The North Carolina Department of Transportation has been awarded 18 contracts for highway and bridge projects throughout North Carolina and one project has landed in Orange County.

The project’s funds will go towards re-paving a portion Interstate 85 and Steve Abbot, communications officer for the North Carolina DOT, says the work to be done will not only create jobs, but will also make roads safer.

The project is slated to begin in the early parts of spring because re-paving during the winter months is generally more difficult. The project will cover roughly 1.5 miles of road from the I-85/40 split to the bridges at Orange Grove Road between Chapel Hill and Burlington.

This is the fourth project awarded to Orange County funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for various road projects. The previous three were awarded to Chapel Hill and Carrboro in early October. According to the Federal Highway Administration every 1-million dollars spent on creates 30 jobs. Abbot adds that this project and other projects in the state jump-start the road to recovery.

The 1.7 million dollar contract was awarded to Rea Contracting of Raleigh and has a project completion date set for July 16th, 2010.