RALEIGH – The N.C. Department of Transportation has awarded a $7.6 million contract to Blythe Construction Inc. of Charlotte for a project which will improve safety at the North Carolina Railroad crossing on Klumac Road in Salisbury. Work can begin as early as Jan. 28, with final completion set for Oct. 28, 2016.
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 0.6 miles of Klumac Road from N.C. 150 (Main Street) to just south of Martin Luther King Jr.Ave. Crews will shift the road over roughly a block to accommodate the bridge/underpass construction.
NCDOT data show 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.
This project is part of the Piedmont Improvement Program, a series of rail projects that will improve safety and mobility on the corridor between Raleigh and Charlotte. PIP projects are primarily funded by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and will be completed by Sept. 30, 2017.
This is one of 23 contracts totaling $145.7 million awarded by NCDOT in December for highway and bridge projects across North Carolina. NCDOT awarded the contracts to the lowest bidders, as required by state law. The bids received on the projects awarded came in about 9.8 percent, or $15.8 million, below NCDOT estimates.