This road near Charlotte got new lanes months ago. Why do barrels still block drivers?
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Getting around Charlotte
This is an occasional series about dangerous or tricky intersections and roadwork across the Charlotte region. Know of one? Send an email to Joe Marusak at jmarusak@charlotteobserver .com.
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This road near Charlotte got new lanes months ago. Why do barrels still block drivers?
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in an occasional series of articles about dangerous Charlotte-area intersections and why they haven’t been fixed. Know of one? Send an email to Joe Marusak at jmarusak@charlotteobserver .com
A $15.3 million road widening near Charlotte appeared to be finished months ago, yet orange barrels still blocked drivers from using the new lanes this week.
Blythe Construction Inc. of Charlotte widened the 1.3-mile stretch of N.C. 273 (South Main Street) in the Gaston County city of Mount Holly to four lanes with a divided median. The stretch runs from Tuckaseegee Road at Beatty Drive to Highland Street at A & E Drive.
The project will relieve congestion and reduce the number of crashes through the downtown area, the N.C. Department of Transportation reported on the N.C. 273 widening project page in 2012.
From March 2008 to March 2011, some 81 crashes occurred along the stretch, although none fatal, according to NCDOT data on the project page.
In a July 2017 news release updating plans for the work, NCDOT wrote: “Drivers in Gaston County will soon see improvements” along the stretch.
“Soon,” of course, has a different meaning in road-planner speak — in this case Dec. 28, 2020, was the originally anticipated completion date.
The lanes appear freshly paved and painted, but still the barrels block drivers from them.
’Just be done with it!’
The barrels have prompted wisecracks on the private Mount Holly Town Talk Facebook page. A group member provided screen shots of the comments to The Charlotte Observer.
“Bob called ... he wants his barricades back,” one woman joked on the page.
“Slide to the Left, Cha cha — slide to the Right, cha cha — everybody lane change,” a man posted with a photo of the line of barrels.
One of the barrels in the photo is shown out of line, all by its lonesome in one of the new lanes.
“I don’t know who the drunk is that keeps switching barrels for Lane by farm supply (store) — but just be done with it!” the man posted.
When another resident asked on the page what was being built at an old car wash along the widened stretch, another resident deadpanned: “Corporate office for Rent-A-Barrel LLC.”
The status of the new lanes
So when will the new lanes finally open to traffic?
NCDOT didn’t know when the Observer inquired recently.
“We are still waiting on the contractors to complete installation of signs/signalization posts and final pavement markings before that stretch of N.C. 273 is fully reopened,” NCDOT spokesman Marcus Thompson said in an email.
“We anticipate the work to be complete soon, but we have no certain time frame for all lanes to be reopened as of yet.”
This story was originally published September 16, 2021 at 11:15 AM.