North Carolina

[ARMOURERERIC]

I also weighed in on projects I am locally familiar with.  I40 from 321 to exit 128 is about 10 years overdue, I suggested an interim improvement of extending the eb 321 cd road on ramp along 40 to the US 70 overcrosssing. Also, the Jamestown road interchange, exit 100.  As I sit backed up in traffic when the Aumovio plant let's out at 3pm, the bridge actually shakes when I am passed by a semi.  I suggested that they reach out to Aumovio about future employment levels that will change their calculus on traffic volume.  Finally, the US 64, exit 103 interchange is shot, too much student population growth at Western Piedmont has finally overwhelmed it. I suggested including auxiliary lanes between 103 and 104.

[ARMOURERERIC]

As I review to projects on that list....what total score is required to say get a 75% chance of the project being added to the stip?

I am glad to see NCDots evolving think on the I-40 mainline in my area:  For years I was aware of the proposed 8 laning from exit 123-126 and seperate 6 laning from 126-128, I began to express concern 6 years ago that by the time they got around to it, the scope would be out of date.  This new map shows 3 segments:  6 lanes exit 116 to 123, 8 lanes 123-128, and back to 6 lanes 128-132, this more accurately represents current need.  For those unfamiliar with I-40 through the Hickory area, the segment between exit 119 and 130 was built around 1978 and with all the overcrossings built to accommodate this widening, along with adequate median ROW.  Only 116-119, built in the late 1950's (overcrossing bridges at 118 and 119 are scheduled for near term replacement), and 130-132, built in the early 1960's need additional ROW.

[Strider]

I also weighed in on projects I am locally familiar with.  I40 from 321 to exit 128 is about 10 years overdue, I suggested an interim improvement of extending the eb 321 cd road on ramp along 40 to the US 70 overcrosssing. Also, the Jamestown road interchange, exit 100.  As I sit backed up in traffic when the Aumovio plant let's out at 3pm, the bridge actually shakes when I am passed by a semi.  I suggested that they reach out to Aumovio about future employment levels that will change their calculus on traffic volume.  Finally, the US 64, exit 103 interchange is shot, too much student population growth at Western Piedmont has finally overwhelmed it. I suggested including auxiliary lanes between 103 and 104.

Do you have any links to the maps?

[ARMOURERERIC]

See post 5798

[architect77]

Despite first releasing the first State Mobility funded project list back in May, NCDOT has just now posted a press release with links to a new project list and an interactive project map:
https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2026/2026-07-01-ncdot-seeks-input-future-projects.aspx

The interactive project map provides the mobility scores and allows you to comment on possible projects, such as upgrading US 220 from NC 68 to the Virginia border to interstate standards (scores for this are very low):
https://ncdot.publicinput.com/p8map#H142083

Public input will be used to create the Draft 2028-2037 STIP due out next year.

Thanks for that link. I'm upset that US1 North of Raleigh to Franklin Co. widening is not on it, and I can't find it on the current STIP either. This is one of the most urgent needs statewide. It is Raleigh's only link to the states and cities to the North and it's so slow every day that people refuse to buy houses in this area because of the gridlock.

[Rothman]

Despite first releasing the first State Mobility funded project list back in May, NCDOT has just now posted a press release with links to a new project list and an interactive project map:
https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2026/2026-07-01-ncdot-seeks-input-future-projects.aspx

The interactive project map provides the mobility scores and allows you to comment on possible projects, such as upgrading US 220 from NC 68 to the Virginia border to interstate standards (scores for this are very low):
https://ncdot.publicinput.com/p8map#H142083

Public input will be used to create the Draft 2028-2037 STIP due out next year.

Thanks for that link. I'm upset that US1 North of Raleigh to Franklin Co. widening is not on it, and I can't find it on the current STIP either. This is one of the most urgent needs statewide. It is Raleigh's only link to the states and cities to the North and it's so slow every day that people refuse to buy houses in this area because of the gridlock.

Preservation first?

[ARMOURERERIC]

Or ease of ROW aquisition.

[ARMOURERERIC]

I thought there was a specific US 221 Rutherfordton Bypass thread, but I could not find it.  I plan to make my quarterly progress joyride of this and the Shelby Bypass on Sunday eve.

