Motorists braked and swerved toward the shoulder on Broad Avenue as they approached the stoplight on U.S. 1 Thursday morning to avoid the heavy equipment of repaving crews.

They shouldn’t have to for long, though.

The repaving of Broad Avenue from its intersection with Long Drive to its intersection with U.S. 1 is expected to come to a conclusion by the early part of next week, according to state Department of Transportation officials.

“Paving should be done in the next day or two,” N.C. D.O.T. Division 8 District Engineer Kevin Hedrick said Thursday morning. “We’re looking at Saturday at the latest, weather permitting. But then the contractor will have to put down some permanent pavement markings and that type of thing. The paving should be done, though.”

Barnhill Contracting Company is performing the roadwork.

Hedrick said two more repaving projects are set to get underway in the near future, one stretch extending from the intersection of Broad Avenue and U.S. 220 for about a mile and the other picking up on U.S. 1 near Mill Road and extending until U.S. 1 intersects U.S. 220.

Hedrick said the two weeks it took to finish the section from Long Drive to U.S. 1 was roughly on schedule.

“For the most part it was,” Hedrick said. “We did have to remove some curbing right there by the 74 Car Wash, and add some under drain to collect the water that’s basically seeping through that bank. That slowed us down a little bit.”

He also said that once the two additional projects get underway they’ll be projected to also finish in about two weeks.

“We’re not exactly sure when that’s going to be, though, because the contractor has some other work he’s going to get on before he hits those,” Hedrick said.

Another repaving project is also in the works on U.S. 74 from Long Drive to the Old Wal-Mart building in the other direction.

“That project could possibly get underway sometime next year,” he said.

Staff Writer Philip D. Brown can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 32, or by e-mail at pbrown@yourdailyjournal.com.