I-26 Connector South Section contract awarded at $105 million; could start by end of month

ASHEVILLE - Another step in the long-awaited Interstate-26 Connector project was taken when the contract for the South Section was awarded for $105 million, the North Carolina Department of Transportation announced Aug. 13.

Archer-Wright Joint Venture, which also earned a contract for the North Section of the I-26 Connector, won the South Section contract as the lowest qualified bidder at $105 million, the NCDOT announced in a news release. Construction may start as early as late August and could be completed by fall of 2028, the release said.

The South Section contract includes the rehabilitation to concrete on Interstate 40 at Exit 44 and separating the off-ramp into Exit 44A and Exit 44B, with ramps heading east on Patton Avenue and west on Smokey Park Highway. The project will also include widening and upgrades to the interchange from I-40 East to I-26 East.

Further bidding for the project's Western Section, which spans from I-26 to Haywood Road and includes improvements to Brevard and Amboy roads, is scheduled to go out for bid in 2025, according to the release.

The entirety of the $1.3 billion project will design a median-divided freeway, accessible only by interchanges, which will connect I-26 in southwest Asheville to U.S. 19/23/70 in northwest Asheville.

In May, Archer-Wright was awarded the contract for the North Section, which runs from Haywood Road in West Asheville and crosses the French Broad to connect to U.S. 19/23/70 and U.S. 240. At $1.15 billion the North Section contract has been reported as the largest contract awarded by NCDOT in North Carolina state history, the Citizen Times previously reported. The original bids for the project had originally come in overestimate and now the department is working through an optimization and refinement process with Archer-Wright to reduce the end cost of the project, NCDOT engineers told Asheville City Council in June.

More: I-26 Connector: NCDOT updates Asheville City Council on progress, costs

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Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Tim es.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: I-26 Connector South Section contract awarded at $105 million; could start by end of month