A railroad crossing on Klumac Road just off South Main Street will close for more than three years starting Monday as the state begins a $7.6 million project to build a bridge and realign the street.
The closure starts at 11 a.m. Monday and is scheduled to remain in place until the project is complete in October 2016, the N.C. Department of Transportation said in a news release.
The project has two key parts:

• Building a bridge for train traffic over Klumac Road and an underpass for motor vehicle traffic on Klumac Road at the railroad crossing; and
• Realigning .6 miles of Klumac Road from Main Street to just south of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. Crews will shift the road over roughly a block to accommodate the bridge/underpass construction.
Motorists traveling through the area must follow a signed detour route.
The Transportation Department says about 4,300 vehicles drive over the Klumac Road railroad crossing each day, and about 40 trains pass the crossing daily.
By separating the vehicles from the trains, the project will greatly reduce the potential for accidents while helping traffic flow more efficiently through the area, the state agency said.
This project is part of the Piedmont Improvement Program, a series of rail projects that transportation officials say will improve safety and mobility on the corridor between Raleigh and Charlotte.
These projects are primarily funded by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and will be completed by Sept. 30, 2017.