By Staff
Emergency vehicleswill continue to use bridge during repairs
By PETER WILLIAMS, Managing Editor
The U.S. Highway 17 bridge in Washington will be closed to traffic during specific periods next month, but repairs to the bridge will not prevent emergency traffic from using the bridge, a state official said.
Two lanes of the four-lane bridge are already closed to daytime traffic, but the remaining two lanes will be closed to traffic off and on from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. during an 18-day span in January. The bridge closings start Jan. 7 and run through Jan. 25.
During those hours, the bridge will be open only to regular traffic at the end of each hour to allow traffic that is backed up to cross the bridge before the bridge closes again for about another hour.
This fall, the N.C. Department of Transportation awarded a $2 million contract to repair and repaint the bridge that links Washington with Chocowinity.
Washington Fire-Rescue-EMS-Inspections Chief Jimmy Davis expressed concern when he first learned of the bridge closings. For emergency vehicles to use the Grimesland bridge as a detour to Chocowinity, that would add at least 15 or 20 minutes to the travel time to and from Chocowinity, Davis said. As of Thursday, some Beaufort County emergency-response officials were unaware of the closings and their potential effects, Davis said.
To avoid the bridge closings, DOT suggests car traffic heading south on U.S. 17 in Washington should take U.S. Highway 264 westward to Grimesland Bridge Road. Then, traffic should follow Grimesland Bridge Road to N.C. Highway 33. Traffic should take N.C. 33 eastward to U.S. 17 in Chocowinity. To avoid the bridge closings, traffic headed north on U.S. 17 and entering Chocowinity should take N.C. 33 westward to Grimesland Bridge Road. Then, traffic should follow Grimesland Bridge Road to U.S. 264. Traffic should take U.S. 264 eastward to U.S. 17 in Washington.
DOT recommends truck traffic traveling south on U.S. 17 in Washington take U.S. 264 west to Greenville Boulevard South in Greenville, then take the boulevard to N.C. 33. Truck traffic should take N.C. 33 eastward to U.S. 17 in Chocowinity.
If emergency vehicles could not use the bridge, residents on the south side of the Pamlico-Tar River would find it more difficult to get to Beaufort County Hospital and Chocowinity EMS and fire units couldn’t answer mutual-aid calls to Washington, Davis said. Washington relies on Chocowinity units to respond to mutual-aid calls least six to 10 times a month, Davis said.
Eaton assured emergency officials that wouldn’t happen.
The repair project is going well, Eaton said.
The project includes replacing the bridge’s metal decking.