LUMBERTON – Lumberton motorists, who likely have found themselves annoyed at having to detour around a main exit into town off Interstate 95, could find some comfort in knowing that the Carthage Road (Exit 19) Bridge should have traffic back on it in the fall.

That construction work, which falls under the N.C. Department of Transportation’s parent $432 million I-95 widening project from exits 13 to 22, is replacing the old bridge with a modern and safer structure.

The Carthage Road Bridge dates back to the late 1950s and early ‘60s.

At this time, drivers are able to get on and off at the exit, but they cannot cross over the interstate until the modern bridge is built. The detour relies on the service roads on the sides of the interstate, directing traffic to use Exit 20 in order to cross over the highway.

The new bridge will be taller, longer and wider.

“We’re on schedule. We had some utility issues. But we’re on track,” Mike Parker, a resident engineer for Division 6 who works out of the Lumberton office, said of the comprehensive construction work that will enlarge that portion of the interstate from four to eight lanes.

Once completed, the state DOT has said, I-95 will be enlarged to eight lanes from mile marker 13 to mile marker 40 and then six lanes from mile marker 40 to 41.

As for the current Carthage Road Bridge construction, Parker said, the girders are in the process of being set on the bridge.

“Which is a major milestone,” he added, “because once we set the girders on the bridge, we can actually begin forming up the bridge deck to court. So we’ve got those girders set, we’re working on getting the flooring in so we can actually start getting ready to place the concrete.

“Right now — just thinking about it on the calendar — I would say probably the first part of the fall of this year we should be opening it up,” said Parker, adding that it should be around “September, October or November getting traffic back on it.”

The parent I-95 widening project has a scheduled completion date of December 2026. That’s subject to change due to weather and scheduling.

Work on it got underway in November 2021.

“Now once we get the bridge deck poured, we have to go in there and build the roadway approaches to it. There’s going to be a roundabout on each side of it, and it’s going to be updated to the newest safety design and standards to handle traffic,” Parker said. “As it was before, it was too old a design.

According to Parker, “It didn’t provide the level of user comfort that we need now, as far as lane width, shoulder width and visibility to cross the bridge deck. Once we get done with the bridge, it’s going to be wider, bigger, able to carry more cars, more people more safely and more efficiently across the bridge. When we get everything tied in, motorists will have access to the bridge deck.”

Parker said the former bridge has been taken completely out and is being replaced from the ground up.

“It’s going to have the bridge merry rails on the outside – they’re going to be taller. It’s going to be wider and taller and be built to more of a true enhanced safety design,” he said. “The other one was not. The merry rails on the older are shorter. If people could go out there, they could directly fall off the bridge. But now they’re going to be taller.”

In that case, should a motorist break down, they will be able to access the bridge safely and not have to worry about falling off the structure.

As for the phasing for the project, he noted that Exits 17 and 20 are also under construction.

“The contract for (exit) 19 let them tear it down to the ground and not have to maintain traffic,” Parker said. “Because we’ve got (Exit) 17 to the south and (Exit) 20 to the north, we can use those as detours to get around exit 19. Due to the lower volumes (of traffic at Exit) 19, that’s why we let them tear 19 down versus having to keep traffic on it like 17 and 20.”

Similar to the Lumber River Bridge, the Carthage Road Bridge will feature classic merry rails, which are the more ornate rails, and light pedestals. Light poles will be installed into the structure.

“We’re on track. We’re on schedule,” he reiterated. “We should be working toward our project completion.”