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NCDOT Awards $597,448 to Replace Meat Camp Creek Road Bridge in Watauga County

Press Release courtesy of the NCDOT

March 8, 2012. RALEIGH — N.C. Department of Transportation Secretary Gene Conti has awarded a contract to replace the Meat Camp Road bridge over Meat Camp Creek in Meat Camp.

The $597,448 contract was awarded to Tri-County Paving Inc. of Jefferson. Work can begin as early as April 2 and be completed by April 12, 2013.

During construction, traffic will be maintained on a temporary bridge adjacent to the existing location. Once the new bridge is completed, traffic will move back onto the new structure while the area around it is landscaped.

 The bridge was built in 1962 and is deemed both functionally obsolete and structurally deficient. This does not mean the bridge is unsafe, but there are elements of the bridge that need to be monitored to maintain its structural integrity, and its layout no longer meets current design standards for width, shoulders or rails. The new bridge will be able to accommodate larger vehicles than the current bridge.

This is one of 29 contracts totaling $167.9 million awarded by Conti 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 7.5 percent, or about $13.5 million, below NCDOT estimates.

Since Gov. Bev Perdue took office in January of 2009, NCDOT has awarded 540 highway contracts totaling $3.9 billion to ensure that all North Carolinians have access to jobs and educational opportunities.

According to the Federal Highway Administration, every $1 million spent on transportation creates 30 jobs, and according to the construction industry, every dollar invested in transportation generates $6 in economic impact.