WINSTON-SALEM – As the Business 40 Improvement Project continues in downtown Winston-Salem, a new bridge will be opening and the last of the old bridges is now scheduled to be demolished.
The Church Street bridge, originally scheduled to open on Saturday, May 11, will open on Thursday, May 16, weather permitting.
The Marshall Street bridge is scheduled to be closed at 5 a.m. on Monday, May 20, a month ahead of schedule. The new Marshall Street bridge is expected to open by mid-January 2020.
Motorists and pedestrians will be able to use the Main, Broad and Church Street bridges to navigate around the closure.
Additionally, the new Liberty Street bridge is expected to open in mid-June.
To date, new bridges have been opened at Fourth Street, Peters Creek Parkway, Broad Street and Main Street.
“This is a huge change from the original schedule,” said NCDOT Resident Engineer Mezak Tucker. “The earlier starting date for Marshall Street construction at the beginning of the prime construction season can help move up the overall completion date.”
“The project is moving from having the bridge closures on the east side of the project to having the bridge closures in the middle of the project,” added Tucker. “We are excited that our contractor is in a position do to this. Any time we can gain now will have a great benefit to the reopening of Marshall Street. While it may be inconvenient for 30 days to have both Liberty Street and Marshall Street closed at the same time, the benefits to the overall project completion are huge.”
The original contract called for the Business 40 Improvement Project to be completed by August 2020. However, agreements between NCDOT and Flatiron Constructors/Blythe Development, the prime construction contractor, reduced the construction timeline from 21 to 17 months, with opportunities to reduce the timeline even further.
For more information, visit Business40nc.com or Winston-Salem Business 40 Improvements on Facebook.