U.S. 117 included in draft road plan
By Steve Herring
Published in News on January 4, 2017 1:00 PM
MOUNT OLIVE -- U.S. 117 from Lee's Country Club Road to Old Smith Chapel Road would be upgraded to freeway standards under the state's next draft 10-year transportation plan.
That project would include constructing a new connector road along U.S 117 and converting the intersections to interchanges.
The plan also calls for upgrading U.S. 70 at Goldsboro to freeway standards from the west end of the U.S. 70 Goldsboro Bypass to the Wayne-Johnston county line by eliminating at-grade intersections and driveway connections, which will improve traffic flow and safety.
Wayne Memorial Drive in Goldsboro would be widened to a multi-lane highway between New Hope Road and U.S. 70 Bypass.
The plan includes the years 2018 through 2027.
The draft 10-year plan is scheduled to be released this month. 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.
Meanwhile, the town board in September awarded a $113,196 contract to Cox-Edwards to relocate a water line south of its current location.
The state will pay for the work and had to approve the contract as well.
"It (contract) has been approved by everyone," Town Manager Charles Brown said. "We will issue the notice to proceed on Jan. 9. They will probably start shortly after that."
The 6-inch water line runs under Country Club Road which crosses the current U.S. 117 and U.S. 117 Alternate.
In order to facilitate the building of an overpass at Country Club Road, the water line has to be relocated south.
An interchange is also to be built at U.S. 117 at O'Berry Road, Dudley.
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 $10.26 million at Country Club Road.
Crews already have tested the subsurface conditions at the two locations for the overpass foundations, and construction is expected to start next summer.
Because of U.S. 117's close proximity to U.S. 117 Alternate, the overpass will take U.S. 117 over Country Club Road. Two bridges will be built, one for each direction on 117. The project at O'Berry Road will take that road over U.S. 117.
Upgrading U.S. 117 from north of Country Club Road 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.
It has yet to receive final approval or funding.
Nine aviation, nine bicycle and pedestrian, one transit and 14 highway projects are expected to be funded at the division level for Division Four, which consists of Edgecombe, Halifax, Johnston, Nash, Wayne and Wilson counties.
"Our robust transportation network supports our strong economy and improved quality of life," Gov. Pat McCrory said. "Through the new transportation funding formula, we took the politics out of transportation planning to ensure roads and other important infrastructure are prioritized based on data, while providing flexibility to meet local needs.
"The new funding formula allows us to make smart decisions that keep North Carolina moving and these projects demonstrate the process is working as intended."
A complete list of projects can be found at NCDOT.gov/STI.
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 statewide projects in the draft program was released in May. In August, the regional project scores were released.
The DOT's 14 local divisions and the local planning organizations across the state used this information, along with public feedback, to assign their local input points to projects at the division level.
Now that all project scores have been finalized at the statewide, regional and division levels, the top-scoring projects will be scheduled into the 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.
The Strategic Transportation Investments Law was signed into law in June 2013.
Under the new funding formula, 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; and 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 could 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.
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.