ONLY ON 3: Road crews in Leland add Christmas tree to work site

LELAND, NC (WWAY) — As we all prepare for Christmas, many are preparing to travel or have family members coming to town. There’s a group of people who are also on the roads this holiday season, the crew working on the Causeway project in Leland to help with the congestion in that area.

The crews are trying to make the most of working during the holidays. Many of you pass by them on your way to and from work. This road crew is working on the Leland Causeway project, rain or shine, hot or cold.

“Most of the time just light showers until it gets real heavy,” said foreman Roscoe Oxendine. “Last year we had the ice storm we came in and worked until it got real bad.”

They are doing whatever it takes to get the job done, even if that means working through the holidays too.

“Whatever. We come and try to show up any way possible, every day, six days a week,” Oxendine said. “But here lately, we have been working seven days, most of the guys.”

It was last week when one of the guys decided to bring a little Christmas spirit to the work site. That guy brought a white Christmas tree with two stockings and put it on the old bridge over the Brunswick River.

“Some of them have, some of them haven’t commented at all,” Oxendine said. “They think it’s a little cute, something different.”

Oxendine has spent the last 18 years working in construction which means working on tight deadlines and spending a lot of time away from home, away from his kids and grand-kids. He says other crew members will leave little presents underneath the tree

“Last couple of days they bring me my tools, he’ll call me and tell me their under the tree,” Oxendine said. “Kind of a little joke deal.”

As you drive over the Brunswick River and you see the little tree, think of the men – the dads, and granddads – who are working round the clock, so your next Christmas will have less traffic troubles. The Causeway project is set to be completed by next year; however, DOT officials said drivers will likely not see a big change to traffic until the Wilmington bypass is completed in 2017.