Murphy – Long-enduring businesses and customers who have experienced continuous roadwork on U.S. 64 West are experiencing still more pavement work as construction crews put finishing touches on the project.
The latest pavement work in the area is part of the highway widening project plan, said David Uchiyama, the N.C. Department of Transportation communications officer.
The work is unrelated to a roundabout the DOT is prepping for in the vicinity; that project is still in its planning phase. Meanwhile, road workers have been scraping newly laid but temporary asphalt on the main highway and in the business parking lots.
“A contractor for the N.C. Department of Transportation placed temporary asphalt to provide safe entrance and exit to businesses in this stretch as part of the overall asphalt installation,” Uchiyama said. “Crews worked according to plan by removing the temporary surface before placing new asphalt at the proper depth to prove long-lasting surface conditions for residents, businesses and visitors on the highway.”
The final paving work followed a lull during which motorists enjoyed a four-lane highway free of cones, construction work, loose gravel and wet tar. A hint of things to come was the inch-thick disparity between the highway pavement and curbs. The final paving work will close that gap, he said.
Despite entering the last phase (not counting the separate roundabout project) with end in sight, local businesses are expressing frustration.
In a Nov. 15 post on the Murphy, NC our Hometown Facebook group, Samantha Smus, general manager of the Murphy Dunkin Donuts, expressed frustration.
“… Nothing was going right and just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, the whole line was trapped in the drive thru because the grader machine for the roads started grading our driveway and blocked all the cars in the drive thru,” she wrote. “I was frustrated ... not at my job but because we weren’t able to control the long wait and possible impression of awful service.”
On the bright side, one customer who pre-ordered food and drinks for her office was not only patient during the ordeal, she later commended the crew and gave Smus a “Thank You” card and coffee mug.
“Sometimes one nice person can make all the difference in the world,” someone commented on the post.