Staff Report. February 3, 2011. BOONE — Over the next few weeks, construction crews working on the U.S. 321 widening project in Blowing Rock will be clearing the sides of the road between the ABC store at 7960 Valley Boulevard and Broyhill Home Collections at 8486 Valley Boulevard. This work is preliminary work for installing erosion control measures in this part of the project.

Silt fencing will be installed to keep materials from leaving the project area, as well as ditch netting to filter sediment out of the water.

Motorists will also begin to see stone and other materials used for erosion control stockpiled in this area. Stockpiles will most likely be placed at various locations along the project as work progresses, but there will not be any staging or storing areas within the Green Park Historic District.

There also has been clearing along the project for the relocation of utilities. No lanes are being closed for any of this work.

On Jan. 30, more than 200 people attended a project kickoff meeting hosted by the N.C. Department of Transportation. The meeting gave the public the opportunity to speak with representatives from NCDOT, contractor Taylor & Murphy of Asheville and subcontractor Sauls Seismic Inc. of Statesville, which will monitor the blasting on the project.

The $66.4 million project will widen about four miles of U.S. 321 through Blowing Rock from two to four lanes from Blackberry Road south of Blowing Rock to the Shoppes on the Parkway shopping center near U.S. 221. Improvements include additional through lanes, turn lanes, new lighting and new retaining walls at selected locations. The project will also increase sight distances by straightening curves. The project is scheduled to be completed by Oct. 1, 2015.

There will be regular updates throughout the project. These will be provided via the NCDOT project website, www.ncdot.gov/projects/BlowingRock321/, traditional media and Twitter (@NCDOT_EastMTN).

For real-time travel information on this project at any time, call 511, visit www.ncdot.gov/travel or follow NCDOT on Twitter at www.ncdot.gov/travel/twitter. Another option is NCDOT Mobile, a phone-friendly version of the NCDOT website. To access it, type “m.ncdot.gov” into the browser of your smartphone. Then, bookmark it to save for future reference. NCDOT Mobile is compatible with the iPhone, Android and some newer Blackberry phones.

For more information about this project, call the NCDOT U.S. 321 Project Hotline at (828) 964-3260.

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