As one bridge over the Beltline reopens, NCDOT prepares to close another next year
The new bridge that carries Melbourne Road over the Beltline opened Thursday morning, more than a year after the old one was closed.
That milestone means contractors for the state Department of Transportation will turn their attention to the more heavily traveled Athens Drive bridge nearby.
The Athens Drive bridge will close sometime between March and August, according to NCDOT spokesman Marty Homan. The road will be closed at the Beltline for about a year while the bridge over the highway is demolished and replaced.
The new bridges are part of a larger project to widen this stretch of the Beltline from four to six lanes and to reconfigure several interchanges. Both bridges will be longer than the old ones, to make room for the additional lanes, and will be wider, with broader lanes for cars and room for sidewalks.
The Lane Construction Corp. won a $347 million contract for final design and construction of the four-year Beltline project, which entails rebuilding the interchanges with Wade Avenue, Hillsborough Street, Western Boulevard, Melbourne Road and Jones Franklin Road. Construction began last year and is expected to continue until the summer of 2023.
The contract also includes the building of an underpass to carry Blue Ridge Road under Hillsborough Street and the N.C. Railroad tracks, near the N.C. State Fairgrounds. Construction work on that part of the project isn’t expected to begin until sometime after the 2021 State Fair.
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 1:46 PM.
