DILLSBORO – A new detour for local traffic and passenger vehicles is opening around construction to replace a bridge on Haywood Road over Scott Creek in Jackson County.
Local traffic may now use Dillsboro Road and Old Home Town Road — which has been paved to connect at both ends — around the construction and back to Haywood Road with minimal delay.
A contractor for the N.C. Department of Transportation recently completed building a new retaining wall along Dillsboro Road which allowed the new detour to open. Large vehicles and 18-wheel trucks must still use U.S. 441 and U.S. 23/74 as the detour until construction is complete.
This new detour is part of a new value engineering plan which accelerates construction time by at least two years and will allow Haywood Road to reopen with a new bridge in the spring.
Transportation officials remind motorists to drive aware and obey all posted signs.