FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Pratt Street became the very first road to be repaved as part of the new partnership between Fort Bragg and the North Carolina Department of Transportation on March 15.

The project was completed on April 5 and covers the area from Gruber Road to Rifle Range Road and Ogden Street to Lewis Street. The remaining section will be paved after the redesign of a culvert is completed next year.

“It is great to see this agreement finally in action after six years of effort between past and current garrison commanders, the NCDOT and of course our amazing Directorate of Public Works team,” said Col. Scott Pence, Fort Bragg garrison commander. “This inter-government service agreement will allow an estimated cost savings of 35-50% per project which allows us to fix more roads with our allocated funding dollars.”

The process for the agreement began in 2016 as part of an Army wide effort to increase partnerships between local and state governments and installations.

“The inter-governmental service agreement between Fort Bragg and the NCDOT grew from our organizations’ long history of partnerships,” said Eric Legg, Fort Bragg DPW’s chief of engineering. “We were both looking for better ways to serve our Soldiers and veterans.”

The agreement allows Fort Bragg to submit road repair requests to the NCDOT for execution. The NCDOT then provides oversite and contracts the work and labor for the project, while Fort Bragg provides the funding.

Fort Bragg is able to save money through the agreement because the NCDOT is able to use non-federal acquisition regulation based contracting and is able to leverage its larger business network, and expertise in roadway contracting and inspections.

Typically, inter-governmental service agreements are used for much smaller services such as animal control and the custodial services provided at the Airborne and Special Operations Museum.

“The concept of partnering with a local or state government to perform repairs of Army facilities was new, which created some hurdles for the agreement,” explained Legg. “The agreement with the NCDOT is being used to perform millions of dollars in roadwork and required additional approvals, and a strong partnership to develop methods to accomplish something that had never been done before.”

Approximately $11.8 million in road projects has been funded in the last year and will improve the conditions of eight roads. The next road project began June 15 and focuses on the section of Normandy Drive between the All American Expressway and Bastogne Drive, and a small section of Rhine Road in front of Irwin Intermediate School.

Through these improvement projects, Fort Bragg Soldiers and the community are able to start seeing the benefits of the agreement. After completing the Normandy Drive repairs, the next roads slated are Honeycutt Road and Gruber Road.

“This agreement is a huge accomplishment for Fort Bragg and the NCDOT,” said Legg. “It is going to drastically help us to make much needed repairs to our roadways. We could not have accomplished any of this without the outstanding support from the NCDOT, the North Carolina Secretary of Transportation, the Board of Transportation Members, and the Division 6 and 8 Engineers.”

For more information about DPW and its mission go to https://home.army.mil/bragg/index.php/about/garrison/directorate-public-works.