I-295 Interchange to benefit Fort Bragg, Pope communities

By Reginald Rogers
Paraglide

	Photo by Sharilyn Wells/Paraglide Construction workers build a bridge for I-295 outside of Fort Bragg on Highway 87.

With the arrival of more than 15,000 new residents, the daily commute onto Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base is about to be a bit more troublesome, but post officials have identified the problems and have come up with solutions to address the major changes in on-post traffic.

Fort Bragg civil and traffic engineers, along with the North Carolina Department of Transportation are currently working on completing the I-295 connection near Murchison Road, which should ease some of the post’s traffic burdens.

“The reason that we’re doing the I-295-Murchison Road project is to facilitate traffic movements and the growth that is expected on Fort Bragg shortly after FORSCOM gets here next year to about the year 2030,” explained Installation Civil Engineer Darryl Butler, who is the direct representative for Fort Bragg in terms of traffic engineering. He said the completion of the I-295 connector near Murchison Road should ease some of the expected traffic burdens for drivers who would normally travel Bragg Boulevard to get to Spring Lake and Sanford. Eventually, the portion of Bragg Boulevard that travels through Fort Bragg will be closed to drivers who do not possess a Department of Defense identification card.

Butler pointed out that currently Fort Bragg does not have a direct link to Interstate 95 and is one of the measures that has long been discussed with NCDOT and organizers here in Fayetteville and surrounding communities.

“The I-295 loop will facilitate traffic movement that we currently do not have right now with people who live in surrounding areas or outside Fayetteville,” Butler said. “They’ll be able to access to and from their communities to Fayetteville without having to actually go through downtown or take the All-American Expressway, Bragg Boulevard, Reilly Road or the Cliffdale Road area, to include Murchison Road.

He said the new route will be able to facilitate traffic movement, not only during peak traffic hours, but it also allows for weekend and holiday travel that sometimes creates gridlock throughout Fayetteville.

Butler said the new loop would also help with pollution control, as it will route more vehicle away from the inner city and more toward the rural areas, which is expected to reduce carbon monoxide levels.

According to Ray Goff, who retired from NCDOT, but who now works with Butler, there are several proposed constructions projects. Some of which are already funded and others that are on the back burner.

“The Murchison Road-Honeycutt Road interchange southward to the I-295 interchange is under construction,” Goff said. “A section of Murchison Road-Honeycutt Road interchange northward into Spring Lake is not funded and is scheduled for tentative funding in 2012.”

Butler and Goff both pointed out that this interchange is critical to Fort Bragg because of future plans to close Fort Bragg to traffic that normally travels along Bragg Boulevard.   In the proposal, Bragg Boulevard would close and all traffic would be re-routed to around the post using the Honeycutt Road-Murchison Road interchange.

“The bottom line is, you won’t be able to get to Spring Lake via Bragg Boulevard anymore if you don’t have proper identification,” Goff said. “This will be closed off.”

Goff explained that the proposed interchange that would re-route the Bragg Boulevard traffic toward Murchison Road is partially funded for roadway grating.  The final project has yet to be funded, to include the section from Murchison Road to Ramsey Street and the section from Bragg Boulevard to the All-American Expressway.

Goff echoed Butler and said that Fort Bragg will benefit from its direct accessibility to I-95, especially during deployments.

“Right now, if they have to leave, they’ll have to go down the All-American Expressway and follow Owen Drive out to I-95,” Goff explained. “Plus it will be beneficial to commuter traffic as commuters will have a direct access to their destinations.”

He said the addition of the I-295 loop will allow commuters to avoid areas that are now congested with traffic in the morning and evenings, during peak traffic hours.

“It will certainly help,” Goff said. “All of this is planned to coincide with the growth of FORSCOM.   In fact, this project was expanded to a freeway, interstate-type design after Fort Bragg and NCDOT both found out that the Base Realignment and Closure Committee and FORSCOM was going to increase the population on post.   It was decided that the original design wouldn’t work, so they had to go back and redesign it as a freeway.”

Goff said there has been excellent cooperation between Fort Bragg and NCDOT in a combined effort to complete the projects and their efforts are part of a proposal that originated in the mid 1980s.

“The original I-295 corridor design started in 1986,” he explained. “What happened after 9-11 was that Fort Bragg and Defense Department decided that they wanted to close Bragg Boulevard to make the base secure. After that, both NCDOT and Fort Bragg started developing this project, long before we knew about BRAC’s decision to move FORSCOM.   When the decision was made, the projected increase in traffic, caused the redesign to become a freeway-type design.”
According to Butler, that is the reason why certain sections were funded, and others have yet to be funded.