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GREENSBORO — Motorists will have a new way to tool around western Greensboro by mid-2012 when a pair of major road extensions are completed at a cost of about $15 million.

Expansions of Bridford Parkway and Hornaday Road will function together as a mini-bypass on either side of Guilford College Road, near its Interstate 40 interchange and not far from the busy West Wendover Avenue shopping area.

They’ll provide an alternate route through what is now an often congested area, especially providing relief for Guilford College Road, said Greensboro traffic engineer Craig McKinney.

The projects have been in the works for as long as 20 years in a cooperative effort between the city and the N.C. Department of Transportation, McKinney said.

“The concept for Bridford Parkway was developed in the late 1980s,” McKinney said. “It will provide a link to Swing Road for people wanting to go north, as well as Guilford College Road.”

The extended Bridford will segue into what is now the eastern terminus of Burnt Poplar Road at the Swing intersection.

As it is now, Bridford begins at Hilltop Road and continues north across Wendover to the interstate. It ends at that point just before I-40 in a sharp turn and becomes Hornaday’s eastern leg.

The two new road projects start on opposite sides of Guilford College Road. But they are linked by that existing east-west stretch of Hornaday, which continues across Guilford College and now dead-ends just before the Greensboro Urban Loop.

As part of the extension, a bridge will carry Hornaday over the loop where it will tie into existing Chimney Rock Road on the other side, providing motorists with a link to Gallimore Dairy Road and N.C. 68.

Similarly, after bridging I-40, the Bridford project will merge with existing Big Tree Way, smooth out a rough turn in that road and slightly realign its current intersection at Guilford College Road, said Patty Eason, state DOT construction engineer for the Greensboro area.

“From the DOT perspective, we think this has potential to alleviate a lot of congestion on both Guilford College Road and Wendover, for sure,” Eason said.

Construction is under way on both projects, which state DOT put out for bid within a month of each other this summer. Bridford will cost roughly
$8.9 million and Hornaday about $6 million.

The state will pay the lion’s share for both projects, including up to $4.1 million for Hornaday’s bridge over the Urban Loop.

Both Bridford and Hornaday extensions will be built in the urban, thoroughfare style with four lanes, a median and periodic turning bays.

Bids for building the Bridford project came in particularly low. State officials originally estimated it would cost $12 million, about $3 million more than the actual cost.

Lower construction costs have been a recent trend for the DOT, a positive result of the nation’s slow economy and contractors’ hunger for steady work.

“We’ve been finding that the majority of our projects have been coming in about 20 percent below estimates,” Eason said.

And stretching the construction dollar that much farther means good things for the region, she said.

“It’s good for us because Raleigh (DOT leaders) can take those funds and there’s a good chance we’ll get additional projects,” Eason said.

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