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The images with signage plans were exactly what I was looking for. Appreciate that.
Looking at the BGSs they have on the plans, it looks like they have enough space to modify/rearrange the lettering and the shields instead of replacing the entire display.
You're welcome. Yeah, a lot of the I-87 shields will simply be put over I-495 shields. The old tried and true "green out" method.
NCDOT will probably put up the new signs and modify some of the existing ones sometime in the spring once the weather warms up. They don't usually like to do it in cold weather. When US-264 between Zebulon and Greenville became Future I-587 in November 2016, they waited until April to post Future I-587 signs.
Residents of Carteret County will benefit from a major milestone on Saturday, Jan. 27 when traffic will move into a new traffic pattern for the Gallants Channel Bridge project. The shift will occur this weekend in two phases. On Saturday, traffic will be shifted on the east end of the project up to N.C. 101. By Sunday, traffic will be shifted on the west end from Radio Island to N.C. 101 across the new bridge.
“This is a major milestone and a true benefit for the residents and visitors to all of Carteret County,” said NCDOT Division Engineer Preston Hunter. “The old drawbridge is being replaced on a new alignment with a 65-foot high fixed-span bridge, which will not have to open at all.”
The $66.4 million construction project has been under way since 2014. It also involves widening U.S. 70 to four lanes with a median on a new location, and building a bridge on Turner Street. Additional traffic shifts for the project will take place in the coming months.
“The Turner Street component of this project is slated to open by the first of April,” said Hunter. “Once it does, residents and business owners will benefit by significantly lower travel times.”
For real-time travel information, visit DriveNC.gov or follow NCDOT on Twitter.
The N.C. Department of Transportation is studying a new route for proposed Interstate 87 north of Hertford that wouldn’t require the property condemnation needed for the highway’s current route.
The current route for the proposed I-87 through Perquimans County upgrades the existing U.S. Highway 17 to interstate standards. A second route, however, would create a new road that would start near U.S. 17’s intersection with Wiggins Road in Winfall and continue north to the area near Victory Baptist Church across the Perquimans County line in Pasquotank County.
One reason the alternate route for I-87 might be attractive is that it would bypass existing homes and businesses on that section of U.S. 17. Upgrading the existing road to interstate standards would likely require demolition of existing homes and businesses and creation of new access roads.
“If you stayed on the current U.S. 17 there would have to be service roads and some of those would go right through people’s property,” said Angela Welsh, director of the Area Regional Planning Organization based in Hertford.
The DOT study that includes the new route for I-87 north of Hertford looked at an 80-mile stretch of the highway through seven counties. The proposed interstate begins in Williamston in Martin County and continues north through Camden County to the Virginia line.
Welsh cautioned that planning for the proposed I-87 is still in the early stages.
“A feasibility study doesn’t determine much, because it’s just a study,” she said. “This is just a preliminary document.”
Welsh said there will be plenty of time for public comment on the plan once further studies are completed. The final draft of the study is expected to be complete early next year.
Both county officials in Perquimans and town officials in Hertford have already said they don’t want I-87 to include a bypass of Hertford. Because of that, DOT didn’t include a bypass of the town in the feasibility study.
Two I-87 projects in Perquimans are proceeding in the planning stage. One creates an interchange on U.S. 17 at New Hope Road. DOT currently has right-of-way acquisition for the project slated to start in 2023 with construction to follow in 2025.
Another project would build either an interchange or flyover at Wynne Fork Road. Welsh said right-of-way purchases for that project are slated to start in 2024 with construction to follow in 2026.
Welsh said she is unaware of any future public meetings on the I-87 project for now. More may be known in January 2019 when the state releases the final draft of the plan, which will also include a timeline for when funding for the project might be available, she said.
If and when the project moves further along, a “merger team” including both state and federal officials will be created. It’s at that point that environmental studies will be conducted and historic preservation issues will be addressed.
“There is going to be a lot of going back and forth once the merger team is created,” Welsh said.
The N.C. Department of Transportation will permanently close the intersection of Firetower Road at U.S. 70 in Johnston County later this month.
The department will close the southern connection of the road at U.S. 70 on Monday, Feb. 26, and then close its northern connection at U.S. 70 the following week on Monday, March 5. The closure will improve safety and traffic flow on U.S. 70.
