Balfour Beatty wins $203m contract for North Carolina’s Route 70

The UK’s largest construction firm, Balfour Beatty, has been awarded a $203m design-and-build contract by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) for Route 70, which runs east-west from the Tennessee border to the Atlantic Ocean

Balfour Beatty will upgrade 8.2km of roads in James City in Craven County, bringing the route up to the standard of an interstate highway.

The NCDOT says improving access to Route 70 will improve economic development in the area and boost community services.

Mark Johnnie, a Balfour Beatty vice president, said: "Our southeast region team’s design-and-build expertise and unique ability to self-perform both the structures and roadway scope make this US 70 improvement project a strategic fit."

Design and right-of-way acquisition scheduled for late 2019, after which work will begin in 2021. The project is expected to be completed in the autumn of 2023.

Image: A sign showing Route 70 (Washuotaku/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0)