Hurricane Matthew left more than inches of rain behind when he blew across the state last month. Local motorists have been faced with numerous road closings and detours as a result of the many washed out roads and bridges around the county.
In the wake of the storm, hundreds of roads across Sampson County were closed because of high water or road damage. Now, just over a month after the storm, just over two dozen roads remained closed.
“We do not have an exact number of roads affected, however, we estimated that most of the roads in the county were impacted in some manner by this event,” Brian Rick, communications officer with divisions two and three of the North Carolina Department of Transportation, said.
Those numerous road closings and detours aided in the cancellation of schools for more than a week. Students in the Clinton City Schools district were able to return to school after five days of being closed, while students in the county were more affected. School personnel in the county spent hours driving the roads and finding alternate routes for buses before students were sent back to school after being out for eight days.
According to Rick, there are 28 roads, as of Friday, that remain closed. Roads, like U.S. 701, N.C. 24 and U.S. 421 were quickly addressed to allow for major routes to be reopened as quickly as possible. Other roads, he added, still have yet to be completed and are officials are expecting a completion date for all roads to be sometime before the spring.
“The time frame for final repairs is contingent upon material availability, but at this time, the estimated completion date is March 1, 2017,” Rick stated.
The flooding created issues trying to reach some sections of the counties, and until the water receded, DOT officials were unable to determine the extent of the roadway damages. Once determined, however, Rick said the necessary repairs could then be scheduled and work towards completion could be done.
The state department was able to bring in 100 additional personnel and associated equipment from Divisions 9 and 14 in the central and western parts of the state, to assist with storm related repairs, according to Rick. These crews assisted for a two-week period. In addition, the National Guard provided crews to assist with the damage repairs for about one week.