NCDOT began researching the feasibility of upgrading I-95 in 2009. The study was completed in 2016.
The I-95 study, coupled with a $22.5 million federal grant (awarded in the fall of 2019), allowed the N.C. Board of Transportation to accelerate the timeline to widen and modernize a 27-mile section of the interstate between I-74 (Exit 13) in Robeson County and I-95 Business/U.S. 301 (Exit 40) in Cumberland County.
NCDOT held open houses in 2019 to review preliminary plans for the portion of the corridor between exits 22 and 40 — project I-5987 in the State Transportation Improvement Program.
A newsletter was mailed to residents and property owners in the project area in May 2020. The newsletter included information on the proposed improvements, current project schedule, and invited comments to project representatives. Functional Roadway Designs are being developed using data collected during the initial development process and will be approved in summer.
Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, NCDOT held a virtual meeting
on Sept. 29, 2020, rather than an in-person open house. Although the scope of work for this project will cover mile markers 13-21, the public comment period that ended Oct. 15, 2020, included the widening of the interstate through Exit 22 as part of a
future project.
On Sept. 29, 2021, NCDOT awarded a
$432 million design-build contract, which is an alternative way to deliver a project. The Morrisville-based joint venture of Flatiron Constructors Inc. and United Infrastructure Group Inc. was hired to help NCDOT conduct the design, permitting and property acquisition needed for the project and to also construct it. Construction began in September 2022.
When the project was awarded, the original completion timeline was the summer of 2026. Since then, NCDOT and the contracting joint venture had to make major design revisions because of unforeseen issues involving railroad right of way, land acquisition and the relocation of power and natural gas utilities. The revised timeline when all of the improvements will be completed is late 2029.