Last Updated on February 4, 2012 3:26 pm
N.C. Department of Transportation Secretary Gene Conti has awarded a contract to improve 1.5 miles of West Main Street (N.C. 88) in Jefferson from N.C. 194 to South Main Street (U.S. 221 Business).
The $3.6 million contract was awarded to Watson Contracting Inc. of Franklin. Work can begin as early as Feb. 27 and is scheduled to be completed by Oct. 1, 2013.
This project includes realigning and improving the intersection of N.C. 88/N.C. 194.
A half-mile of N.C. 88 will be widened from two to three lanes from Lawson Lane to South Main Street, and the entire 1.5-mile stretch also will be resurfaced.
The project also includes replacing a culvert over Little Buffalo Creek, as well as installing new signals. When necessary, an off-site detour route will be set up. Heading west out of Jefferson, traffic can take South Main Street to N.C. 194, with eastbound traffic taking the reverse.
This is one of 39 contracts totaling $203.2 million awarded by Conti for highway and bridge projects across North Carolina. NCDOT awarded the contracts to the lowest bidders, as required by state law. The bids received on the projects awarded came in about 2.9 percent, or about $6.2 million, below NCDOT estimates.
