THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 29, 1994 TAG: 9409290440
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Pasquotank County community leaders are pressuring the N.C. Department of Transportation to build two connector roads to a $40 million U.S. 17 bypass around Elizabeth City, but highway planners fear the interchanges could cost more than the bypass itself.
``And that money will come from state funds, not federal matching money,'' said R.V. Owens III, a Dare County restaurant owner who is the Albemarle's representative on the state Board of Transportation.
Owens listened with increasing dismay Tuesday night when speaker after speaker rose at a DOT hearing in Elizabeth City and urged construction of the costly connectors to link downtown business areas to the bypass.
Four proposed U.S. 17 bypass routes would veer off from the existing U.S. 17 several miles north of Elizabeth City and rejoin the four-lane road in farmlands southwest of the city.
U.S. 17 is a main north-south artery in the eastern part of the state and the DOT is improving the road all the way to South Carolina.
No interchanges were shown on any of the proposed bypass plans displayed at the meeting in the Pasquotank County Courthouse.
Nearly all of Tuesday's speakers agreed that Halstead Boulevard should be the terminus of one of the interchanges. The boulevard is a multi-lane main highway to Elizabeth City State University and the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station south of the city. But in town the boulevard dead-ends at existing U.S. 17, now a heavily traveled through-town highway with an obstacle course of 13 stoplights.
``We estimate it will cost as much as $15 million to build just one interchange from Halstead Boulevard to a cloverleaf on the new bypass west of town,'' Owens said. ``We'll have to build two overpass bridges to cross a highway and some railroad tracks. And we'll also have to fill a swampy area that is probably environmentally sensitive.''Owens added that a $15 million connector would cost more than the state's share of the entire $40 million bypass.
``Eighty percent of the bypass money will come from the federal government,'' said William Jones, a spokesman for the DOT in Raleigh. ``If the bypass requires an estimated $39 million to $40 million, then state highway funds would provide about $8 million, or 20 percent of the total cost.
``Our cost studies so far show that one bypass would require from $9 million to $15 million to build and no such funds are in the present bypass allocation,'' Jones added.
Jones said DOT engineers should complete a preliminary study of the Halstead Boulevard connector by Jan. 31.
Other speakers argued that a second connector should run from downtown Elizabeth Street, which leads from the Pasquotank River bridge and carries traffic from U.S. 158 and the Outer Banks into the city. The gateway street also dead-ends at U.S. 17 a few blocks north of Halstead Boulevard.
``An Elizabeth Street connector to the bypass would be longer than the Halstead Boulevard connector,'' Owens said.
``We obviously have to find the money to build at least one interchange and I'll fight like heck for it,'' Owens said. ``But I hate to think it could cost more than the state's entire contribution for the bypass.''
Owens said he would ``take the connector money from some other highway project.''
It was not until last Monday that the Elizabeth City City Council endorsed the Halstead Boulevard plan and at least one other downtown connector for the bypass.
Pasquotank County Commissioners held a meeting early in the summer to discuss locations for the interchanges. The commissioners also agreed that at least one of the connectors should start at Halstead Boulevard.
Pasquotank County Commissioner William C. ``Bill'' Owens Jr. has repeatedly warned his colleagues that ``the high cost of the connectors could be a problem.'' Owens is currently running for a 1st District seat in the N.C. House.
Because there had been no early input from city or county leaders, the DOT plans for the bypass routes show no interchange locations. The bypass has been on the drawing board for several years.
``That's why we're now rushing the preliminary study and an environmental document for the Halstead Boulevard connector,'' said Jones, the DOT spokesman.
``We're going to have to go ahead with the bypass even though the interchange studies are still in progress,'' Jones said.
Right-of-way acquisition for the bypass is scheduled to be finished by 1996, with construction starting in 1997. DOT engineers say the road will be completed early in 2001. by CNB