UPDATE – Due to weather, a highway ramp in Cove City is now scheduled to close for about 12 hours beginning Thursday morning while contractors make improvements to it. A day later, contractors have scheduled to work on another nearby highway ramp.
The exit ramp from U.S. 70 West to N.C. 41 will close at 6:30 a.m. Thursday and reopen at 7 p.m. It was previously scheduled to close today. Crews plan to close the ramp to pave it to interstate standards.
Traffic wanting to access N.C. 41 will continue traveling westbound on U.S. 70 for about nine miles to the crossover at Dover. Drivers will then take U.S. 70 East back to the N.C. 41 exit.
Contractors will then do the same work on the highway ramp from N.C 41 to U.S. 70 West. It will close at 6:30 a.m. Friday and reopen at 7 p.m.
Traffic wanting to access U.S. 70 West will continue traveling on N.C. 41 and make a left turn on U.S. 70 East. Motorists will travel about 6.5 miles to Tuscarora Rhems Road, make a left at the stop sign, go over the bridge to turn on U.S. 70 West.
Motorists should anticipate needing extra time for their commute both days and use caution near the work zone.
The construction is part of the project to bring U.S. 70 up to interstate standards between Raleigh and Morehead City. Crews are widening shoulders and milling and repaving the highway, which will be renamed Interstate 42. The project in Craven County is 32 miles long and costs $25.5 million.