be held this fall, and local input points will be assigned to each of the division-level projects, including those that have cascaded down from the statewide and regional levels.
When all project scores are finalized at the statewide, regional and division levels, the top-scoring projects will be scheduled into DOT's next 10-year plan based on available funding and other factors -- such as the status of environmental studies -- that affect when a project can be completed.
Once the draft plan is released, a public comment period will be held and then the final plan is expected to be adopted by the N.C. Board of Transportation in June 2017.
The department's 10-year plan is updated every two years using this process.
Projects scheduled into the first five years of the plan are considered committed and will not be reevaluated, but projects in the final five years of each 10-year plan will be prioritized again for inclusion in the next plan.
A complete list of projects can be found at www.NCDOT.gov/STI.