THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 16, 1995 TAG: 9505160316
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KITTY HAWK LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Beginning this weekend, the busiest bridge to the Outer Banks will be able to handle twice as much traffic.
Two new lanes - an entire new span - of the Wright Memorial Bridge across the Currituck Sound are to open Friday.
Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., will give a celebratory speech at an 11 a.m. ribbon cutting ceremony on the Dare County end of the connector.
Officials said summer trips to Hampton Roads could be shortened by as much as an hour as bottlenecks on both sides of the bridge are eased with the additional lanes.
``This is a very important project to the Outer Banks,'' said Board of Transportation member R.V. Owens III, who represents Dare and Currituck counties on the state panel. ``Now that the bridge is completed, U.S. 158 will be less congested - which means motorists will have a safer and quicker trip.''
Located just north of the existing bridge between Point Harbor and Kitty Hawk, the new 2.8-mile span has been in the works for five years. More than 100 workers from T.A. Loving Co. of Goldsboro and other area contractors have been constructing the concrete-and-steel structure for more than two years. The total project cost is estimated at just under $20 million.
Shortly after noon on Friday, both the old and new bridges will be open.
Vehicles will enter Kitty Hawk and the barrier island beaches from the existing bridge, as they always have. They will leave the Outer Banks, heading to Point Harbor, on the new lanes. The two bridges are parallel, separated by a few feet.
Motorists will be able to pass each other on both portions of thespan now. Cars traveling on the new span also will have an 8-foot-wide shoulder to pull off on, in emergencies. The current bridge has no shoulder.
In 1994, an average of 12,800 cars crossed the two-lane Wright Memorial Bridge every day. Summer traffic counts swelled to a daily average of 24,000 vehicles. On Saturday, July 10, a total of 58,476 drivers used the span.
``People from all over this country and Canada travel to our Outer Banks each year. We want to make sure they can get there easily and safely,'' Hunt said from his Raleigh office. ``This bridge will benefit the thousands of tourists planning to vacation on the Outer Banks, as well as opening up an economic development corridor, bringing more jobs and a higher quality of life for people in the region.''
About 4 feet taller and 12 feet wider than the present span, the new bridge contains more than 55,000 tons of concrete, 2,500 tons of steel and 74,000 feet of concrete girders. It sits in sound water about 9 feet deep. At least 1,533 concrete pilings support the span.
Transportation department officials say the new, two-lane bridge should last about 50 years. by CNB