DPW smoothes Fort Bragg’s roads

by Eve Meinhardt
Paraglide



With over 150,000 vehicles entering Fort Bragg each day, wear and tear on the roads and parking lots is inevitable. To combat the potholes that come with the heavy use of Fort Bragg’s roads, the Directorate of Public Works’ Road Repair Team proactively works to fix problem areas as quickly as possible.

While the team applies an average of 2 tons of asphalt patch each day, Fort Bragg’s 1,500 miles of paved roads present them with plenty of potholes that still need to be filled.

“I know Fort Bragg is fixing the roads, but they seem worse than ever,” said Joann King, budget analyst, Fort Bragg G-8.

Larry D. Anderson, a program analyst, G-8, pointed out the large pothole in the parking lot behind the building on Macomb Street that he and King work in that must be navigated each day. Getting that and other potholes is just a matter of knowing who to call.

DPW depends largely on the people who travel the roads to help identify areas that need attention. Drivers should report potholes directly to DPW at 396-0321. Once the call is received, DPW will prioritize the issue to respond and repair the problem area as quickly as possible.

Pothole patches are only a temporary fix. Over the past five years, Fort Bragg has invested about $5 million a year for road paving, parking lot improvements and airfield pavements. Some of the major projects include repaving Butner Road, Knox Street, Honeycutt Road, the outbound portion of the All American Expressway, portions of Manchester Road and two parking lots at the Soldier Support Center.

Some of the currently funded projects are repaving portions of Reilly Road, Yadkin Road, adding an additional parking lot for the Soldier Support Center and improving the intersections at Wayside and Plank roads and at Chicken Road and Canopy Lane.

“There is never enough money to address all of our needs, but as money becomes available we will immediately put it to use repairing the areas that need it,” said Darryl Butler, civil engineer, DPW.

DPW is also focusing on other traffic issues on Fort Bragg from traffic delays, to the limited number of parking spaces.

“The installation realized through the Comprehensive Transportation System Plan that we need to take action to reduce traffic congestion and parking issues, through car pooling, mass transit connections, internal shuttle busses, and walking/biking trails,” said Butler.