SPENCER — Drivers on U.S. 29 will be detoured at the Yadkin River for more than a year now that the N.C. Department of Transportation has closed a bridge slated for demolition and replacement.
The state closed the bridge this morning and began sending drivers along alternate routes. A safer and more modern bridge will be finished in place of the existing one by fall 2013, the Transportation Department said.
While that work is ongoing, southbound traffic crossing the river separating Rowan and Davidson counties will be diverted to the Wil-Cox Bridge, which crews restored last year and which eventually will be turned over to Davidson for use as a pedestrian bridge.
Drivers traveling north from Spencer on U.S. 29/70 will follow Andrews Street to Old Union Church Road to Interstate 85, or they can take U.S. 29/70 to Long Ferry Road to access I-85.
In addition to closing the bridge, NCDOT will also close the entrance ramp from U.S. 29/70 to I-85.
Built in 1951, the U.S. 29/70 bridge was not constructed to modern design standards and does not efficiently accommodate today’s traffic levels, the Transportation Department said. It’s one of eight bridges that crews will replace as part of phase one of the I-85 Corridor Improvement Project. The centerpiece of the $200 million project is the construction of a new I-85 bridge over the Yadkin River and the relocation and widening of the interstate to eight lanes in Rowan and Davidson counties.
For more information about the project, visit www.i-85yadkinriver.com or follow NCDOT’s I-85 Twitter feed, https://twitter.com/NCDOT_I85
Live traffic camera feeds are also available on the Post’s website at http://www.salisburypost.com/traffic-cameras/