This morning, a Facebook poster from Gilkey NC posted video showing that US 221 at the northern most leg of the project has been shifted to the newly constructed lanes eventually to be used for southbound traffic, the video only went as far south as Thompson Rd.

[hwyfan]

Was the old Manns Harbor (Umstead) bridge carrying US 64 across Croatan Sound ever intended to have a draw span on it?  I noticed what appeared to be a steel grid deck at the navigational channel and a lay by perhaps for bridge tender parking.  This is the original two lane span, not the nearby four lane Virginia Dare span, which carries US 64 bypass. 


https://maps.app.goo.gl/Kdqybcdf77hvNuZr6

[Dirt Roads]

Was the old Manns Harbor (Umstead) bridge carrying US 64 across Croatan Sound ever intended to have a draw span on it?  I noticed what appeared to be a steel grid deck at the navigational channel and a lay by perhaps for bridge tender parking.  This is the original two lane span, not the nearby four lane Virginia Dare span, which carries US 64 bypass. 


https://maps.app.goo.gl/Kdqybcdf77hvNuZr6

This is what the Corps of Engineers refers to as a removable span bridge (RSB).  There are certainly instances of former drawbridges being removed and converted into a removable span bridge, but I'm not so sure this was ever such a location.  (I don't ever recall an operable drawbridge on the Manns Harbor bridge; my earliest recollection is from the mid-1980s but the bridge was constructed in 1955).  This type of structure allows the Corps to set up a crane on the platform to remove the deck when marine vessel needs arise.  Newer bridges of this type don't include a side platform since it is fairly easy to get a barge-mounted crane.

IIRC, there was at one former drawbridge in the Jacksonville (Florida) area that was converted to a removable span bridge in recent history (mid-1980s perhaps).

The Coast Guard keeps track of which bridges have a removable span bridge, but I can't find a good database. 

[Mapmikey]

(I don't ever recall an operable drawbridge on the Manns Harbor bridge; my earliest recollection is from the mid-1980s but the bridge was constructed in 1955).

County maps confirm this was never a draw bridge

[hwyfan]

Was the old Manns Harbor (Umstead) bridge carrying US 64 across Croatan Sound ever intended to have a draw span on it?  I noticed what appeared to be a steel grid deck at the navigational channel and a lay by perhaps for bridge tender parking.  This is the original two lane span, not the nearby four lane Virginia Dare span, which carries US 64 bypass. 


https://maps.app.goo.gl/Kdqybcdf77hvNuZr6

This is what the Corps of Engineers refers to as a removable span bridge (RSB).  There are certainly instances of former drawbridges being removed and converted into a removable span bridge, but I'm not so sure this was ever such a location.  (I don't ever recall an operable drawbridge on the Manns Harbor bridge; my earliest recollection is from the mid-1980s but the bridge was constructed in 1955).  This type of structure allows the Corps to set up a crane on the platform to remove the deck when marine vessel needs arise.  Newer bridges of this type don't include a side platform since it is fairly easy to get a barge-mounted crane.

IIRC, there was at one former drawbridge in the Jacksonville (Florida) area that was converted to a removable span bridge in recent history (mid-1980s perhaps).

The Coast Guard keeps track of which bridges have a removable span bridge, but I can't find a good database.

That's a very interesting explanation.   It makes sense.  I wonder whether there were any times where they needed to do that with the crane.

I saw that one corner of the navigational span had an elevated pier which made me wonder whether that was intended for a future operator house for a bascule draw span. 

[cowboy_wilhelm]

Millions needed, no timeline set for Howard Gap Road repairs

Has there been another instance of a NCDOT-maintained road being closed for this long? Seven years and counting. The cost to rebuild is at least $23 million and ineligible for federal disaster reimbursement. Traffic volumes are very low, so it understandably a low priority. There is a proposed project in Prioritization 8 to build a new interchange on I-26 at Indian Mountain Rd. that would partially eliminate the need for rebuilding the road, but the estimate for the interchange is somehow $108 million and probably won't score high enough to ever be funded.