JULY 29, 2010 ISSUE
Highway 421 Widening Project Continues
Contractors Working Fast To Complete ‘Critical Phase’ by Start of School Year
New traffic patterns, delays and construction activity have been the norm along this stretch of Highway 421 between the Highway 105 Extension and Daniel Boone Drive since June 2009. 
Demolition of several dozen businesses and residences took place in 2009 to make way for a wider highway near the new high school.The widening of Highway 421 in Boone near the new Watauga High School will significantly improve traffic flow when completed, and contractors are nearing a crucial deadline in the process.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has been working on the widening project since June 2009, said Mike Pettyjohn, NCDOT division engineer. According to Frank Gioscio, NCDOT resident engineer, the project calls for the widening of Highway 421/King Street from Hardin Street to the Highway 194 intersection in Boone. The total cost of right-of-way acquisitions for the project was approximately $24 million, and the total construction cost of the project is above $14 million, not counting design and environmental costs. The majority of the project is funded with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, or stimulus funds.
“There’s a critical phase we’re trying to get done prior to school starting back,” Pettyjohn said last week. The critical phase involves having more lanes in the New Market Drive area open for traffic going up toward the high school, Pettyjohn said. Even after this critical phase is completed, some lanes will be closed until the project is complete in 2011.
A $300,000 incentive is listed in the contract if the critical phase is completed by Friday, August 6, just in time for school to start.
The widening project has included demolishing about 30 structures along the road, building retaining walls and moving utilities both above and below ground.
The timeline of the project has gone well despite the harsh winter in Boone, Pettyjohn said. “The contractor was able to accomplish more considering the winter than anyone thought possible.”
For more information, click to www.ncdot.org.
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