A bridge over the Neuse River in Smithfield will remain open while the state builds a replacement. A bridge over Buffalo Creek near Corinth Holders High School will not.
Next spring, the N.C. Department of Transportation will begin replacing the U.S. 301 bridge over the Neuse River on the south side of Smithfield.
The project will take three years, but the older bridge, which dates to the 1920s, won’t close during construction, said Andrew Barksdale, a DOT spokesman.
Instead, as the new, three-lane bridge goes up, traffic will shift off of the old bridge and onto the new.
That’s good news for Smithfield-area drivers, who are already dealing with the detour prompted by the year-long closing of the N.C. 210 bridge over Middle Creek. That bridge closed this past summer, forcing Smithfield-bound traffic into lengthy detours that, among other places, are causing commute-time congestion at Packing Plant Road and U.S. 301.
Drivers on Wendell Road near Corinth Holders High will face a year-long detour of their own as the state replaces the bridge over Buffalo Creek.