Polk County Bridge to Close Next Week for Replacement

SHELBY-- TheN.C. Department of Transportationis replacing a Polk County bridge and will need to close part of Warrior Drive beginning Monday, Dec. 1.

The bridge at Warrior Drive, which spans a tributary of theNorth Pacolet River, was built in 1956. The bridge is considered structurally deficient and functionally obsolete, which meansit was built to design standards no longer in use and needs to be replaced. A concrete culvert will be built to replace the existingstructure.

During construction, asigned detour route will take motorists fromHoward Gap Road to Harmon Field Road, then from U.S. 176 back to Warrior Drive.

The road is expected to reopen by early May 2015.Apple Tuck and Associates ofRutherfordton is the contractor for the$248,102 project.

For more details about North Carolina's bridges, visit the NCDOT's bridge informationwebsite.