The N.C. Department of Transportation has given the green light for another four miles of N.C. 55 to be widened around Angier.

Rocky Mount-based Barnhill Contracting Co. will construct the improvements from south of Oak Grove Church Road to N.C. 210 on the town’s west side, after the department recently executed a $48.4 million contract. 

This contract includes widening the existing two-lane N.C. 55 south of Angier to four lanes with a raised median. The project also includes constructing a new, four-lane highway to bypass the town’s west side.

The bypass, which will have a 55 mph speed limit, will feature a median, reduced conflict intersections and wide U-turn areas that will improve travel and highway safety.

Construction will start soon, and the contractor has until the fall of 2027 to complete the project.

Traffic will be maintained on the existing two-lane portion of N.C. 55, while crews build out half of the new highway; then traffic will be shifted onto the new portion in a two-lane, two-way pattern, so crews can reconstruct the other two lanes.

This project is one of three segments of an overall plan by NCDOT to widen and improve 11.5 miles of N.C. 55 in Wake and Harnett counties.

Construction on segment B – between N.C. 210 in Johnston County and Jicarilla Lane in Wake County – began this year after the department awarded a $61.5 million contract in 2022.

Segment C, which would stretch to N.C. 42 in Fuquay-Varina, is not currently funded in the 2024-2033 State Transportation Improvement Program.

This NCDOT website has more information about the overall project and its three segments.