Greenville Southwest Bypass gets green light from NCDOT for $159.6 million

Project map. Click to enlarge.Project map. Click to enlarge.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) awarded a $159.6 million design-build contract to Barnhill Contracting for the Greenville Southwest Bypass, a 12.4 mile route planned around the west side of Greenville and Winterville.

The bypass will go between the U.S. 264 Bypass and N.C. 11, and will be a controlled-access four-lane divided highway with five interchanges.

“Commercial and residential development near those interchanges is expected to spur growth in the area,” NCDOT said in a statement.

The department expects the bypass will ease congestion in Greenville and improve traffic flow in the area, with a resulting increase of area road safety.

Construction is set to begin March 2016, with the project completion estimated for July 2019.

The design-build method, NCDOT says, cuts down on construction time, cost inflation, environmental impacts, and driving delays because it allows multiple steps of a projects process to occur simultaneously. These include design, environmental permitting, right-of-way land purchasing, relocating utilities, and project construction.

More information on the Greenville Southwest Bypass is available here.