THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994 TAG: 9406300542
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940630 LENGTH: ELIZABETH CITY
Pasquotank County commissioners will roll that question around this morning with R. V. Owens III, Transportation Board member for the Albemarle, when Owens comes to Elizabeth City for a meeting with the county board.
{REST} ``Before we start building in 1996, the N.C. Department of Transportation wants to be sure we have all of the necessary input from community leaders,'' Owens said Wednesday in Dare County.
The four-mile, $33.7 million bypass that will carry U.S. 17 through lush farmlands west of Elizabeth City is to be completed early in 2001, said William Jones, a transportation spokesman. The bypass will leave U.S. 17 from an existing four-lane stretch north of Berea Church road and rejoin the highway near the Perquimans County line southwest of the congested business section of U.S. 17 in Elizabeth City.
``There are always bypass questions to be settled with city leaders as well as with county government,'' Owens said.
Ever since the department put the bypass in the year 2000 Transportation Improvement Program, there has been disagreement among Elizabeth City merchants about where to locate the offramp roads designed to encourage visitors to do business in Elizabeth City.
``This will be one of the main things we'll be discussing at the Thursday meeting,'' said Randy Keaton, Pasquotank County manager.
About $19.2 million of the bypass money will be contributed by the federal government as discretionary funds, Jones said.
by CNB