WILMINGTON — After some initial confusion, the NCDOT has confirmed it is responsible for several curb-replacement projects in downtown Wilmington.
Related: Wilmington and NCDOT both say they’re not the ones redoing downtown curbs
Last week, both NCDOT and Wilmington officials said they were not responsible for the work. After repeated requests, NCDOT located information about the project.
According to NCDOT, the “project involves construction of new curb ramps and retrofitting existing ramps throughout Division 3 (includes all counties: Brunswick, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender, Duplin, Sampson) to provide improved accessibility for wheelchairs/in accordance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements.”
According to a May 16, 2019 document from the NCDOT’s bidding and letting website, the Front and Dock insection is one of ten Wilmington locations slated to receive new ADA curb ramps. These include the insection of South Front and Church, Castle, Nun, Ann, and Orange, and Dock streets. It also includes the intersections of Water and Orange, Muters and Dock streets, as well as the intersection of Dock and Second streets. The document also includes 17 intersections in Wrightsville Beach, along North and South Lumina Avenue.
This year’s contract cost is $736,277 according to NCDOT. It is slated for completion by May of 2020. Last year’s project included upgrades on Third and Market streets.
These projects are based on available federal funding. More projects are in the works for next year, but a list of locations has not been started, according to NCDOT.
The intersections were chosen by NCDOT staff trained in ADA requirements; staff looked for ‘candidates’ that were out of compliance, in consultation with the City of Wilmington. NCDOT also considered “traffic patterns of pedestrians.”
