OCTOBER 18 - 24, 2017 UCW 13
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM
Construction of a pair of multimillion-
dollar railroad overpasses in downtown
Fayetteville has been ongoing since No-
vember 2016. The project includes con-
struction of a larger than usual 1,200-foot
culvert to carry water beneath the roadway.
Cross Creek f lows adjacent to Bragg Bou-
levard and has historically resulted in ma-
jor f looding during hurricanes and heavy
storms. The new structure will replace the
aging Rowan Street bridge that was built
60 years ago. It will have six lanes of traffic,
three in each direction, and a center con-
crete median. There will be sidewalks and
retaining walls on each side.
The project is running about 15 percent
ahead of schedule, said North Carolina
DOT spokesman Andrew Barksdale. "We
have not adjusted the original completion
date of May 2020 because there is still a lot
of intricate work to be done, and we may
encounter weather delays in the future."
The Rowan Street bridge carries N.C.
24-210 over CSX railroad tracks, and sepa-
rately the Norfolk Southern Railroad along
with Hillsboro Street. The project is about
a half mile in length. The new bridges will
be opened to traffic in late 2019 with other
minor work to occur afterward. The project
will culminate in May of 2020, Barksdale
added. Motorists are already seeing im-
provements to streets that will radiate from
the Bragg Boulevard side of the bridges.
Rowan Street, Murchison Road and
Bragg Boulevard w ill be realigned to
meet at a single intersection. Except for
the temporar y rerouting of Hillsboro
Street, there has been little disruption of
traffic in the area.
Payments to the contractor are running
1 percent over what had been projected to
have been paid at this point, according to
Barksdale. The minor increase is because
of some additional items of work that were
identified after the contract was approved
last year. "Spending may even out or be
below the project bid of $24.3 million,"
Barksdale added.
The massive construction project is
expected to be completed about the time
season one of Fayetteville's Houston Astros
minor league baseball team concludes. The
adjoining stadium is to be completed well
before the spring of 2019. What about the
old bridge? It will be torn down.
New Rowan Street bridge takes shape
by JEFF THOMPSON
NEWS
JEFF THOMPSON, Senior News
Reporter. COMMENTS? news@upand-
comingweekly.com. (910) 484-6200.
The Rowan Street bridge carries N.C. 24-210 over CSX railroad tracks, and sepa-
rately the Norfolk Southern Railroad along with Hillsboro Street.