RALEIGH — The N.C. Department of Transportation has awarded a $1.4 million contract to replace a bridge on Gooch Mills Road over the Tar River, west of Oxford in Granville County. United Contractors LLC of Great Falls, S.C. won the contract to replace the 59-year-old bridge, which is considered structurally deficient and functionally obsolete. That means its original design no longer meets current standards for width and shoulders, and that there are elements of the bridge that have had to be monitored to maintain its structural integrity. It does NOT mean the bridge is unsafe.
Construction can begin as early as Nov. 28, and must start no later than April 1, 2012. All work except planting and reforestation has to be completed no later than 225 days after work starts, and the project is scheduled to be completely finished by Dec. 31, 2012.
A detour route will be in place, using U.S. 158, Culbreth Road and Lewis Jones Road.
This is one of 11 contracts totaling $71.7 million awarded by Transportation Secretary Gene Conti for highway and bridge projects across North Carolina. The contracts were awarded to the lowest bidders, as required by state law. The winning bids received on the projects came in about 12.2 percent, or about $10 million, below NCDOT estimates. Since Gov. Bev Perdue took office in January of 2009, NCDOT has awarded 427 highway contracts totaling $3.4 billion to ensure that all North Carolinians have access to jobs and educational opportunities.
For more information about funding for infrastructure improvements in North Carolina, as well as other NCDOT projects and activities, visit www.ncdot.gov.