TAR HEEL – The N.C. Department of Transportation will
improve truck access to the sprawling Smithfield Foods plant in Bladen
County.
To support the plant’s $100 million expansion that company
officials announced last year, NCDOT will improve the safety and traffic
flow of the plant entrances along N.C. 87 south of Fayetteville. The expansion
will increase the number of trucks visiting the hog-processing facility each
day.
The department this month awarded a nearly $1.1 million contract to Barnhill
Contracting Co. of Rocky Mount to add lanes in both directions that will allow
tractor-trailers to accelerate before merging into highway traffic, or to let
the big rigs decelerate out of the travel lanes before turning into the
plant.
“Improving our state’s infrastructure is one way to support economic
development, and this project also will boost the highway safety around the
plant,” said Terry Hutchens, a state transportation board member from
Fayetteville.
Additionally, two median breaks in the highway will be reconfigured to allow
trucks to safely enter or exit the plant. The redesigned median will restrict
other types of traffic movements, such as by preventing drivers from crossing
from one side of the highway to the other through the median.
With the new contract, Barnhill also will finish resurfacing project around
the plant where the old asphalt has been milled away.
The work will start this summer and wrap up by early next year.
Media Contact: Andrew Barksdale
919-707-2662
acbarksdale@ncdot.gov