THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 18, 1995 TAG: 9506180072
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MOYOCK LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
The Southland Trade store draws its customers from the highway, where people instinctively or impulsively stop to use the restrooms, grab a drink and a snack, or just get out to stretch.
But this year has been different.
``We just don't have the impulse traffic pulling in here anymore,'' said Louise Harrell, whose father co-owns Southland Trade Corp. The Moyock company runs a convenience store and nearby restaurant, where meals receipts are down 10 percent to 15 percent from a year ago, Harrell said.
The reason for the big slowdown in business, she and some other Moyock merchants believe, is because their northern neighbors are asking people to bypass the area.
Electronic signs on Virginia's Interstates 64 and 664 in Hampton Roads ask Outer Banks-bound motorists to take an alternate route on weekends to avoid backups along the often-congested state Route 168 - one of the most popular paths to the Carolina beaches.
Traffic along the Chesapeake section of the highway, known as Battlefield Boulevard, and Currituck County's unnamed state Route 168 is expected to worsen this year, in part because of road construction in Moyock.
North Carolina is widening its end of the highway to five lanes. Construction began last month on the initial 3.6-mile section from the state line to Survey Road and is scheduled for completion in the fall of 1996.
Eventually a five-lane N.C. 168 will join the already expanded U.S. 158 in Barco and provide a speedier trip to the beach. Until then, it could take longer than usual, whether from construction-related slowdowns on weekdays or a slightly longer alternate drive on weekends.
Though construction is suspended from noon on Fridays to Monday mornings, new detour signs in Hampton Roads recommend taking other local roads.
The path sends people down Chesapeake's Dominion Boulevard to U.S. Route 17, then to state Route 343 in South Mills in Camden County. Travelers pick up U.S. Route 158 in Belcross and take it all the way to the barrier islands.
The city of Chesapeake in January asked the Virginia Department of Transportation to provide alternate routing for the peak summer months.
Some Saturdays in July and August, up to 29,000 cars travel Battlefield Boulevard, which was built for 7,500 cars daily, said Mary Ann Saunders, an assistant to Chesapeake's city manager.
The rerouting, she believes, will most likely redirect only a small fraction of the traffic.
``I think the diversion is like having a migraine and giving baby aspirin - it's going to take the edge off of the pain, but it's no cure,'' Saunders said.
Still, some in Moyock fear that efforts to alleviate motorist headaches in Virginia may cause merchants heartaches in North Carolina.
``I think people have heard all this adverse publicity, and they've said, `Well, let's not go there,' '' Harrell said. ``We've been in business 20 years, and we've never experienced anything like this.''
Jerry Old, who owns an auto service center and operates a Hardees restaurant in Moyock, said business is coming back after a spring slump. ``I think overall, it'll probably be as busy a time as ever,'' he said.
But he also worries about how much the detour could cost him if the signs stay up for several years.
``We just want to make sure Virginia and North Carolina coordinate their efforts - which they're well capable of - to ensure an even, steady traffic flow,'' the former Currituck County commissioner said.
Chesapeake plans to build a $113 million toll road around the two-lane section of Battlefield Boulevard and has received a tentative $36 million in state urban allocation funds and loans to get the project started, Saunders said.
Chesapeake voters in November also approved an $8 million bond referendum to be used toward the first interchange in the project, she said.
North Carolina transportation officials also posted an electronic sign on U.S. Route 158 West - heading toward Virginia - in Barco. It notifies motorists of construction, and possible delays, ahead.
According to Currituck Commissioner J. Owen Etheridge, the signs have been effective.
Etheridge said he recently counted about 15 westbound cars on U.S. Route 158 in Barco. Twelve turned at the Elizabeth City cut-off- part of the new route - while three continued toward state Route 168.
``Any other time, it would be three turning toward Elizabeth City and the others going straight,'' he said.
But Etheridge, who travels state Route 168 weekdays to his job in Virginia Beach, is concerned a slowdown in business between Moyock and Barco could cost the county.
``It's going to have a negative impact on us as far as sales-tax revenue,'' he said.
Saunders said traffic is bound to pick up, signs or not. The diversion will help, she said, ``but it's a minimal help.''
Later, she added, ``Come July, it'll be the same ol' gridlock.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DREW WILSON/Staff
Signs like this advice motorists to take U.S. Route 17 when
traveling to and from the Outer Banks. Such alternate routes may be
cutting into local businesses.
by CNB