Contractors to begin widening Kerr Avenue

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Contractors are set to begin widening Kerr Avenue this week after the N.C. Department of Transportation awarded a $22 million to widen 1.5 miles of the road.

This project will widen North and South Kerr Avenue between Martin Luther King, Jr. Parkway and Randall Parkway to four travel lanes, add bicycle lanes and sidewalks, and will include a landscaped median.

The City of Wilmington is contributing to the cost of the sidewalks and bike lanes.

In addition to widening Kerr Avenue, the contractor will add traffic signals at the intersections of Kerr Avenue and Cinema Drive; Market Street and Cinema Drive; Kerr Avenue and New Center Drive/Sunglow Drive; Market Street and Wilmington Avenue, and Kerr Avenue and Birchwood Drive.

Work on this project by Seland Contractors Co. of Charlotte is scheduled to begin as soon as Jan. 4, 2016, with all road work expected to be finished by mid-September 2018.

Vegetation work could take until March 2019. Some lane closures will be needed but no detours are proposed at this time.

This is one of four road and bridge projects awarded this week, worth $27.8 million. The contracts were awarded to the lowest qualified bidder, as required by state law.