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AHOSKIE – A contract for repairs to Catherine Creek Road has been awarded.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation has awarded the contract to Carolina Earth Movers, Inc. That Greenville-based company submitted the lowest of four bids for work to repair a troublesome area of the road.

That portion of Catherine Creek Road, at its intersection with Hayes Street, has been closed since July of last year.

The roadway at that particular spot, especially in the southbound lane, has been repaved on several occasions over recent years. However, a severe “dip” in the road will soon form there.

The culprit is an old manhole underneath the pavement.

“This manhole connects several storm drain lines that serve areas around Catherine Creek Road and Hayes Street,” stated Clemmon W. “Win” Bridgers, Jr., Deputy Division Engineer for NCDOT Division One, in an interview in September of last year. “It is an old brick manhole that has reached the end of its useful life.”

Bridgers said that due to the size of the manhole, the number of lines feeding in and out of it, and the surrounding sanitary sewer and water lines, NCDOT – who is responsible for the maintenance of Catherine Creek Road despite it being inside the Ahoskie town limits – designed a plan to fix the manhole.

NCDOT advertised the contract last fall, but there were no bidders.

“It was a case where what needed to be done to fix the problem was a job too big for a smaller sized contractor and too small for a bigger contractor,” said Ahoskie Town Manager Kerry McDuffie.

That prompted NCDOT to hold an “on-site” review of the necessary repairs with interested contractors. That review attracted four bids, with Carolina Earth Movers, Inc. submitting the lowest bid at $154,050.

Last week, Bridgers told this newspaper that the repairs can begin as early as Feb. 7. The contract calls for a completion date of May 27.