AHOSKIE – Motorists using US 13 south of Ahoskie need to make plans for a week-long detour.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) will close a portion of US 13 from June 2-6 to make needed repairs to the Stony Creek bridges.

Motorists will be reminded of the closure by means of electronic message boards NCDOT will place miles in advance on both sides of the affected area.

Detours around the worksite will be, from the north side, either NC 561 (Harrellsville Highway) to Bethlehem Church Road to Powellsville and back to US 13 or Jernigan Swamp Road to Williford Road to Center Grove Road and back to US 13 at Powellsville.

Ronald J. Terry of the NCDOT Bridge Maintenance office in Union said the suggested detour for truck traffic will be NC 11 to NC 305 (at Aulander) back to US 13 north of Windsor.

“The bridges are not in that bad of shape, they just need some work until they can be fully replaced,” Terry said.

He added that the bridges were on the TIP (Transportation Improvement Plan) to be replaced, but were removed from that list for unknown reasons.

Terry said NCDOT crews will replace the joists under the overflow bridge. On the main creek bridge, crews are scheduled to make repairs on the existing pilings, install crutch bent (extra pilings to help support the existing ones), replace joists and patch the railings.

“We will have the assistance of another DOT crew from Williamston to help us make these repairs because we know this is a road with a high volume of traffic and we want to get it back open as quickly as possible,” Terry concluded.