Paving plan put into place

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NCDOT contractor to mill and repave Main Street beginning March 15

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  • Crews work to remove cement dividers from the intersection of NC 28 and Satulah Road. The area is scheduled to be resurfaced as part of a larger project covering Main Street and US 64 in Highlands.
    Crews work to remove cement dividers from the intersection of NC 28 and Satulah Road. The area is scheduled to be resurfaced as part of a larger project covering Main Street and US 64 in Highlands.
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The final plans for paving Main Street in Highlands have come into focus as representatives from the NC Department of Transportation and Town of Highlands collaborated on a schedule.

Mayor Patrick Taylor went over how the paving project will be handled during Thursday’s board of commissioners meeting.

“As everyone on this board knows, repaving Main Street has been two years in the making,” Taylor said. “Some budget issues forced the project to be put on hold for a while, but now the funds have been released and the project is set to begin in March.”

Taylor noted that the original plan for repaving Main Street was to shut down one lane from the intersection of NC106 to 5th Street, mill that lane, and then repave over the course of approximately a week. Then move to the lane in the opposite direction and repeat the process.

“What the NCDOT engineers have decided will be a better plan is to put up detours using Spring, Oak and Maple streets and do the milling and paving block-by-block on Main Street,” Taylor said. “Closing both lanes at the same time for each block will allow for shorter closure times.”

Each block of Main Street will be closed for 24 hours. Milling will be done at night and the milled area will be repaved the following day. According to a schedule provided by town manager Josh Ward, the milling will begin March 15 when the block from 1st Street to 2nd Street is milled and repaved.

Subsequent blocks of Main Street will be closed each day after until the project is completed. The final day of scheduled milling and repaving is March 25 when the area from Main Street to Spring Street on US 64 will be repaved.

“The one day shutdown of Main Street on each block is less disruptive to our local businesses and in the contract it states that the entirety of the work is to be done no later than April 1,” Taylor said. “Of course everything is weather dependent, but that means Main Street should be reopened and ready to go prior to the start of our main tourism season.”

Taylor thanked NCDOT Division 14 engineers for working with the town to revamp the paving plan and noted that the parking lines will be repainted once the paving is finished and handicapped accessible parking spots will be added.

“The DOT has been great in working with us, but they were quick to point out this is a $6 million project and they were going to do it to their design standards,” Taylor said. “There will be additional handicapped spaces, and I know that is something a number of people have approached me about over the years, so those are a welcome addition.”

After Main Street is repaved, crews will move on to US 64 and NC 28. The paving of those roads will be done in the more traditional one-lane format with traffic being controlled through the paving area via flag operators.

Highlands public works director Lamar Nix noted that the intersection of 4th Street and NC28 will be reconfigured prior to the paving of that section.

“If you drive through that area you will notice that the cement lane dividers have been removed,” Nix said. “The DOT is going to redo the lanes and the markings around that intersection so the dividers will no longer be necessary.”

Commissioner Amy Patterson asked if town staff had notified the Highlands Chamber of Commerce about the paving timeline for Main Street so that hotels and other accommodations can be prepared for when their block will be closed.

“The milling and paving process can be very loud, so we are working with the DOT to get the exact dates for each block to the Chamber,” Taylor said. “We want everyone to have enough notice to make the needed adjustments.”