City responds following community concerns over E Boiling Spring Road closure

BOILING SPRING LAKES, N.C. (WECT) - The City of Boiling Spring Lakes has released a statement following “numerous” community concerns over the continued closure of E Boiling Spring Road.

According to the city, members of the community have questioned the ongoing closure, citing the lack of work at the North Lake Dam site.

“I know it’s an inconvenience for the neighborhood to go around the detour. But it’s all done in progress and this dam project is is a huge project and it’s a lot of nuts and bolts involved but it’s only a six minute detour,” said one resident, Stephanie Bodmer.

“As the City understands the project schedule, Sanford Dam, North Lake Dam, and Pine Lake Dam were scheduled to be repaired concurrently,” the online announcement states. “The City approached the dams contractor about the lack of activity at the North Lake Dam site and were told the following:

“The equipment used for the mix-in-place portion of the dam construction weighs approximately 190 tons. It is called a mix-in-place drill. The contractor’s original plan was to bring the mix-in-place drill to the project site via Funston Road. The contractor tried to bring the mix-in-place drill via Funston Road but were unable to do so. This meant that they had to use East Boiling Spring Road to bring the mix-in-place drill to the Sanford project site. They will also need to remove the mix-in-place drill via East Boiling Spring Road. Hence, no excavation can take place at the North Lake Dam project area until the contractor is done with the mix-in-place drill and moves it out of the Sanford Dam project area.”

Additionally, the city states that in order to reopen the roadway, approximately 200 feet would need to be repaved.

“In order to reopen that road to traffic, it would have required rebuilding the portion of road that was removed. Opening the road would have required, for risk mitigation purposes, that the road be rebuilt to DOT standards. Building back to DOT standards would be costly for a temporary opening of the road. If the City circumvented the traffic control plan and opened a partially repaired road, the City might be liable for any accidents that occur along that stretch of road,” the city explains in its release.

Boiling Spring Lakes Mayor Jeff Winecoff says the closure is the most cost efficient option.

“We’re trying to look at the money that we have, because right now this isn’t costing taxpayers one dime, we’ve got the money we need, but we have to be smart about that money, so we can prepare in case there is something that is missed, and we have to pay for it,” said Winecoff.

He adds that him and other leaders are just as frustrated as everyone else, but when they brought it up to the contractors, they learned they had a deal that all construction having to do with restoring the dams would happen at the same time.

This way, the overall dam restoration project will take roughly 30 months to complete, instead of 36.

Ultimately, the city is prioritizing this as it is eager to restore its dams.

“You have to make the best out of any situation and look at the bright side that’s going to be happening. And roughly about 25 months, we will be able to have our lakes back, dams built back and starting to fill water back in them. And we’ll be able to make our city whole again,” said Winecoff.

Mayor Winecoff adds that people have been frustrated by the addition of stop signs along the detour route, but says these are necessary when high-traffic is seen in a residential area.

“There’s kids playing on these roads. And it’s too late after accident happens to do something about it,” Winecoff explained.

Work at the North Lake Dam site is scheduled to begin in January.

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