Work on a pair of projects that started this spring along Caratoke Highway in Currituck County are expected to be finished by Independence Day, but should not cause issues with summer vacation traffic.
A $5.2 million rehabilitation of the J.P. Knapp Bridge that carries U.S. 158 over the Coinjock Cut of the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal continues to proceed on schedule.
Contractors have been making repairs to the supports and replacing the wooden fenders under the bridge at Coinjock over the Intracoastal Waterway since last fall, and poured a new road deck this spring using a polyester-polymer concrete.
“Placement of expansion joint material started Tuesday, and grinding of the deck for ride-ability and traction should begin shortly,” N.C. Department of Transportation spokesperson Tim Hass.
Hass said the work will only take place Monday through Thursday, and they hope to finish by the week of July 4.
Nine miles of N.C. 168 from the railroad crossing in Moyock to Currituck Courthouse has received a new coat of asphalt in a $4.5 million project, and crews were out Monday putting down the final touches.
“Final pavement markings and snow-plowable markers should be completed within the next couple of weeks,” Hass said.
The six-inch thermoplastic, recessed reflectors are seen as a better alternative to the ones that have been replaced on an almost annual basis since Caratoke Highway was fully widened in the late 90s.
The addition of rumble strips will have to wait until after the pavement repairs along U.S. 158 from Barco to Point Harbor, which also started this week, will be completed.
Hass said the subcontractor that will grind in the rumble strips along the center lane yellow lines works out of Pennsylvania, and it will be easier to just mobilize them once to handle both projects.
