Moving dirt on Military Cutoff

OGDEN -- In a move sure to please motorists sick of sitting in traffic along the congested Market Street corridor, crews are busy moving dirt and clearing trees for the planned extension of Military Cutoff Road to Interstate 140.

The future six-lane, limited-access roadway -- which will include interchanges as Market and Interstate 140 -- is designed to relieve pressure on Market Street and provide better connectivity to the fast-growing neighborhoods in northeastern New Hanover County and coastal Pender County. It also is seen as a key transportation link for the area to help handle the extra traffic expected to flood onto Military Cutoff once a host of large developments planned for the fast-growing corridor are finished in the coming years.

But the project, first conceived more than two decades ago, hasn’t been without its challenges.

Before dirt was moved, concerns were raised about the roadway's path through Ogden Park and the burgeoning neighborhoods that were quickly eating up available real estate between Ogden and Murrayville.

The cost, around $135 million for a roughly 4-mile-long highway project that includes the price of acquiring nearly 200 properties, also raised some eyebrows.

More recently, it's been the same thing that has slowed outdoor work across the region.

“The weather,” said Daniel Waugh, resident engineer with the N.C. Department of Transportation's Wilmington-area division, referring to the incessant rains the region saw in July. “The weather has certainly been a challenge, especially since we’re in the process of moving dirt.”

And that’s just one of the potential speed bumps facing crews at Market Street.

Shoehorning a road into an urban environment is never easy. Add nearly 54,000 vehicles a day on Market, a tangled web of utilities, neighbors that don’t want construction noise at night, and a cemetery right in the middle of the work zone and things can get interesting fast.

The convergence of Gordon Road, Market Street and the existing Military Cutoff Road is already one of the most congested areas in the region, so Waugh said keeping traffic flowing during construction is key to the project.

But that doesn’t mean there won’t be headaches, especially when plans call for a bridge carrying Military Cutoff over Market and several ramps to and from the new roadway.

The most visible sign of the interchange work now underway is the muddy path for a future ramp that has been cleared around the Prospect Cemetery, which the DOT isn't allowed to disturb.

Waugh said the ramp, which will run from the intersection of Gordon and Military around the cemetery to Market, will eventually serve as the ramp for northbound Military traffic wanting to get to Market and eastbound Market Street traffic wanting to get onto northbound Military Cutoff.

But in the interim as the overpass over Market is built, Military Cutoff traffic will be detoured onto the ramp as the current intersection of Market and Military is closed and dug up.

Waugh said that traffic shift should take place in early 2019.

At the northern end of the extension, crews also are busy working on the future interchange at I-140.

"That's also a construction zone, so folks should be aware of that," Waugh said.

There will be intermittent shoulder and lane closures around the future interchange as crews build up the fill sections for the overpass and flyovers and work on constructing bridge supports in the median of I-140.

While the weather has cost crews a few weeks of work this summer, Waugh said the roadway is still scheduled to open around spring 2022.

"It's still early, so there's plenty of opportunity to catch up or potentially lose time depending on the weather and what happens," he said. "But we're hopeful about that time line."

Ultimately, the new roadway is planned to connect to the soon-to-be-built Hampstead Bypass. The northern half of the Hampstead Bypass project is funded, with construction expected to begin in 2020. But its southern portion, a connection between the Wilmington Bypass and N.C. 210, is not yet funded.

Local news editor Gareth McGrath can be reached at 910-343-2384 or Gareth.McGrath@StarNewsOnline.com.

Military Cutoff Road extension

Cost: $135 million (including right of way)

Length: 4.1 miles

Interchanges: 2 (Market and I-140)

Completion: April 2022

For more information: www.ncdot.gov/projects/us-17-hampstead-bypass/Pages/default.aspx

Source: DOT