Skip to main content

NCDOT Approves I-74 'Widening'

On the same day NCDOT announced a major reorganization to make it more efficient and less prone to errors they also announced the winning bids for several construction contracts. These included the design-build contract for the remainder of the US 311 bypass (I-74), 7.9 miles from Spencer Road to US 220. Construction is to start September 2 and the project is to be completed by 2012. It will be built using GARVEE bond funds. The one problem though is that in all press releases for this project they refer to the project as a 'widening.'

See the press release HERE.

Comments: At least it appears they got the mileage for the project correct this time. They still insist the 10+ mile section now under construction is about 6 miles long. I guess it's two steps forward and one step back, so I guess that counts as progress.

Speaking of the existing I-74 project from Business 85 to Spencer Road that is due to be finished in 2011, it is almost twice ahead of schedule as projected (40% vs 21%). A source that lives nearer the construction site took a look at the I-85 interchange area yesterday and said many of the bridges are now paved along with one of the C/D ramps they're building along I-85 which was being used by construction equipment. I may be out that way next week, if so I'll try to post some photos.

Comments

Bob Malme said…
When I saw no change yesterday in the press releases indicating that the new I-74 contract was for widening, I decided to e-mail the communications office. I pointed out that this was an error and that the project press release should indicate the design-build contract was for constructing a new roadway.

I guess NCDOT's new mantra of responding more quickly to the public is true in this case. If you click the link above to the press release you will notice a smaller type 'Constructing' has replaced 'Widening' in the first sentence. If only they were as quick as this in correcting sign errors.

Popular posts from this blog

The Pollasky Bridge

The Pollasky Bridge near modern day Friant is a ruined highway bridge which was completed during early 1906 as part of the Fresno-Fresno Flats Road.  The structure is one of the oldest known arch concrete spans to have been constructed in California.  The bridge briefly carried California State Route 41 following the destruction of the Lanes Bridge in 1940.  The Pollasky Bridge itself was destroyed by flooding during 1951, but the ruins can still be found on the Madera County side of the San Joaquin River.   Pictured as the blog cover is the Pollasky Bridge as it was featured in the 1913 book "The Concrete Bridge."  The structure can be seen crossing the San Joaquin River near Friant below on the 1922 United States Geological Survey Map.   Part 1; the history of the Pollasky Bridge The Pollasky Bridge site is near modern day Friant of Fresno County.  The community of Friant was established as Converse Ferry during 1852 on the San Joaquin Rive...

Trimmer Springs Road (Fresno County)

Trimmer Springs Road is an approximately forty-mile rural highway located in Fresno County.  The corridor begins near in California State Route 180 in Centerville and extends to Blackrock Road at the Kings River in the Sierra Nevada range near the Pacific Gas & Electric Company town of Balch Camp. The roadway is named after the former Trimmer Springs Resort and was originally constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume.  Trimmer Springs Road was heavily modified and elongated after construction of Pine Flat Dam broke ground in 1947.   Part 1; the history of Trimmer Springs Road Much of the original alignment of Trimmer Springs Road was constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume.   The  Kings River Lumber Company  had been established in 1888 in the form of a 30,000-acre purchase of forest lands in Converse Basin.  This purchase lied immediately west of Grant Grove and came to be known as "Millwood."  The co...

When was Ventura Avenue east of downtown Fresno renamed to Kings Canyon Road? (California State Route 180)

California State Route 180 was one of the original Sign State Routes designated in August 1934.  The highway east of Fresno originally utilized what was Ventura Avenue and Dunlap Road to reach what was then General Grant National Park.  By late year 1939 the highway was extended through the Kings River Canyon to Cedar Grove.   In 1940 General Grant National Park would be expanded and rebranded as Kings Canyon National Park.  The Kings Canyon Road designation first appeared in publications circa 1941 when the California State Route 180 bypass of Dunlap was completed.  Kings Canyon Road ultimately would replace the designation of Dunlap Road from Dunlap to Centerville and Ventura Avenue west to 1st Street in Fresno.   The Kings Canyon Road would remain largely intact until March 2023 when the Fresno Council designated Cesar Chavez Boulevard.  Cesar Chavez Boulevard was designated over a ten-mile corridor over what was Kings Canyon Road, remaini...