To access the highway from Firetower Road, motorists will use the nearby U.S. 70 interchange at U.S. 70 Business that opened last fall.
“This change will provide for safer traffic movements and reduce the risk of crashes for motorists entering or exiting U.S. 70,” said Brandon Herring, the department’s Deputy Construction Engineer in the Wilson office.
As part of the same project, another newly constructed interchange opened last fall at the intersection of U.S. 70 and Davis Mill Road/Stevens Chapel Road. This interchange is about 2.5 miles east of Firetower Road and includes a bridge and ramps to replace the existing intersection.
This section of U.S. 70 has an average of more than 29,000 vehicles a day – a figure expected to reach 45,000 vehicles by 2035. The $16.7 million project by Flatiron Constructors Inc. of Broomfield, Colo., began in 2015 and is scheduled to wrap up later this year.
NCDOT is holding a public meeting in La Grange on March 22 to discuss three alternatives for upgrading the Jim Sutton Road/Willie Measley Road intersection on US-70 to an interchange. This will remove the only traffic light between Princeton and Kinston. Further details can be found here:
What are the plans for Holt's Pond west of Princeton? Quite a few large houses right off of the highway..
West of the bridges, I don’t know. However, here are the maps of preliminary plans for upgrading US-70 between the bridges crossing Holt’s Pond and the western end of the Goldsboro Bypass. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2023. FWIW, NCDOT has said that they will build services roads where possible to maintain access. If they cannot, the houses will likely be torn down, depending on how much right-of-way is needed. The bridges crossing Holt’s Pond will also have to be replaced, since the shoulders on the current bridges are not wide enough to meet interstate standards.
Plans to upgrade a nearly 7-mile section of U.S. 70 to freeway standards have passed the initial round of the state's evaluation process. That process will determine which Department of Transportation projects will be funded and scheduled for construction over the next decade.
The approximately $125 million project stretches from the western end of the U.S. 70 Goldsboro Bypass in Wayne County to just west of Pondfield Road in Johnston County. The project, which is divided into two sections, would potentially include three new interchanges with overpasses and ramps, as well as new service roads. Once the improvements are made, that section of road will be fully controlled access.
Last November, Wayne and Johnston county residents had the opportunity to make comments and ask questions about the project during a public meeting in Princeton.
The Wayne County end of the project, 3.45 miles, is expected to cost $62.9 million. It scored 75.24 points out of a possible 100.
It stretches from just east of Earl Drive (secondary road 1408) at the western end of the U.S. 70 Goldsboro Bypass to just west of Luby Smith Road (secondary road 1229). Right-of-way acquisition and construction could start in fiscal year 2023.
The second part of the project, which is mostly in Johnston County, would cost $62 million. It stretches from just west of Luby Smith Road to just east of Pondfield Road (secondary road 2314). It received 77.64 points out of a possible 100. Right-of-way acquisition could start in 2025 and construction in 2027.
On Wednesday the DOT released data scores for more than 2,100 transportation improvement projects, including U.S. 70, in the first round of evaluation.
The evaluation process identified 77 high-scoring statewide mobility projects, including U.S. 70, that will be programmed for construction in the upcoming 2020-29 State Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP). They include 48 highway projects programmed for $3 billion in funding, 11 rail projects for $270 million and 18 aviation projects for $9 million.
North Carolinians will be invited to comment on projects and the newly released data scores -- online, in writing or in person at public meetings to be scheduled between April 30 and June 8.
Total scores for projects in the regional category are scheduled to be released in August 2018. A similar process will take place later in fall 2018, for division category projects.
Once all scores are finalized, the top-scoring projects will be programmed for construction based on available funding. Other factors may determine whether a project ultimately moves to construction, including the completion of environmental and engineering plans, corridor spending limits prescribed by law, and other federal and state funding restrictions.
This information will be used to create the next STIP for the years 2020-29.
The DOT will release a draft STIP for public comment in January 2019.
The final 2020-29 STIP is expected to be adopted by the N.C. Board of Transportation in June 2019.
On Wednesday the DOT released data scores for more than 2,100 transportation improvement projects, including U.S. 70, in the first round of evaluation.
Any idea where those are all posted? Would love to do a deep dive on terrible infrastructure in our state, lol.
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