PAVING PROJECTS PLANNED
Aug. 3—At least 15 streets are going to get a fresh look as the city prepares to start its annual street resurfacing project.
The city recently received a State Street Aid Grant from North Carolina Department of Transportation(NCDOT) for $548,000 to start the project.
Michele Meyer, the city's engineering and services specialist, said utility adjustments, milling and patching will begin on affected streets on Aug. 8 and end on Aug. 15. The road paving will begin on Aug. 13 and be completed by Sept. 24.
Meyer said the dates are not set in stone and will depend on the weather and the contractor possibly getting extra staff from other completed work sites to speed the process up.
"Linden Avenue is the only street where we are going to do the milling," he said. "The other places (streets) are just going to be considered an overlay."
Portions of the streets that will be resurfaced are: Barnes Street (Ray Ave. to Goldsboro Ave.) Cliffside Drive (N. Currie Dr. to McLeod Dr.); McLeod Drive (Cliffside Dr. to N. Colonial Dr.); Colonial Drive (McCleod Dr. to N. Franklin Dr.); Fourth Street (Midland Ave. to North Ave./Temple Ave. to W. Rose St.); Hall Street (W. Makepeace St. to to W. Rose St.); Linden Avenue (N. Third St. to N. First St.); Martin Street (W. Makepeace St. to W. Rose St.); Register Street (San-Lee Dr. to Pearson St./Pearson St. to Tew St./Tew St. to Russ St.); Sixth Street (Midland Ave. to North Ave./North Ave. to Dead End/Charlotte Ave. to McIver St.); York Street (Simmons St. to Magnolia St.); Tyrone Drive (Dead End to Evers Ave.); Evers Avenue (Carr Creek Dr. to Hope St.); Hope Street (Evers Ave. to Cul-de-sac)
He said the majority of the streets will have an overlay resurfacing along with patching if needed.
Most residents in these affected areas welcome the work being done while a few are indifferent.
Adela Martinez, 48, who lives on the 200 block of Fourth Street has lived in her home for five years. She said the road does need some attention.
"I feel better now that something is going to be done," she said. "It's been pretty messed up. We moved here in 2017 and they have been pretty bad since then."
Tonya Freeman, 48, who lives on the 100 block of Sixth Street said paving is good, but the city needs to do more than that.
"They are going to pave the street, but they need to do something about all the drug addicts over here."
"It's great if they fix it up," said Flor Santana, 34.
She also lives on the 100 block of Sixth Street and has been there for four years. She hasn't seen any work done during that time.
As he stood outside of the home where he lives on the corner of San-Lee Drive and Register Street, Christopher Petty, 28, was glad that Register Street would soon be getting some attention.
"You can always have better roads," he said.
He said his family has deep roots on that street, with many of his extended family living on that block.
"We've (Petty been here forever," he said. "Everybody down here is family."
Antonia Aleman, 40, and her family have lived on the 2000 block of Tew Street for two years and has noticed that the road she travels is a bit shabby.
"It's (street) ugly right now," she said. "It's a good thing they will be working on it. We need something done."
Meyer said getting it done all depends on Mother Nature.
"Hopefully we don't get any hiccups like we did last year," he said, commenting on the rainy weather that took place then. "As long as the weather cooperates and we don't find anything weird in the patching we should be done by September."
