June 9. By Dave Vieser. At the request of Norfolk Southern Rail Road, the troublesome freight line crossing on Highway 115 in Cornelius will be repaired on Thursday June 16 rather than June 14. NC 115 will be closed from 9 am to 4 pm while crews from Norfolk Southern and the NCDOT complete the job. Temporary detours will be set up for motorists, according to NCDOT.
Work will be done between 9 am and 4 pm to minimize the effect on commuter traffic, according to the NCDOT.
The rail line, which carries freight in and out of the FXI plant, has been causing problems for both motorists and bicyclists due to large spaces between the rail and the highway’s asphalt. The poor condition of the crossing was reported by Cornelius Today in April.
During the repairs, Norfolk Southern will remove the old track, lay new track, and then pave between the rails and 10 feet on either side of the track. NCDOT maintenance crews will then come in with a contractor to resume the paving operations where the railroad’s work ended. Finally, the NCDOT crews will repave the road out to at least Norfolk Southern’s right of way, which will address the road’s subgrade issues at this location.
“On the south end of the road closure, crews will block N.C. 115 just north of Bailey Road to allow access to the main entrance of FXI Foam plant. On the north end, the road will be closed just south of Meadow Crossing Lane,” as NCDOT spokeswoman said.
The detour for through traffic will direct motorists from N.C. 115 to Catawba Avenue, then from U.S. 21/Statesville Road to N.C. 73/Sam Furr Road and back to N.C. 115. Local traffic will still have access to both Bailey Road and Washam Potts Road.
Should inclement weather occur the day of the closure, the work will be rescheduled for the next dry day. For real-time travel information the day of the work, call 511, visit the Traveler Services section of NCDOT.gov or follow NCDOT on Twitter.
