RALEIGH — A project to widen and upgrade a 27-mile stretch of Interstate 95 through Robeson and Cumberland counties may get started sooner than scheduled because of an influx of millions of federal dollars.

“We anticipate that by the month of January the DOT will adopt an amendment to the STIP,” said Andrew Barksdale, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Transportation.

The Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan is a 10-year program that prioritizes and allocates resources and funding to transportation improvement projects. The current STIP was adopted in September 2018 and covers 2020 through 2029. The I-95 project, originally scheduled to start in 2026, was pushed back to 2028 when the STIP was adopted.

However, the state DOT recently was awarded more then $51 million to help fund three transportation improvement projects in North Carolina. Of that, $22.5 million is for the widening and improving of 27 miles of I-95 from Exit 22 to a point near Hope Mills.

Those Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development, or BUILD, grant dollars will allow NCDOT to re-evaluate the STIP, Barksdale. In so doing, the start time for the I-95 project may be pushed up from the 2028 target date in the STIP.

“These grants are highly competitive, and they will help us modernize Interstate 95 in North Carolina,” said Grady Hunt, the N.C. Board of Transportation’s representative from Robeson County. “This is a vital route in our state, and many consider I-95 to be the Main Street of the East Coast.”

Pushing the establishment of an earlier start date is the U.S. Department of Transportation’s expectation that the money awarded to North Carolina be utilized in a timely fashion.

“We are going to move faster on this project and spend this grant and the state money allocated to it,” Barksdale said.

One objective is to widen the stretch of interstate to eight lanes in order to improve traffic flow between mile markers 13 and 40, he said. Another is to upgrade the stretch to prevent the types of flooding seen along I-95 during hurricanes Matthew, in 2016, and Florence, in 2018.

One flood mitigation project is raising the bridge that crosses the Lumber River, Barksdale said. Segments of interstate that were covered by floodwaters from the two hurricanes also will be raised.

“We know from experience with recent hurricanes Matthew and Florence that we have to make our highways and other transportation infrastructure more resilient and less susceptible to major flooding in the future,” said Greg Burns, the division engineer who oversees NCDOT work in Bladen, Columbus, Cumberland, Harnett and Robeson counties.

The project also calls for interchanges and overpasses to be improved and for the installation of state-of-the-art flood monitoring technology to better monitor hurricane evacuation routes, he said.

Traffic will flow along the 27-mile stretch throughout all of the construction, he said. Two lanes of the interstate will remain open, but the shoulders will be narrower. The only time traffic might be diverted off I-95 is when certain work is being done at night on overpasses.

The U.S. DOT also awarded $15 million in BUILD grant money to the city of Greenville for a multimodal improvement project to enhance the city’s vehicle, pedestrian, and bicycle infrastructure. The town of Mooresville was awarded $13.6 million for the construction of a new 1.7-mile roadway from Interstate 77 to N.C. 115/Mecklenburg Highway.

The BUILD grant is the second federal grant that helps pay for I-95 projects.

In June 2018 a $147 million Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grant was awarded for I-95 and U.S. 70 improvements, according the NCDOT. The INFRA grant was earmarked for widening two sections of I-95 north of Fayetteville to eight lanes, improving six interchanges, and upgrading sections of U.S. 70 to future Interstate 42 in eastern North Carolina. The grant also will pay for the installation of 300 miles of fiber optic cable along both highways to expand access to broadband and telecommunication access.

T.C. Hunter

Managing editor

Reach T.C. Hunter via email at [email protected] or by calling 910-816-1974.