Lincoln County supervisors Monday awarded an $84,000 bid for newIndustrial Park Road overpass lights and signal upgrades at theNorth Jackson Street intersection.

The $84,293 bid from B&B Electrical and Utilities was thelower of two received. The other bid was for over $98,000.

“It was a good bid,” said County Engineer Carl Ray Furr aboutthe winning amount. “The engineer’s estimate on the project was$122,000.”

The overpass project involves placing lights on both sides ofthe bridge in an alternating pattern. Furr said several industriesin the area had asked for the lighting, which will also have somesafety benefits.

“It is dark on that bridge,” Furr said.

Modifications to the traffic signals will be done at the NorthJackson Street intersection and turn lanes on Industrial Park Roadwill be reworked, Furr said. With the project, Furr said east andwest bound traffic will be able to turn onto North JacksonStreet.

“The way it is now, nobody can turn,” Furr said, referring toparticularly heavy traffic following shift changes at IndustrialPark industries. “This will help the traffic flow.”

Funding for the project will come from left over $2.4 million infederal funds and state loans obtained by the city and county forconstruct of the overpass. The project will be 80 percent federaland 10 percent each from the city and county.

Construction on the overpass was completed in early 2000 at acost of $1.8 million.

Also related to the overpass is an access road project that isunder way in the area. That project totals around $600,000, Furrsaid.

“Hopefully, they’re going to get it completed in the next threeor four months,” Furr said.

Furr said weather had hindered progress on the access roadwork.

“We’ve got to work through the wet days and go from there,” hesaid.

In addition to the overpass lights and North Jackson Streetsignals, local officials are pursuing new turn lanes on IndustrialPark Road at Manufacturer’s Boulevard. Furr said a contract forthat project has not been awarded.

“We’re working on getting the final right of way on that,” Furrsaid.

In other work during a brief Monday meeting, supervisorsauthorized a $11,475 change order for the County Farm Road wideningproject. the addition raises the project cost to $952,475.

County officials said the change was necessary to meetDepartment of Environmental Quality regulations related to stormwater run off.