Bicyclists along Trent Road get some good news

A group that says potholes and cracks on Trent Road make it unsafe for bicyclists may soon get some satisfaction.

Trent Road is the location of Flythe’s Bike Shop and is part of the route of the annual Bike MS Ride (Multiple Sclerosis) event.

John Imbriaco, a member New Bern Cycle Club, started writing and talking to city and county representatives and state Department of Transportation officials in August about the conditions on Trent Road. Other members of the club also talked to their representatives.

But they were told nothing could be done until DOT repaves Trent Road in two years.

“The road condition was deteriorating to the point that when we were riding, especially with 20 or 25 cyclists, we would have to get in the middle of the road to miss the cracks and potholes,” Imbriaco said. “That was a danger to motorists and cyclists. …We were just frustrated with the whole thing.”

Last year the route of the New Bern’s MS Bike Ride, which had 2,500 cyclists and raised nearly $2 million, ended on Trent Road, and each weekend 10 to 20 cyclists from the New Bern Cycle Club ride the road, Imbriaco said.

“It’s just a precarious situation,” he said.

But that may soon be over.

Reed Smith, DOT district engineer, said he received complaints a few months ago by the cycling club.

“I told them yes we are aware of it,” Smith said. “(Trent Road) is in the three-year service plan and that is not coming up this year.”

Smith said Trent Road will not be resurfaced this year, but there was $75,000 set aside through the Secondary Road Improvement Program to do “full-depth patching and repairing” of the road. That will have to be done prior to resurfacing anyway, he said.

The patching of potholes and cracks on Trent Road will likely begin in the spring, Smith said.

After learning about DOT’s plans, Imbriaco said he was pleased.

“That sounds promising,” he said. “We tried to do this in a civic minded way. It sounds very good.”

“I drive up and down Trent Road all the time,” Smith said. “It used to be the old U.S. 17. That’s how old the road is. It looks to me like the road was much narrower than today and it was widened. It looks like the outside area where it was widened some time ago is where we are starting to see problems.”

Those problems were likely caused by the pavement no longer being uniform after the road was widened, he said.

Near the intersection with Red Robin Road is a bad spot and there are several others, Smith said.

DOT maintains 2.2 miles of Trent Road from U.S. 17 to Simmons Street. Every two years roads are rated from 0 to 100 depending on their conditions, Smith said.

In 2010, the first section of Trent Road, 1.46 miles, from U.S. 17 to Highland Avenue, received a 65.1 score. The second section, .76 miles, from Highland Avenue to Simmons Street, received a score of 58, Smith said.

“We like to see them all in the 80s or 90s, but that is not possible,” he said.

Eddie Fitzgerald can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at efitzgerald@freedomenc.com.