There is a post on city data about the I-26 Green River Bridges. There was supposed to be a Jan 2019 bid date to reconstruct and widen these Bridges to 6 lanes. The bidding has been delayed to explore either a 4 Lane rebuild in place or a 6 Lane bridge on a new location. None of the 6 Lane rebuilds feature mainline widening.
I'll chime in. I mentioned this on here in April and May and made the post on City-Data.
I don't foresee I-26 being widened all the way to the South Carolina state line any time soon, but truck climbing lanes would be a huge benefit, especially around Green River. I don't know if the numbers support it, but it seems like there are way more trucks than there were ten years ago. When loaded, they go about 25-35 mph up the westbound Green River grade. And speaking of Green River, both of those bridges are 50 years old and rated structurally deficient. Whenever they are replaced, I can't imagine they will leave it as four lanes.
It turns out both bridges are scheduled for bridge rehabilitation next year (15BPR.20). The preliminary estimate is $9.6 million, so it sounds like a fair bit of work.
NCDOT 12 MONTH LET LIST (APRIL 2018 0- MARCH 2019
All three alternatives have been under consideration the entire time as part of the report. I'm not sure what "design issues" they've run into, but it's probably the fact that the bridges are NOT in good shape. Emergency repairs had to be made after a
big hole opened up in the bridge deck in June. There is also the possibility that the bridges will have to be posted for weight limits, pending further inspection and analysis.
There are pros and cons to all three alternatives:
- A basic rehabilitation is the cheapest option, but doesn't increase capacity. There will be major traffic issues associated with a one-lane configuration and lane shifts while each bridge is worked on, including width restrictions.
- Rehabilitating and widening the existing bridges will increase capacity, but will require a design exception due to sub-standard shoulder widths. Major traffic issues with one-lane configuration while each bridge is worked on.
- New structure on new location will have the least impact on current traffic and won't require continual rehabilitation of the existing bridges, but is obviously the most expensive option.
You can read a news article about the 1993 bridge repairs
here. Basically, they used sub-standard steel and made crappy welds when it was built.
As far as widening, there is nothing official beyond US-25/Exit 54 yet. That section currently isn't scheduled to be widened before 2025. However, a couple of big projects in Division 14 have recently been abandoned due to public outcry, so those funds may get redirected to the I-26 widening and the project gets accelerated. They may only add truck climbing lanes through that section and stop, or they may explore future widening east to US-74 in Columbus. That won't be cheap going down the mountain, and I suspect the Division would rather the money go to widening the more traveled I-40 in Haywood County from US-74 to the Buncombe County line.
The 2016 AADT at the bridges is 39,000 vehicles. The 2040 traffic forecast for the I-26 widening estimates 61,800 vehicles east of US-25, and the 2040 traffic forecast for the I-26/US-74 interchange project in Columbus estimates 44,600 vehicles west to Saluda. The former sounds too high, and the latter sounds too low, so I'm going to average it to 53,000 vehicles per day for the design year.
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Topic: North Carolina (Read 984339 times)