RALEIGH – The following are highlights from this past week at the N.C. Department of Transportation. The stories below are also featured in NCDOT Now, the department’s weekly newscast.
NCDOT Division 8 Clears Road Closures
Number of closures down to 30
ABERDEEN – As Hurricane Florence battered the state’s rural Piedmont region, the number of road locations that became impassable topped 200. By Tuesday of last week, the number had dwindled to 30.
After the storm blew through, a small army of about 200 employees for NCDOT’s Division 8 quickly moved out to remove fallen debris, fix washouts and repair shoulders and pavement to resume normal traffic operations as soon as possible. Their arsenal of equipment included 99 chainsaws, 103 dump trucks and 27 backhoe tractors, plus other machinery.
The highway division is responsible for Chatham, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Randolph, Richmond and Scotland counties.
The storm required a dozen bridges to close across the division, but all have since reopened. Only one primary route in the division remains closed. U.S. 1 in Richmond County is closed to through traffic because a bridge on the same highway just across the South Carolina line is damaged.
Floodwaters and collapsed trees were worse in the division in Montgomery, Richmond, Moore, Lee and Scotland counties. Scotland County, with 13 closures as of Monday, has the largest number of roads in the division still impassable. There problems there include roads with pavement damage and washed-out shoulders. Richmond County has the second-most number of closures with five.
“We were fortunate we could move crews around within our division to the counties that were more impacted by the hurricane,” said Chuck Dumas, the Division 8 maintenance engineer. “Our employees have worked tirelessly through three weekends on getting our public road access restored.”
The division has largely completed collecting storm debris along state highways in seven of its counties, and will focus on Scotland County the week of Oct. 8. Moving forward, the division’s highway maintenance and bridge maintenance crews will continue making repairs until every road is open. The goal is to reopen all routes by next month. Aiding the division are five contracting companies.
Hurricane Road Repairs
As towns and cities in southeastern North Carolina work to get back on their feet after Hurricane Florence, the department is pushing to make repairs as quickly as possible.
At the height of the storm there were more than 1,600 sections of closed roads and bridges across the state. Thanks to dedicated crews, there are now less than 135. Of those, 12 primary routes will require longer repairs and the rest are secondary roads.
U.S. 421 in New Hanover County will require the most work after it was washed out in both directions by the hurricane. The initial plan is to open it in a two-lane, two-way temporary traffic pattern while more extensive repairs are underway.
Understanding the urgent need for drivers to be able to get where they need to go, the department is working diligently to have all road closures back open by the end of the year, with the exception of a few locations where bridges have to be built.
Motorists can check to see if specific routes have reopened by visiting DriveNC.gov.
Powell Bill Improvements
The department is distributing more than $147 million in state street aid to local municipalities, also known as the Powell Bill.
This year, the program is helping more than 500 local governments with improvements or repairs to roads they maintain, along with construction or maintenance of bridges, drainage, curbs and gutters.
Seventy-five percent of the funding is determined by population, while 25 percent is based on the number of locally maintained street miles.
Hurricane Florence Donations
Fellow North Carolinians who are recovering after Hurricane Florence still need help as cleanup continues. Donations can be safely made at Governor Cooper’s website.
For more information about NCDOT Now, contact the NCDOT Communications Office at (919) 707-2660. Additional news stories from throughout the week can be found on NCDOT.gov.
N.C. Airports Receive Funding from State Transportation Board
RALEIGH – The N.C. Board of Transportation has approved state and federal funds for much-needed improvements to four North Carolina airports.
Almost $1.8 million in funding, approved by the board during its September meeting, will be used to provide improvements such as better runway lighting, new fuel tanks and safer taxiways.
The projects the N.C. Board of Transportation approved include:
- $685,800 for reimbursement of land acquired for airport development at Charlotte-Monroe Executive Airport;
- $1,009,031 for rehabilitation of the parallel taxiway and associated connecting taxiways, as part of an ongoing runway rehab project at Mid-Carolina Regional Airport (Salisbury);
- $65,000 in additional funding for design of a total perimeter fence, and bid and construction of the Phase I portion, at the Montgomery County Airport.
North Carolina airports serve as a vital economic engine connecting people and business enterprises with the world. They are among the primary economic drivers in their local communities.
Airports and aviation-related industries contribute more than $31 billion to North Carolina’s economy each year, according to a 2016 report. There are 123,400 airport-related jobs in the state. The Division of Aviation is responsible for airport and aviation system planning and development, and provides funding to local communities for constructing and improving airports throughout the state.
The funds awarded do not in all cases represent the total cost of the project.
For real-time travel information, visit DriveNC.gov or follow NCDOT on Twitter.
Editor’s note: It is the policy of the Richmond Observer to print news release material in its original format, as it was received, with minimal, if any, editorial adjustments.
