LAKE WACCAMAW – Based on public input last fall, the N.C. Department of Transportation has revised a proposal for upgrading U.S. 74/76 in Columbus County. Officials will hold another open house May 30 to show the new preliminary design, the organization announced Thursday.
The department continues to upgrade U.S. 74/76 to interstate standards by removing conventional at-grade intersections and building interchanges, overpasses and ramps and loops to improve safety and mobility.
The latest such effort would replace the highway’s intersection with Chauncey Town Road in Lake Waccamaw with an interchange. Additionally, the department would close the highway’s same-level intersection with Old Lake Road and build a bridge over the highway. Both intersections are a little more than a mile apart and require motorists to stop before crossing or pulling out onto the highway.
After reviewing the comments from last October’s open house, NCDOT and consultant engineers are proposing the construction of a two-lane service road that would create a new connection between Chauncey Town and Old Lake roads on the north side of the highway. The proposed service road would follow a portion of Georgia Road, which now has a dead end behind East Columbus High School off Old Lake Road.
“We strongly heard people’s concerns about this proposed project,” said Greg Burns, the department’s Division 6 Engineer. “This service road would take some of the cut-through traffic away from the school, and it would better address the needs of emergency responders when the overpass is constructed at Old Lake Road and U.S. 74.”
The meeting will be from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 30, the at East Columbus High School gymnasium at 32 Gator Lane in Lake Waccamaw.
Information about the meeting and the proposed project can be found on this NCDOT website.
For more information or to send comments about the upcoming open house, contact John Gauthier, a Division 6 design engineer, at P.O. Box 1150, Fayetteville, N.C. 28302; 910-364-0603, or jbgauthier@ncdot.gov.
The deadline to receive public comments is June 28.
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