Success Breeds Success: Fort Bragg’s partnership with North Carolina Department of Transportation provides roadmap for the future

Fort Bragg, NC – There is an old saying about projects, “Quality, Cost, and Time. You can only choose two.” Yet, Fort Bragg is reaping the benefits of all three in collaboration with NCDOT to improve and expand the roadways on the installation. The Intergovernmental Service Agreement, or IGSA, provides a means to fund and manage road construction on Fort Bragg that reduces costs, provides the latest technologies, and most importantly, saves time. The success of the program has led Fort Bragg to launch an ambitious two-year effort beginning this summer. By combining two projects into one, installation leaders expect to reduce the closure of the All American Freeway near Fort Bragg’s gates by nine to 12 months and save taxpayers an estimated $8 million to $12 million.

Although Fort Bragg has had an IGSA with NCDOT dating back to 2006 to manage certain public roads on the installation, the scope expanded after Fort Bragg’s training roads were heavily damaged by major flooding due to Hurricane Matthew in October 2016.

James “Mike” Creager, Fort Bragg Directorate of Public Works IGSA Program Manager, said, “We could have continued to do quick repairs to the damaged areas, but to properly maintain the roads, they needed to meet standards, or else we would be constantly throwing good money after bad. And many of the major roadbeds on Fort Bragg did not meet standards.”

“The other thing we found out was that NCDOT had a more streamlined contracting process, since they are constantly building and repairing roads across the state. They can innovate and literally set the national standard for the industry,” Creager said.

After upgrading the culverts in the training areas to better withstand major flooding, Fort Bragg and NCDOT used a new process called Full Depth Reclamation to rebuild the roadbeds. The project covered 12 miles through Fort Bragg’s training areas and became the largest FDR effort undertaken by Fort Bragg and NCDOT.

The process removes the old roadbed and recycles it to create the aggregate for the new roadbed in a single action. New cement and binders are added to the recycled material to create the new base of the roadbed. This was nearly as quick as preparing the old roadbed for repaving, but the rewards were significant. Creager stated that if the roads were just resurfaced, the expected lifespan of the road would be about 25 years, with a significant risk of damage from major flooding. But with the FDR process, the roads provide better drainage to withstand major flooding and have an expected lifespan of 50 years. The cost increase was minimal because the FDR process requires similar manpower and timelines while recycling existing roadbed materials.

In August 2022, one of the first IGSA road repair projects within the cantonment area or interior of Fort Bragg was completed. Normandy Drive, around Erwin Elementary School, was repaved. This marked the next step in the evolution of cooperation with NCDOT, providing services for non-public roads on Fort Bragg.

Since 2016, the IGSA has produced around 80 miles of repaved or new roads. That’s about 20% of Fort Bragg’s paved roads; most of which are in the cantonment area. Fort Bragg has experienced significant savings when compared to the Army’s construction contracting process, saving about 40-60% for design and sometimes nearly 60% for construction.

Ingrid Fullerton, DPW Engineering Services Division Acting Chief, says, “Our biggest saving is time. From concept to complete, our time savings is averaging 50%. If we need to modify a project, there is not a significant delay in negotiating the change. Typically, we pay only for materials cost and man-hours. Modifying Army projects can cost four to 10 times that and significantly delay a project.”

NCDOT crews are currently repaving and performing curb work on Rock Merritt Avenue on Pope Army Airfield. It is scheduled to be completed in August. DPW noticed that combining two phases could save some time. They expect that change to be announced soon. The contracting framework allows for these kinds of changes.

The next large upcoming project that affects nearly all of Fort Bragg is the combined All American Freeway repairs.

A few years ago, safety inspections of the Gruber Road overpass identified flaws that would eventually require replacement of the bridge structure. Temporary stabilization was performed while Fort Bragg started planning for the replacement.

DPW engineers were also pursuing a permanent fix to the settling of the roadbed in the section of road just past the overpass. Locals nicknamed the section of road the “rollercoaster” or the “whoop-de-doos.” Settlement of the roadbed has been occurring since construction of the All American Freeway was completed in 1978. Fort Bragg has been patching that area every few years for almost 50 years.

Jeff Williamson, Fort Bragg Director of Public Works, while working with his team, realized there was an opportunity to combine the projects and save time and money. Under the traditional Army contracting process, Fort Bragg would not have been able to fund the effort as a single combined project because sufficient funding was not available within a single fiscal year. So, they started pursuing it as an IGSA project. Additionally, NCDOT has experience with compaction, the method that is being used to stabilize the settling of the roadbed.

Williamson said, “Our team of engineers at DPW and the NCDOT team have worked together to provide a solution that could only be done with the correct conditions. Those conditions were set with our commitment to the IGSA. We’re eagerly awaiting the award so we can get this project going and improve conditions for our warfighters and their families.”

DPW is awaiting the final review by NCDOT before the contract is awarded. Once approved, Fort Bragg will announce project timelines, official detour routes and traffic mitigation measures designed to reduce congestion during peak travel periods.

Creager said that there are more projects that they are pursuing, and we may see action in the near future. One of these is paving Nursery Road to the west of NC 87 and John Neil Shaw Road. This would create a new route for people living in the Linden Oaks and Cameron area to access the Long Street Gate.

In the meantime, the IGSA team will continue repairing and upgrading Fort Bragg roads to meet the installation’s needs well into the 21st century and beyond.

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https://home.army.mil/bragg/

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