DOT awards contracts for GTP rail spur, Greene Co. bridge replacement

Millions of transportation dollars are set to flow into Lenoir and Greene counties in the coming months, now that the state has awarded contracts for two major projects.

Workers with the Hinkle Contracting Co. of Paris, Ky., are scheduled to break ground during early April for a $14.3 million Global TransPark rail spur.

N.C. Department of Transportation officials expect that construction on the 5.6-mile line will be finished by November 2011.

“That’s an 18- to 24-month project, so those folks spend the night in hotels, eat in restaurants, buy gas … so that’s going to be good impact for all our folks,” Mark Pope, Lenoir County economic development director, said.

The connector will start at the North Carolina Railroad tracks that run roughly parallel to U.S. 70 through the heart of Kinston.

From the main line, it will head north toward the TransPark along Hillcrest Road. Then it will cross Hull Road, Dobbs Farm Road, Harvey Parkway, Shackleford Road, plus some secondary roads, before heading through the GTP property. It will end at the site of Spirit AeroSystems’ manufacturing plant.

The Spirit plant is scheduled to open next month, and company officials plan to move the aircraft components by truck from the plant to a loading station on the main rail line until the spur is ready.

Pope said the spur will not only serve Spirit’s needs, but “it also gives us the capability (to attract) other clients looking at the TransPark that need rail to the port, or to wherever (the destination) may be in North Carolina or other states; it just gives us the ability to be on the main line.”

The DOT also has awarded a $610,023 contract to S.T. Wooten Corp. of Wilson to replace the Hugo Road bridge over Wheat Swamp Creek, just east of Hookerton in Greene County.

Traffic along Hugo Road will be re-routed via Ormond Farm Road, Oakes Road, Research Farm Road and C.B. Whitfield Road while work takes place between late March and late December.

“I’m sure it’ll be an inconvenience to folks in the short term,” Greene County Manager Don Davenport said of the road closures. “But if something happens to the bridge, it’ll take longer to replace.”

Workers also will make improvements to the approaches to the bridge on Hugo Road, and re-plant vegetation around the site.

Road closures with available detours also are expected while the rail line is being built in Lenoir County, according to the DOT.

David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or danderson@freedomenc.com.