An approximately two week detour of Raeford Road near Ireland Drive will start July 13 after crews working for the N.C. Department of Transportation discovered an old culvert beneath the highway that must be excavated before a new drainage pipe can be installed.

While crews were using boring equipment to install a larger drainage pipe for Buckhead Creek under Raeford Road, they unexpectedly encountered an old concrete culvert buried decades ago when the highway was widened. Because the age and condition of this abandoned culvert are unknown, NCDOT must remove it before the new pipe can be safely installed.

Given the size of culvert and its depth of more than 20 feet, both directions of Raeford Road near the McDonald’s at Ireland Drive will need to close for about two weeks, so crews can safely excavate the area and keep motorists out of danger.

A subcontractor for Branch Civil Inc. of Roanoke, Virginia, is committed to having multiple crews working 24 hours a day to remove the abandoned culvert as quickly as possible and ready the road for traffic again.

The closure will begin early in the morning hours of Monday, July 13 — just after midnight Sunday.

Detour signs will direct traffic, particularly commercial vehicles, onto these two similar multilane, state-maintained highways: Skibo Road and the All American Freeway. Drivers should prepare for a longer commute using the detour, and be cautious near the work site when it’s barricaded.

Last year, NCDOT awarded Branch Civil a $48 million contract to improve about 2 miles of Raeford Road from roughly Bunce Road to Brighton Road by installing raised medians, replacing water and sewer lines and concrete curbs and gutters, adding sidewalks and pedestrian signals, and doing some roadway widening.

The overall project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2028.