
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 24, 1994                    TAG: 9406240534 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: B4    EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA  
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 
DATELINE: 940624                                 LENGTH: RALEIGH

TOLL BRIDGE DISCUSSION DELAYED BY HOUSE PANEL

{LEAD} A state House panel Thursday delayed discussion of a proposal that could lead to the state's first toll bridge across Currituck Sound in northeastern North Carolina.

The House Finance Committee delayed until next week discussion of a bill creating a North Carolina Bridge Authority and boosting construction of a $39 million bridge to link the Currituck County mainland with Corolla and northern Currituck County beach communities.

{REST} House members said the bill was delayed to give its supporters more time to hone its details and to give officials from Currituck County sufficient notice of pending committee action so that they can attend the meeting.

``I think the chances for us to pass that are pretty good,'' said Rep. Vernon G. James, D-Pasquotank. ``The governor supports it and the secretary of transportation supports it.''

Backers of the bill said that by building a toll bridge in Currituck County, the state could speed construction of the project by paying for most of its construction with tolls and without delaying other area construction projects included in the state's Transportation Improvement Plan, the guideline for highway construction projects statewide.

If North Carolina pays for the project under its current system of distributing funds for new projects, the bridge would not be built until 2010. But the bridge could be built by 2000 if it is constructed as a toll bridge, according to local officials.

The bill calls for a study to be completed by mid-1995 by a legislative panel, the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Transportation, on the best ways to fund the bridge and it creates the N.C. Bridge Authority to oversee the bridge's construction.

by CNB