FORT BRAGG – Half a dozen vehicles made their way through the All American Gate early Monday morning, July 27, in the final minutes before the 5 a.m. closure that will allow construction crews to excavate and rebuild a portion of All American Freeway and replace Gruber Bridge.
Fort Bragg’s main gate typically sees about 15,000 vehicles each day and now those vehicles must use other gates on the installation.
“This is gonna be challenging this first week or two until everybody figures out what their new pattern is gonna be,” said Dean DeMark, the Deputy Director of Fort Bragg’s Directorate of Emergency Services.
DES shifted manpower from the All American Gate to the other gates to maximize the number of lanes open during peak hours, DeMark said. In addition, the gate at Canopy Lane will now be open 24 hours a day.
Other 24-hour gates include Long Street, Chicken Road, Yadkin, Honeycutt, and R. Miller. Limited-hour gates (open 5 a.m. to 9 a.m.) include Butner, Manchester and Rock Merritt gates.
Officials are asking commuters to be patient and flexible as the new traffic patterns take hold. Most importantly, DeMark stressed safety – slow down and pay attention.
“The barriers are out here, the signage is out here. Plan ahead and give yourself extra time,” DeMark said.
Time is what many commuters are concerned about.
“Hard to believe that they say that All American gate will be closed for 2 years!” posted one person on Fort Bragg’s official Facebook page.
While shutting down the All American Gate for up to 24 months seems like a long time, using Fort Bragg’s Inter-Governmental Service Agreement (IGSA) with the North Carolina Department of Transportation actually saves taxpayers money and saves time while addressing problems years in the making with All American Freeway and Gruber Bridge.
“These are two separate projects,” said Jeff Williamson, the Director of Public Works at Fort Bragg. “Both projects use the same traffic detour pattern. By combining them, we get the work done sooner, it shortens the shutdown.”
The work will fix the “roller coaster” on the All American Freeway, Williamson said. The road was built over a landfill in the 1970s and settling has gotten worse over the years.
Fort Bragg has worked with NCDOT in the past to address settling in the Gruber Bridge abutments.
“About four years ago, we worked with NCDOT and they came in and stabilized the abutments. Then we came up with a plan to replace the bridge,” Williamson said.
During the construction process, Fort Bragg officials will use official social media platforms to update commuters and visitors with updates on traffic flow, detours and any advisories.
In addition to the installation website and Facebook page, officials suggest using a mobile app to keep updated on the gates.
“Thank you, everyone at Ft. Bragg who worked on this construction plan/awareness campaign,” said one poster on Facebook. “The MyArmyPost app helped pick a gate, and it truly was the right one.”
Fort Bragg leaders have been encouraging commuters to use the My Army Post App (MAPA) to see the traffic status at the gates to help determine the best route to reach their destination.
MAPA is a free tool providing information on events on Army installations. The app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
While the All American Visitor Center will remain open during the gate closure, visitors who do not have a Department of War identification card are encouraged to request a visitor pass on the Fort Bragg website to save travel time.