Work will soon be underway to replace two aging bridges and repave a seven-mile section of I-95 in Johnston County. The N.C. Department of Transportation has awarded a $53.1 million contract to Fred Smith Company of Raleigh to smooth I-95 between south of Lizzie Mill Road and the Wilson County line and replace the bridges.
This section of road sees nearly 36,000 vehicles per day and that number is expected to increase to almost 42,000 by 2037. In addition to paving, the contract includes grading and drainage work.
The bridges over I-95 at Lizzie Mill Road and Bizzell Grove Church Road will be replaced with longer and wider bridges to accommodate any future widening of I-95. The current bridges are 61 and 59 years old, respectively. Both are classified as functionally obsolete, meaning that they were built to standards no longer in use.
Most of the repaving will take place at night, but some daytime lane closures are expected. There will be periodic night-time closures of I-95 for the bridge construction and detours will be in place. NCDOT will notify the public ahead of these closures.
Work can begin Aug. 28 and is expected to be complete by September 2020. Additional vegetation work may continue until March 2021.
This was one of 16 highway and bridge project contracts recently awarded by the Department of Transportation. They are worth about $204.5 million, more than $13 million under earlier DOT estimates.
