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The N.C. Department of Transportation has awarded a contract to replace the bridge on N.C. Highway 73 over Dutch Buffalo Creek, just outside Mount Pleasant. The $4 million project was awarded to NJR Group, Inc. of Albemarle.

The bridge was originally built in 1920 and reconstructed in 1952. The new bridge will be built north of the existing bridge with three travel lanes, each 12 feet wide, and 4-foot-wide shoulders on either side.

The contractor can begin work as soon as mid-March and must have the bridge open to traffic by August 2023. Traffic will be maintained on N.C. 73 during construction, but lane closures will be needed at times to set bridge girders and tie in the new structure to N.C. 73.

Other activities like vegetation establishment can continue through February 2024.