Even with the recent retirement of former public works director Mark Turlington, water projects continue to move along throughout the unincorporated areas of Sampson County.
That word came earlier this week when interim Public Works Director Ashley Holland gave the Board of Commissioners an update on the various projects underway during the regular monthly meeting Monday night, April 6.
Holland started by sharing the latest on the county’s northern and southern test wells. “The King Road well and south test wells have been drilled, and we’re waiting for water quality test results to come back,” Holland reported.
A project in the Taylors Bridge area is now in progress, with the test wells currently being drilled, as of Monday night. “Once they are put in, then they’ll test the water, and we’ll get test results back from those as well. And then we’ll know how to move forward with that project,” he said.
As for the GFL water main extension project, which includes South Salemburg Highway (NC 242), Lakewood School Road, Bubba Gump Lane, Laurel Lake Road, White Woods Road, Marion-Amos Road, Fleet Cooper Road, The Avenue and Bonnetsville Road, the notice to proceed may be issued by the end of the week, or perhaps next week, Holland said.
“Substantial completion is 300 days after notice receipt, so completion [should be] February or March of 2027,” he stated.
The Clement Area Phase II project is still pending an encroachment agreement from the NC Department of Transportation, he informed. “So once they approve all that, and we get the easement done, we can go on to the next phase,” Holland said at the Monday night meeting.
The Old Warsaw Road project is still on hold for the moment as well, as public works is waiting for comments from the Department of Water Infrastructure. “We were supposed to have them last week; hopefully we’re gonna get them this week,” Holland explained. “And once those come in, it will go right straight into the design phase. And once it goes into the design phase and all that gets approved, then we’ll start talking about bids and take it out to bid.”
Finally, Holland shared that McKinley Horne has acquired all the documentation needed to help county staff prepare a bid package for the Roseboro EMS building, with the project scheduled to go out for bids the beginning of May.
When Commissioner Chairman Allen McLamb asked if the board had any questions for Holland, Dist. 4 Commissioner Lethia Lee stated, “I’m still waiting for word on Old Mintz Highway.”
Holland stated that public works is still waiting for comments from the state before starting that project as well. “As soon as we get that, we’ll have more information for you,” he said.
Indian Town Road
and other business
During the commissioner comments portion of the meeting, Dist. 3 Commissioner Chip Crumpler shared that he had received a complaint from a resident in his district regarding safety at the intersection of Indian Town Road and 701 South, outside of Clinton. The same resident also expressed concerns about the traffic circle by Clinton High School on Elizabeth Street, which eventually becomes Boykin Bridge Road.
“She said due to the traffic circle, there’s a lot more traffic now on Indian Town Road than there used to be, and it’s wearing out the road, and she was wanting the road to be paved, and she also wanted a traffic signal or something to be placed at the intersection of Indian Town Road and 701,” he reported, adding that he talked to NC DOT engineer Daniel Jones about the issue. “He informed me that the Indian Town Road intersection has been determined to be in need of safety improvements, potentially modification to allow for a traffic signal at some point, but further study is needed and funding is not there at this time for that.”
According to Crumpler, Jones also informed him that Indian Town Road is slated to potentially be paved in 2027, but then it could be 18 months from that date before it would actually get paved so it could be paved in 2027, but probably would be 2028. “I have reached out to Representative [William] Brisson to see if some funding can be sought for the safety concerns at Indian Town Road, and so we’re still waiting to hear back on that,” he concluded.
Also, as reported in Wednesday’s issue of The Sampson Independent, Evelyn McColon, who lives on Tar Heel Drive behind Clinton High School, spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting to plead for something to be done to repair the streets in her neighborhood. “That street, that road, is getting ridiculous,” she told the commissioners. “I tell you, the holes, the bumps, it’s really getting worse.”
She added that many of the homeowners in the neighborhood have to dodge the holes in the road so that their vehicles won’t get knocked out of alignment.
“What can be done to help us get some help, some assistance, to upgrade that road, so that we can drive in and out of there with ease?” she asked. “I found out that we’re paying subdivision taxes, and when doing that, there should be some money somewhere that we can get that road updated.”
The commissioners took no action on either item, but McLamb stated that they would work to address the concerns.