WILMINGTON, NC — Balfour Beatty has been awarded a $203-million design-build contract by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to improve traffic on a 5.1-mile stretch of U.S. 70 in James City in Craven County. The project will upgrade the section of U.S. 70, which is one of the primary east-west corridors across eastern North Carolina, to interstate standards.

The project is designed to improve access to local community services and enhance economic development in the area. According to NCDOT, U.S. 70 provides an important connection between the port at Morehead City, military bases in Havelock and Goldsboro and the Global TransPark in Kinston.

“Our southeast region team’s design-build expertise and unique ability to self-perform both the structures and roadway scope make this U.S. 70 improvement project a strategic fit,” said Mark Johnnie, Vice President and Southeast Region Manager for Balfour Beatty’s U.S. civil construction operations. “We’re honored to once again serve as NCDOT’s construction partner as we begin work to deliver another successful project for this client.”

Design and right-of-way acquisition is scheduled to begin in late 2019, and construction is expected to commence in early 2021. The work is expected to be complete in the fall of 2023.