SELMA – Crews will be replacing two bridges over Interstate 95 in Johnston County as part of a $53.1 million contract for improving the freeway.
Contract crews for the N.C. Department of Transportation will close the Bizzell Grove Church Road bridge in Micro on Monday, Jan. 8. Then, on Monday, Jan. 22, they are scheduled to close the Lizzie Mill Road bridge north of Exit 98 in Selma. Both bridges are more than 58 years old and, although they have remained safe, they have become functionally obsolete, which means they no longer meet the needs of today’s traffic.
The new bridges, which will open in summer 2019, will be long enough to accommodate plans to widen the interstate to eight lanes, starting in 2026, between mile markers 81 and 71.
When the bridges close, the following detours will be implemented:
For Bizzell Grove Church Road, motorists should use Lowell Mill Road, Micro Road and East Main Street in Micro; and
For Lizzie Mill Road, traffic will take Batten, Campground and Myrtle roads into downtown Selma.
The bridge replacements are part of a contract that NCDOT awarded in November to Fred Smith Co. of Raleigh to resurface I-95 between mile markers 100 and 107. The project includes replacing about 80 sections of concrete below the asphalt surface. The work will continue to require periodic lane closures overnight through next spring.