According to DOT&squo;s &dquo;let list&dquo; for upcoming projects, a contract is expected to be let on the I-26 resurfacing in December.

The other Polk project is the replacement of a bridge on Landrum Road over Hooper Creek. A contract should be let on the $475,000 project in August of next year.

DOT&squo;s let list for the next five years includes 22 projects in the Isothermal Rural Planning Organization&squo;s (RPO) area, which includes McDowell, Rutherford and Polk counties. Every year the RPO must submit to NCDOT a list of the top projects in the region.

More than $93 million has been allocated to a widening project on U.S. 221 in Rutherford County, which has been ranked as a top priority project for years by the RPO. Contracts are scheduled to be let beginning next year on the U.S. 221 related projects.

Josh King, transportation planner with the Isothermal Planning and Development Commission, advised that DOT&squo;s let list also includes the U.S. 74 bypass in Cleveland County, expected to cost more than $80 million. Contracts are expected to be assigned for that work beginning in 2012.

King notes that Cleveland County is outside the RPO, but the bypass will impact the region.

&dquo;&ellip; the U.S.-74 project will have significant regional impacts and we can only hope for a speedy construction of the much needed bypass.&dquo;