The NC Department of Transportation has awarded a $12.9 million contract to Fred Smith Company for the replacement of two bridges on I-95 in Johnston County.
The north and southbound bridges over the Little River, located just north of Exit 105 for Bagley Road, were constructed in 1956 and are classified as Structurally Deficient and Functionally Obsolete. This means that the bridges are safe. However, they require significant maintenance to remain in service and were built to design standards no longer in use.
The new bridges will be built to modern design standards and will not have posted weight limits. Work will begin this spring on the replacement project, with completion scheduled for late fall 2018. An exact start date has not been set at this time. 
Each new bridge will have two travel lanes, however they will be built wide enough to accommodate four lanes of traffic in the future. The new northbound bridge will also have an additional outside lane that will serve as the onramp for traffic from Bagley Road merging on the interstate. This will give traffic more time to merge on to I-95. Both bridges will remain open during their replacement with occasional lane closures in place when necessary.
The outside half of each new bridge will be constructed first while traffic continues to use the existing north and southbound bridges. Once this is complete, traffic will be shifted to the new outside half of each new bridge. The original two bridges will then be demolished and the new inside half of each bridge will be constructed.
