THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 25, 1994 TAG: 9408250593
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B01 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: POPLAR BRANCH LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Joycelyn Davis moved with her family back to Aydlett in June partially to escape the traffic and crowding that had begun to encroach on her York County, Pa., home, where she had lived for eight years.
If a proposed mid-county bridge should come through the paramedical examiner's new neighborhood, it'll all be for naught, she said.
``You move away to some place quiet, and then they follow you,'' Davis, a third-generation Currituck County resident, said Wednesday evening during a citizens informational meeting at W.T. Griggs Elementary School in Poplar Branch.
Davis was one of more than 50 mainland residents and property owners to raise questions and offer suggestions for a six-mile bridge linking Currituck's mainland with the northern Outer Banks.
The span, proponents say, will provide quicker access to the Outer Banks and an additional hurricane evacuation route. It also should create more interaction between Currituck's mainland and island citizens and businesses.
Wednesday's informal session was similar to one held the previous day in Corolla, which drew equal numbers of people for and against a new Currituck Sound bridge, state transportation officials said.
Most who turned out Wednesday were, like Davis, against a toll bridge, mostly because of the impact it would have on their small, rural communities and ecologically fragile surroundings.
Preliminary studies suggest the mainland terminus be located in Waterlily, Aydlett or Poplar Branch and connect to Corolla on the Outer Banks.
``Personally, I don't want four lanes of traffic passing by my house,'' said Jim Gibbons, a Navy electronics technician who has lived in Aydlett for the past 12 years.
``The sound is just starting to get back to where you can fish it again. Why spoil that?'' asked Bill Boyd, a Waterlily resident.
Some who came to talk with planners and state engineers said a bridge is inevitable.
But North Carolina Department of Transportation officials said otherwise.
``Nothing's a done deal,'' said Cindy Sharer, an NCDOT project planning engineer. ``If we can handle the expected traffic load with some other nonbridge alternative, we'll certainly consider it.''
Other options include a ferry service and further widening of the Wright Memorial Bridge, now being expanded to four lanes.
Residents also suggested a raised road, or flyover, from the mainland's U.S. 158 to keep tourist traffic from disturbing waterfowl and dividing close-knit soundside communities.
``That's what the people object to - having their neighborhoods turned upside down,'' Aydlett's Henry Donski said.
``To reduce the impact on wetlands, it may be necessary to do something like that,'' Sharer said. ``But we haven't gotten into thatdegree of detail yet.''
If a bridge is built, it will trim Virginia motorists' travel time to the barrier islands by about 90 minutes. The new route is expected to cost between $1 and $10 to use.
``It will be nice to get to the Outer Banks quicker, but I think the toll is a bit excessive,'' Gibbons said.
Although most spoke against the project, at least one property owner at Wednesday's meeting said he supported the proposal.
``The county needs the bridge sooner or later because development on the Outer Banks is going to continue until it's saturated, and evacuation is going to be mandated,'' said Don M. Roberts, who lives in Virginia Beach but owns property in Aydlett.
Roberts' family has lived in Currituck County since 1720, and the private contractor said he understands residents' reluctance toward building a bridge.
But, he said, ``the sooner it's built, the cheaper the project will be.''
Bridge designs are scheduled to begin in 1997, and construction will be completed in the early 2000s.
This week's public forums were part of the environmental impact studies being put together by state transportation officials and the Raleigh private firm Parsons Brinckerhoff which also helped plan the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel linking Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore.
More citizen input on the span's social and economic impact will be gathered by the study team at future sessions.
Anyone wishing to voice an opinion on the proposal can call a toll-free project hotline at 1-800-961-LINK between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays.
KEYWORDS: NORTH CAROLINA STATE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
PROPOSED CURRITUCK SOUND BRIDGE
by CNB