WILSON’S MILLS – The NC Department of Transportation is taking immediate action to improve safety in the US 70 construction zone in Wilson’s Mills.
Saturday night, a car drifted off US 70 eastbound into the median and into a deep rut. The rut caused the car to overturn three times. Fortunately the driver walked away without serious injury.
This is the fourth accident in the work zone caused by drivers veering out of their travel lanes at night and into the deep rut.
Johnston County Report reached out to the NCDOT this week. Johnston County NCDOT resident engineer Ryan Beamer went to the site for an inspection.
Following the site visit, Mr. Beamer requested several safety improvements be made this week to improve safety for drivers. Among the changes, contractors will fill in the rut with compacted gravel, remove existing white mini-skip lines and replace them with a solid yellow line more visible to drivers traveling through the work area. Raised pavement markers will be added along with the solid yellow line.
Some raised pavement markers were found to be missing from both the east and westbound travel lanes, primarily due to wear. The missing markers will be replaced.
The NCDOT will also require the edge of the asphalt be lined with reflective drums. Several drums were noted as being knocked over or out of alignment during the engineer’s inspection. The drums will be realigned through the construction area.
Most, if not all, of the corrective actions should be completed by the end of the day, Friday, March 22.
Glad something is being done. I have been thru the area, and it is bad. I think the construction companies and the State has been really negligent with the public’s safety. I am glad the person was not injured in his roll over. This was the first I heard of it.