It’s going to come down to the wire, but the remaining roundabouts should be open in time for school.
NCDOT communications officer David Uchiyama said that the remaining two roundabouts are about 80 percent complete. The one at Maple Street is now open to traffic while work continues.
Much of the work that still needs to be done will not require for roads to be fully closed off, so he hopes to have traffic on the roundabouts by the first day of school. He expects that the project will be complete by Sept. 1.
“It is our anticipation, barring weather issues, that the roundabouts will be open by Aug. 17 and traffic will be on the roundabouts,” Uchiyama said. “Porter Street will be still closed. We are constructing a retaining wall there which is an extra project within a project.”
Aside from Porter Street, there may still be intermittent lane closings through the rest of the month. Uchiyama said the contractor is aware of the increase rise in traffic and is prepared to optimize the flow.
“Once school begins, the contractor will work using daily lane closures as needed to complete the finish work,” he said. “These lane closures will be scheduled around school start and stop time to allow for a smooth flow of traffic.”
The remaining work to be done involves hand work on the shoulders and one more layer of surface mix at the Womack Street roundabout, grading and concrete work at the Maple Street roundabout and the construction of the soldier pile wall at the Porter Street roundabout.