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NC Board of Transportation awarded Vannoy
Construction a $10 million contract to build new rest area in Wilkes County

The N.C. Board of Transportation approved a $10 million contract yesterday for the construction of an environmentally friendly rest area and visitor center on U.S. 421 in Wilkes County.

The board, which met yesterday in Raleigh, awarded the construction contract for the rest area to James R. Vannoy and Sons Construction Co. of Jefferson. Work is expected to start in January and be finished by September 2009.The new, 22-acre rest area will be on the north side of the highway about a mile west of the N.C. 115 exit. It will include a 10,000-square-foot restroom area and visitor center, an 87-space parking lot for cars and tractor-trailers, picnic tables, a pet-exercise area and a walking trail. Wilkes County provided the property for the project, while Wilkesboro is providing water and North Wilkesboro the sewer service to the site, said Mike Pettyjohn, a division engineer with the N.C. Department of Transportation in North Wilkesboro.

Wilkes County will be responsible for staffing the visitor center. How that will be done has not been decided by town and county officials, Pettyjohn said.

Because the new rest area will be the only one on U. S. 421 west of Winston-Salem, it has been sorely needed, he said.

A rest area on U. S. 421 in eastern Watauga County was closed several ago after the highway was moved to a new section of roadway between Deep Gap and Boone.

"If you're coming from the east the last rest area you pass is on Interstate 40 in Alamance County," Pettyjohn said. "So having a rest area in Wilkes County, it should be a big benefit to the traveling public, while the visitor center will serve as a gateway to the whole northwest mountain area."

Wilkes County, NC Real Estate Blog
Wilkes Visitor Center/Rest Area Ccontract OK'd
By Jim Sparks WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL REPORTER
February 10th, 2008 8:19 PM