Tuesday wreck continues to affect traffic

A truck that veered into an overpass in front of Camp Lejeune is still causing traffic headaches for Jacksonville drivers.

According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, eastbound lanes of Hwy. 24 will be closed off during the night for the next one to two weeks as repairs to the overpass are completed.

On Tuesday morning, a dump truck towing backhoe-like excavating equipment collided with the right girder of the Holcomb Boulevard overpass in front of Camp Lejeune’s Main Gate on N.C. 24, knocking bolts loose and causing some structural damage.

The driver was Claude B. Deas, 62, of Rocky Point, and the equipment he drove belonged to Elite Construction & Grading, Inc. of Rocky Point. The company would not comment Wednesday on whether Deas was an employee of Elite Construction.

Following the collision, which happened at about 6:15 a.m. Tuesday, the DOT sent a team from Raleigh to investigate the structural damage to the overpass. Officials Wednesday called the extent of the damage “pretty obvious, ” and said that in addition to the external impact, an outside beam was pulled out of its plumb position and bent, and a section of the lower flange was pulled off.

To assist with investigation and repair, Camp Lejeune officials closed outgoing lanes of N.C. 24 from the base into Jacksonville. The right lane reopened late Tuesday afternoon, but the left lane remains closed and will remain so as repairs continue, officials said.

DOT officials said that the overpass as well as N.C. 24 eastbound lanes will close completely while work is actually being done, to minimize vibrations on the structure. Planned repairs include a temporary support on the shoulder of N.C. 24 eastbound, which will be put in immediately, a patch on the lower flange, and work to straighten the bent girder.

Because the work on the girder is fairly specialized, DOT will not complete the contract for the repairs until sometime next week, officials said. No estimate on the cost of the repairs, including rerouting traffic past the closed lanes, was available Thursday.

Aside from the evenings, officials said they expect periodic lane closures on N.C. 24 in the two weeks during which work is completed. The outside eastbound lane was closed between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Thursday.

Charges against Deas were pending through the NC Highway Patrol Commercial Motor Carrier Division on Tuesday. Officials could not be reached Thursday to comment on the charges.

Contact Hope Hodge at 910-219-8453 or hhodge@freedomenc.com.