news-record.com

GREENSBORO — Workers took the first steps Monday toward ending a major bottleneck on New Garden Road after more than a decade of planning and permit seeking.

They began clearing trees and underbrush for the $4.7 million widening between Jefferson Road and Strathmore Drive, the only remaining stretch of two-lane pavement on the heavily traveled route linking the Guilford College area to Bryan Boulevard and Battleground Avenue.

The project will take about 18 months, with completion planned for spring 2011. Motorists traveling that stretch of New Garden might face additional delays but not during normal commuting hours, said Ryan Moats, an engineer with the city’s Department of Transportation.

“Any kind of roadway impacts will occur between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.,” Moats said.  “There could be a lane closed.”

The project was authorized by the City Council in the late 1990s, but it took time to get required approvals from state and federal agencies because of extensive stream restoration required north of Jefferson Road.

That’s where the road crosses a small creek on what is now an outmoded bridge. A large culvert will replace the bridge, said Guy Ingle of the city DOT’s engineering inspection program.

“We’re actually having to relocate the two (stream) channels south of the bridge,” Ingle said.

Restoration involves returning a stream to its natural condition after it has been disturbed by such problems as years of poorly controlled storm water. The stream work is included in the multimillion-dollar contract with a Pilot Mountain firm, J.R. Lynch & Sons, Ingle said.

A tree-removal crew worked Monday afternoon in the rain on the west side of New Garden near Jefferson Road. The widening will start on that side, then will be more evenly distributed on both sides of the existing pavement further along, Ingle said.

“We’re kind of straightening the road out,” he said.

The widened section of about a half mile will include four travel lanes and a grassy median, much like newer sections of existing New Garden Road on the Guilford College side of Bryan Boulevard.

Contact Taft Wireback at 373-7100 or taft.wireback@news-record.com