A couple photos from near Sheetz on Business 70 where the Ranch Road extension has started. Approximate path for reference https://www.google.com/maps/place/3...!1e3!4b1!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d35.635393!4d-78.443222
I wonder if there is a way to get the guy who does all those drone videos over the 40 widening and such to do a drone fly over of that area
I had sent a message to the guy who does the drone videos and he said he will try to do one over the weekend for the Ranch Road Extenstion.
I drove by today and they have the sign up that says 'new traffic signal coming soon' and the stoplights were flashing. Hopefully with a good stretch of weather it will be within the next couple weeks.
Looks like Monday, Nov. 4 it will open, according to the flashing sign. Drove past today and it said 'New Signal begins Nov. 4'
So far, just the road alignment on Little Creek Church has opened. The part that connects to Sheetz is still closed.
I contacted Johnston County DOT to get a timeframe on completion of the project and this was their response: "The Ranch Road project we refer to as Project U-6223 is being managed by Ryan Beamer out of our Smithfield Resident Office. He can be contacted at 919-209-1090 if you have any further questions regarding the project. Currently the project has a completion date of 10/29/2025 and is 79.95% complete."
Jesses 1st pics were from Mar 2023, finish date Oct. 2025. so, 2 1/2 yrs for a mile of road? Is it even a mile? And it's not like building a temp road, then permanent road, then tearing out temp road. this is new road thru land. I'm in commercial construction and i just don't see or understand how DOT construction works. In commercial construction, the best way to make money is get in and out as fast as you can.
To be fair, the intersection at Ranch and Little Creek Church has had almost no progress in months. I drive through there twice a day every day M-F and have seen almost zero work since late Summer. The traffic light has been up and the new road paved for months. Duke came and installed the electric meter several months ago. There was a sign that went up in Nov that said the new light would be live at the start of Dec, then they moved it out a week. Then they just took the sign down. They were out there yesterday doing some work on a fire hydrant in the area, but it was minor work. The new road by Sheetz on 70 and 42 has had barely any work happening in the past few months as well. Everything has looked done for months but it is still closed. I can't imagine why this would take another 10 months.
i remember somewhere, that when a contract was given out that if the contractor missed their deadline they were fined each day they went over the expected finish date.
I wonder if the contractor has purposely slowed work. Allow me to theorize: If the project's expected completion date is October 2025 and it's 80% done, then it can be assumed they are likely ahead of schedule. If the contractor has other projects that appear to be behind schedule, perhaps he's pulled resources from this one to add manpower to said other project(s) and letting this one lag a bit. Just a thought because I drive that stretch nearly each day and can't fathom why it's not completed by now.
