Erin Smith, Journal Staff Writer

ELIZABETHTOWN — Some secondary roads in Bladen County will get some much-needed attention in the upcoming year, according to N.C. DOT District Engineer Drew Cox. A public hearing was held Monday during the county commissioners meeting on the proposed 2008-09 Secondary Roads Improvement Plan. No audience members in attendance spoke on the matter. The commissioners voted unanimously to accept the plan.

The plan calls for N.C. DOT to spend about $1.3 million for both paved and unpaved road improvements as well as allocating funds for maintenance operations and contingencies such as right of way acquisition and surveying for projects.

Three roads that are currently unpaved are scheduled in the plan to be paved in 2008-09 at a cost of $464,528.95, according to Cox. The roads are Peter Cromartie Road which is located near the Bladen-Sampson county line; Old Field Cemetery Road near Clarkton; and Council Baptist Church Road, also near the Clarkton community.

Two paved roads will be widened by about two feet at a cost of $400,000. according to Cox. River Road from Tar Heel to the Cumberland County line will be widened and Tar Heel Road will be widened by two feet in the curves from N.C. 87 to the Robeson County line.

Both of those projects are safety concerns, said Cox.

Commissioner W. D. Neill asked that S.R. 1138 by Booker T. Washington School and S.R. 1731 be looked at for addition to the plan.

Cox also gave an update on the status of the Lucy Drive project.

“We’ve got an area through there that is a low area,” said Cox.

It is too wet this winter for DOT to attempt to widen it, according to Cox.

“The permits have been secured for the spring,” said Cox of the needed work.

The commissioners also asked for an update regarding the N.C. 87 four-lane project.

“Elizabethtown and U.S. 74 are divided into three project sections,” Cox said.

The right of way acquisition will begin about 2013 and the construction is not slated to begin until about 2017.

Commissioner Delilah Blanks inquired as to the proposed route N.C. 87 will take.

“There are two possibilities for the N.C. 87 alignment,” said Cox.

One proposed route follows N.C. 87 as it currently exists until it reaches N.C. 11 then it will follow N.C. 11 back to U.S. 74.  The second proposed route will follow existing N.C. 87 through Riegelwood, according to Cox.

Bladen resident Mac Campbell, who serves on the N.C. DOT board, also spoke.

“We held a very successful workshop on N.C. 131 and N.C. 41,” said Campbell.

The workshop was to gather public input as to needed safety improvements for the intersection.

Campbell also told the board that MLK and Mercer Mill intersections with the N.C. 87 Bypass will also get safety upgrades and the contracts have been let.