Commuters and travelers alike have grumbled for months about the delays caused by the “Corridor K” expansion along both N.C. highways 143 (Sweetwater Road) and 28.
First tossed around as part of a 13-state improvement plan by the Appalachian Development Highway System in 1965, a lot of starts and stops caused the proposed facelift to become more like a running joke in Graham County, with many saying the highway expansion would never be completed (it should be noted that the majority of “Corridor K” improvements were completed by the early 1990s, as the plan stretched 128 miles, from I-40 near Canton to I-75 in Cleveland, Tenn.)
Finally, the pieces fell into place and a ceremonial groundbreaking was held Oct. 3 at Robbinsville High School. Work commenced soon thereafter, with contracts awarded to three sections so far (a fourth, “Section CD,” has seen its letting delayed until October, due to a lack of funding).
And work moved swiftly. Soon enough, trees and underbrush along the highways was being cut; shoulders widened; and earth-moving operations began in April, to help fill the gap of a N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission bat moratorium, which prevents any trees from being cut during pup-rearing season: May 1 – July 31.
It was around the dawn of April that individuals who use the corridor began to complain of longer-than-expected wait times. Contracts between the N.C. Department of Transportation and the three assigned builders (Franklin-based Watson Contracting; Sevierville-based Charles Blalock & Sons, and Adams Contracting, a local company) explicitly state that delays are not to exceed 15 minutes per checkpoint; residents have claimed wait times of 35-40 minutes per stop.
The department of transportation is aware – and is working to rectify any lengthy pauses.
“The N.C. Department of Transportation – and its three contractors operating on the long-awaited Corridor K – will begin increasing communication and coordination, in order to help decrease travel time delays,” communications officer David Uchiyama told The Graham Star in a May 11 email. “Each contractor is restricted to holding traffic for 15 minutes or less. Rare occasions have occurred when drivers encountered three, 15-minute delays on a trip.
“The increased communication and collaboration should greatly reduce these rare occurrences.”
Many have began using the Nantahala Gorge (U.S. Highway 74) – traveling to Topton and emerging in Almond – to avoid the construction.
Travelers along the path might have also noted the presence of covered detour signs, which will see Nathan Garland Road implemented as a slingshot around work on N.C. 143’s incline toward Stecoah Gap. Uchiyama said the detours are expected to occur during the late summer and that updates would be forthcoming as soon as they are available.”
“Corridor K”
Contracts were afforded to Watson Contracting for “Section A” on Aug. 16 ($48,750,475.24, for a 5.9-mile section that stretches from Five Points Road in Robbinsville to the Beech Creek Road/N.C. 143 intersection); and Charles Blalock & Sons on Sept. 20, for “Section B” ($116,407,729.70, for a 3.9-mile section of N.C. 143 that reaches its conclusion at Stecoah Gap, but includes the construction of a $5 million land bridge – the first in North Carolina – which will allow hikers and wildlife from the Appalachian Trail cross the roadway overhead of vehicles).
But “Section C” – which originally was to follow N.C. 143 from Stecoah Gap to its eastern terminus at N.C. 28, before continuing south on N.C. 28 to the four-lane expansion in Wolf Creek – was left hanging. Set to be awarded Oct. 18, the DOT had to postpone awarding a contract on the final section twice, due to a lack of funding. Estimated to cost $130,606,888, funding quickly dissipated after the first two sections were awarded in the neighborhood of $164 million.
The concluding step was later sub-divided into “Section CC” and “Section CD.” As of Dec. 20, only “CC” had been letted (awarded from bids) – and that went to Adams Contracting, which is responsible for the work from Stecoah Gap to Stecoah Road on N.C. 28, a 2.6-mile portion. The contract was awarded for $67,387,346.29. That brings the total amount of the three contracts awarded thus far is $231,295,075.99 – just over $100 million higher than the original estimate.
Officials ran into a myriad of issues in the 1990s, when trying to weave the expansion through the rugged terrain of Graham County.
The last visible sign of improvements made to date are the 9.8-mile section of N.C. 28 that branches off from U.S. 74 in Almond and funnels into a two-lane road at Wolf Creek General Store.
Ideas spitballed in the 1990s included tunnels that would connect N.C. 28 to N.C. 143 by going through the mountains. Activists for the Appalachian Trail quickly disagreed with the concept, and the project stalled until a deal was struck to construct the land bridge in 2015.