AUGUST 27, 2009 ISSUE
Highway 421 Widening Project Construction Ramps Up
Contractor To Install Sewer and Water Lines, Storm Drains, Retaining Walls Next Week. Photo by Patrick Pitzer
Traffic delays are coming soon for motorists traveling on King Street in Boone. According to NCDOT Assistant Resident Engineer Ed Treadaway, the contractor in charge of the Highway 421 widening project informed NCDOT this week that it will begin installing water and sewer lines and storm drains at Highway 194, between the Wilco gas station and New Market Shopping Center, next week. In addition, the contractor will begin work on Highway 421 in front of Country Inn & Suites and Best Western next week, prepping the site for retaining walls. Both projects, said Treadaway, could require lane closures, which, if enacted, will create traffic in both directions.
“The work next week may or may not involve a flagging operation—we just don’t know,” said Treadaway. “We hope not, but it might.
“The work on Highway 421 in front of the hotels is some preliminary work to begin the process of building the new retaining walls,” explained Treadaway. Massive retaining walls will be built to shore up the hill in front of the two hotels. To construct the walls, NCDOT said construction crews will have to blast multiple times in five-minute increments, probably in the early mornings.
Although lane closures on Highway 421 will be the norm for the foreseeable future, business owners in New Market Shopping Center are reminding customers that they will still be able to access the center with relative ease.
“[Customers] will be able to get through; we’re still accessible,” said Pat Dale of Blue Ridge Birds & Gardens.
Earlier this summer, NCDOT Division Engineer Trent Beaver explained certain NCDOT requirements that the contractor has to abide by during the Highway 421 widening project. Lane closures can only take place between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., and the requirements include:
-The contractor will not be able to close any lanes of traffic on King Street, Hardin Street, Highway 105, Highway 221 or New Market Drive between 7:00 to 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 and 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
-The contractor will not work on any state holidays.
-Throughout October’s peak leaf season, the contractor will not be able to close any lanes of traffic from 6:00 p.m. on the Thursday before any weekend to 7:00 a.m. on the Monday after each weekend.
-For ASU home football games, the contractor will not be able to close any lanes of traffic for six hours before the start of the game to three hours after the game ends.
-For ASU graduation, the contractor will not be able to close any lanes of traffic from 6:00 p.m. on the day before ASU graduation to 7:00 a.m. on the day after graduation.
According to Treadaway, the contractor’s plans can change on short notice, and much of the work will take place at night.
The $15 million Highway 421 widening project will improve 1.1 miles of road, widening Highway 421/King Street to a four- to six-lane divided highway with a raised median from Hardin Street to Highway 194. NCDOT expects work to conclude by December 2011.
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