View Timber Drive Extension NC50 -> White Oak Rd in a larger map

The start of construction was delayed for a few years before work finally got going in 2010 on the Timber Drive Extension in Garner, but  the road will open 10 months ahead of schedule after a ribbon-cutting today, DOT said.

The four-lane, 1.4-mile road links N.C. 50 to White Oak Road on the east side of Garner. It will provide an alternative to U.S. 70 for traffic from White Oak Crossing to Garner and Raleigh.

Raleigh-based Fred Smith Co. won the $9.4 million contract in June 2010, with completion scheduled in October 2012. Engineers for the state Department of Transportation said months of warm, dry weather helped Smith finish the work this fall.

The ribbon-cutting is planned for 2 p.m. at the Civitan Center, 1105 Poole Drive, Garner.  When DOT and Garner officials scheduled the event several blocks from the new road, they didn't think they'd be ready to allow traffic on Timber Drive Extension today.  Now they plan to do so, at 4:30 p.m.

View New Rand Road closed in a larger map

New Rand Road in Garner will be closed to through traffic for nine days starting 6 a.m. Friday, NCDOT said.

Marked detours will reroute traffic via U.S. 70, N.C. 50 (Benson Road) and Timber Drive.

The closure is needed to finish construction of the New Rand Connector between Bainbridge Circle and Bournemouth Lane, which is part of the Timber Drive Extension project.  When work is finished Saturday, July 30, and New Rand Road is reopened, traffic will be shifted to the new alignment of the connector road.

View Timber Drive Extension NC50 -> White Oak Rd in a larger map

After a few years of delay, NCDOT is ready to start building the Timber Drive Extension, which will link N.C. 50 to White Oak Road in Garner.

Raleigh-based Fred Smith Co. was the low bidder at $9.4 million for the contract to build the 1.4-mile extension.  NCDOT announced the contract award today.

Work starts late this month, to be completed by October 2012.