CHAPEL HILL – You will soon be able to travel on the improved Culbreth Road, as town officials got a needed increase in funding for the project.

The project, originally with a change order of $150,000, faced unforeseen conditions that required an additional $222,370 to complete the project in time.

Director of Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation, Butch Kisiah, says the town did not need to find additional funds to complete the project.

“We had monies budgeted in contingency just in case something like this happened,” Kisiah says.

Kisiah says the town is investing in getting Culbreth Road, a major thoroughfare, completed before the end of the summer because of the influx of students that will be traveling through that area to get to school.

“We have Culbreth Middle School just up the road from the tunnel,” Kisah says. “We want to try and have the road back open in time for that school opening.”

Work on Culbreth Road was slowed down after it was discovered that the soil workers are developing through is not strong enough to support the weight of the accompanying tunnel. To correct this, Kisah says workers are digging out the soil until they reach the bedrock.

“If we didn’t do this, there’s a good chance that after we finish the project, we would have some subsidence because of the weight of the tunnel and the road,” Kisiah says. “Basically, we would end up having to come back and rework Culbreth Road again.”

Chapel Hill and Orange County crews will also be closing part of the Boulder Creek Trail next week to repair flood damage.