Hearing to look at U.S. 70 project
By Steve Herring
Published in News on November 17, 2017 5:50 AM
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Jiles Harrell, right, N.C. Department of Transportation District 3 engineer, provides updates on highway projects Wednesday during the Wayne County Transportation Committee meeting.
A $130.5 million project to bring U.S. 70 up to freeway standards will be the subject of a Dec. 7, public meeting at Grace Baptist Church in Princeton. The time has not yet been announced.
The plan calls for U.S. 70 to be upgraded from the west end of the new U.S. 70 Bypass to Holts Lake in Johnston County by eliminating at-grade intersections and driveway connections.
Jiles Harrell, N.C. Department of Transportation District 3 engineer, provided an update on that project and several others Wednesday during the Wayne County Transportation Committee meeting at the Goldsboro Event Center.
"What we are going to do (at the meeting), we will show the overall plan, what we are looking to do on that piece of the (U.S. 70) corridor," Harrell said. "At certain interchanges, strategic places, we may have some alternates that need to be considered.
"So we are seeking public opinion on those alternates. We have a couple of interchange alternatives that we are going to look at for Princeton itself, and then they will get to see where we are proposing to have an additional interchange between the end of the bypass and Princeton."
Maps at the meeting also will show service road tie-ins, Harrell said.
"It is going to be fully controlled access," he said. "It will be up to Interstate standards when we do that project. We hope to be moving toward construction in 2022 providing we can get everything straightened out and together."
Comments from the public will be used as the state moves forward with design, Harrell said.
Harrell also talked about the ongoing interchange project at O'Berry Road and U.S. 117 South at Dudley.
O'Berry Road has been closed and will remain closed for about a year as the bridge is built to carry the road over U.S. 117, he said.
Once the dirt build elevation is in place for the bridge it has to sit for at least four months.
"So it is not that we are trying not to do anything, it has a settling time," he said. "It is not that we have stopped working. We have about a year left of construction before we have that interchange open."
A second interchange project at U.S. 117 South and Country Club Road near Mount Olive will start after the first of the year, he said.
The projects are designed to improve safety, Harrell said.
Another major project of interest is the Old Mount Olive Highway just north of Mount Olive that has been closed since October 2016 when floodwaters from Hurricane Matthew washed out a large section of roadway.
Three culverts were washed out. The two smaller ones have been repaired.
The third is a large one that also runs under the railroad tracks.
The contract has been awarded for the project and the road should reopen in July of 2018.
Harrell briefly talked about a series of road projects planned or underway in the county.
Harrell said he had looked up the project list that totals about $270 million over the next five years.
There are five projects on U.S. 13 North:
* Widen to multi lanes from Saulston Road to Rodell Barrow Road in Greene County; $46.080 million; right of way, 2024; construction, 2026 and 2027.
* Realignment of Central Heights Road with Royall Avenue; $1.545 million; right of way, 2018; construction, 2021.
* Widen to multi lanes from Royall Avenue to north of Hood Swamp Road; $25.345 million; right of way, 2019; construction in two parts -- Royal Avenue to New Hope Road (under construction), New Hope Road to north of Hood Swamp Road, four-year period from 2021 through 2024.
* Widen to multi lanes from Hood Swamp Road to Saulston Road; $19.109 million; right of way, 2021 and 2022; construction, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
* Improve intersection at New Hope Road; $484,000; right of way and construction, 2018.
Other local highway projects are:
* U.S. 70 East Business (East Ash Street) widen to multi lanes from Berkeley Boulevard to U.S. 70; $22.555 million; right of way, 2019; construction, 2021, 2022.
* West Ash Street, widen to multi lanes from Virginia Street to U.S. 117/I-795; $11.375 million; right of way, 2026; construction, 2027.
* Wayne Memorial Drive widen to a multi lanes between New Hope Road and U.S. 70 Bypass; $14.4 million; right of way, 2019; construction, 2021, 2022 and 2023; planning/design underway.
* Wayne Memorial Drive, construct access management improvements between Lockhaven Drive and Country Day Road; $3.270 million; right of way, 2018; construction, 2019; planning/design underway.
* U.S. 70 at Beston Road intersection improvements; $1.7 million; right of way and construction, 2018.
* U.S. 117 (North William Street), widen roadway and make safety improvements from Fedelon Trail to U.S. 70 Bypass; $14.497 million; right of way in progress; construction, 2019 and 2020.
"Wayne County and (DOT) Division Four have got as much as anybody in the state," said Gus Tulloss, who represents the division on the state Board of Transportation. "I don't know any project that we are really looking to do that the money is not available for, if it is a good project and scores."