Design For Future Asheboro Bypass To Be Discussed At Public Meeting

A major tourist attraction in North Carolina could soon get a boost from a new roadway project. The state Department of Transportation will discuss design plans for the proposed U.S. 64 Asheboro Bypass during a public meeting Tuesday. The project includes a connector for the North Carolina Zoo.

The more than 16 mile four-lane highway will ease traffic congestion around the city of Asheboro and provide interchanges at key highway and interstate locations.

"There's a lot of traffic on U.S. 64 through town and there's a lot of accidents. It's one of the highest accident rates of any corridor with a coordinated signal system,” says Rueben Blakley, an engineer with the NCDOT.

The plan will also create a direct route to the North Carolina Zoo. Deputy Director Mary Joan Pugh says it makes them more competitive.

“This is sort of a dream come true for the zoo. We've been working on this for more than 20 years,” says Pugh. “We have big plans. We are planning on building an Australia-Asia exhibit and we want to make sure that we have very good access so that we can move up to having more than a million visitors at the zoo.”

The Asheboro Bypass will cost more than $240 million dollars to build. State and federal monies are funding the project.

NCDOT says it's eyeing early summer to start construction. The roadway is expected take around three years to complete.

The NCDOT public meeting will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 23, from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Randolph County Community College's corporate training center on Industrial Park Ave. in Asheboro.

*You can follow Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news