The N.C. Department of Transportation said yesterday that it will close Business 40 through downtown Winston-Salem for two years to make repairs to a one-mile section of the highway that includes 11 bridges.
Work on the $70 million project is scheduled to begin in 2015, said Pat Ivey, the DOT's division engineer in Winston-Salem.
The highway will be closed from east of Church Street to west of Fourth Street. About 100 DOT employees will remove the existing pavement and replace it with new concrete, Ivey said. The section is expected to reopen in 2017.
The project will also involve improving entrance and exit ramps, which would be completed in 2018.
State transportation officials considered the views of many people before they decided to close the highway, Ivey said.
The department surveyed residents about whether they preferred the highway to be closed for two years or partially closed for up to six years, with one lane of traffic open in each direction.
"They told us to get in, get out and stay out," Ivey said.
About 60,000 vehicles travel daily on the highway, which opened in 1960. The highway had a state-of-the-art design when it was built, Ivey said.
"But it wasn't designed to handle that type of traffic that is out there now," he said.
Ivey said that the project would not receive federal stimulus money because it isn't "shovel-ready."
Before work can begin, the DOT will first work on roads and bridges that will serve as detour routes, including U.S. 52, the Salem Creek connector and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
The department hasn't set a construction date for those projects.
Jo Anne Allen was one of about 80 people who gathered at the Old Salem Visitor Center yesterday for a workshop on the Business 40 project. Allen, a local lawyer who works with the Liberty Community Development Corp., said that residents need to remain patient while the highway is closed.
"We knew it was going to come eventually," Allen said. "Everyone needs to have a little give and take. Then the project can proceed."
Mayor Allen Joines said that the project is necessary.
"I think you gotta do it, just from a pure safety standpoint," Joines said. "The road was built in the 1950s, so it's in major need of improvements."
City Manager Lee Garrity said that city residents will adapt to the project, and the city's downtown streets can handle the additional traffic caused by detours.
"What we're going to try our best to do is to minimize the effect on neighborhoods," Garrity said. "I think it's better to have it closed for two years and then have it over with."
jhinton@wsjournal.com
727-7299
Journal reporter Laura Graff contributed to this story.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement