State transportation officials assured local officials Monday that steps will be taken to reduce traffic tie-ups and business interruptions during the planned reconstruction of East Elizabeth Street and replacement of the eastbound Camden Causeway Bridge.

Construction on the $48.9 million project, the last of three planned projects for the Elizabeth City-Camden area, will start in 2013 and be complete in 2015, according to Ted Devens, DOT's manager for the project.

Staff Photo by Justin Falls (ENLARGE)

Traffic flows along Elizabeth Street, Monday evening.

Staff photo by Justin Falls (ENLARGE)

Christy Wright, project manager for the N.C. Department of Transportation, points to a map of planned road construction projects during a meeting at Museum of the Albemarle, Monday.

Devens said the project will be split into two components: replacing the bridge and reconstructing East Elizabeth Street, from Road to Water streets.

Devens said DOT will try to minimize the impact on local businesses whose customers use Elizabeth Street. The street is in fact one of Elizabeth City's busiest roadways, seeing an average traffic volume of 14,000 vehicles a day.

Teresa Gresham, a project manager for the Elizabeth Street project, said work will begin at Road Street and move toward Water Street. She said DOT plans to keep open two lanes of the street — one in both directions — most of the time.

There will be times, however, when the street will have to be closed and traffic detoured along other routes.

The construction project will include removal of both the street's surface and subsurface — the section that supports the top layer — and replacement of both.

There is still a lot of speculation about what lies underneath the street. Testing thus far has found many old and deteriorated pilings underneath the street, Devens said.

Gresham said further borings will be conducted to determine where utility lines are located.

DOT also plans to use a new road-building technique designed to support streets in low-lying areas while simultaneously protecting nearby structures, Devens said.

The technique, used in Louisiana and other low-lying regions but never before in eastern North Carolina, uses a large auger to drill holes for pilings and then uses soil and concrete as fill material. The process can produce strong road supports without the constant hammering of pilings that can cause structural damage to nearby historical structures, Devens said.

Devens said the reconstructed street should be able to better handle stormwater and flooding from heavy rains. However, the project is not designed to solve the street's flooding problem, he said.

City Mayor Steve Atkinson asked Devens to add a U-turn lane on the east side of the causeway bridge for motorists who want to turn around and head back into the city. Atkinson said it is dangerous when both eastbound lanes converge into one, and there is a car in the left lane waiting to make a U-turn.

Devens said a U-turn lane will be added to the east side of the bridge.

Atkinson also asked if boat traffic on the Pasquotank River will be affected when the eastbound Camden Causeway Bridge is replaced.

Devens said there may be some interruptions, but overall river traffic will not be affected by the bridge's replacement.

Devens, said the new bridge will be 30 feet wide. It will still be two lanes leaving Elizabeth City, but it also will include an 8-foot-wide sidewalk for pedestrians and bicyclists, he said.

Jennifer Palestrant, president of the Elizabeth City Area Chamber of Commerce, said business owners have been invited to meet with DOT officials this morning to voice their concerns about the Elizabeth Street reconstruction project.

The meeting will start at 9 a.m. in the meeting room on the second floor of the Pasquotank County Public Safety Building on Colonial Avenue.

The Elizabeth Street-causeway bridge project will actually be the third DOT project with local impact over the next seven years.

The first project is the 5.3-mile widening of U.S. Highway 158 from the causeway bridge in Elizabeth City to Belcross in Camden County. Preparations have already started for the $24 million project, and construction is scheduled to begin by next summer and take two years to complete.

Eventually, the highway will be widened from Belcross to N.C. Highway 168 in Barco. However, that project hasn't yet been funded.

The second project will be the $7.74 million replacement of the dual bridges across Knobbs Creek on North Road Street. That project is slated to start in spring 2011 and be finished in spring 2013, DOT officials said.