THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 23, 1997 TAG: 9701230350
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: 94 lines
Drivers approaching the Outer Banks from Raleigh will be able to bypass Manteo completely once a new bridge between Manns Harbor and Roanoke Island is built.
A four-lane road - and a new bridge across the Croatan Sound - will route traffic from the T-intersection where U.S. 64 joins U.S. 264 in Manns Harbor to just south of Manteo at the Midway intersection where the road to Wanchese branches off.
Motorists coming onto the barrier islands from Manns Harbor will get a straight shot across the Croatan Sound to the base of the Washington Baum Bridge to Nags Head.
Summer traffic will decrease in downtown Manteo because people won't be just passing through there on their way to the mainland. Motorists will be able to keep up highway speeds between Nags Head and Manns Harbor instead of having to slow down for traffic lights. And the main road through the waterfront town won't have to be widened.
``This bridge is about increasing economic development opportunities - and decreasing traffic in Manteo,'' said R.V. Owens III of Manteo, who represents the Outer Banks on North Carolina's Board of Transportation. ``People will be able to get here quicker from other parts of the state. And those who want to go to Manteo will still be able to (do so) without sitting in so much traffic.''
The bridge and connecting highway are an integral part of a state-wide project to four-lane the 200 miles of highway between Raleigh and the Outer Banks.
Plans that state Department of Transportation officials will present at a public hearing next month call for the new Croatan Sound span to be 5 miles long, 65 feet high and include four lanes. Cost estimates are $150 million for the entire project, which includes widening the existing U.S. 64/264 to four lanes at each end of the new bridge. Construction could begin as early as next year.
The existing bridge, built in 1955, is 2.7 miles long, 45 feet high and 2 lanes wide.
In 1994, an average of 13,000 vehicles passed through Manteo every day while 3,700 cars were counted in Manns Harbor. By 2020, transportation officials project, an average of 26,600 vehicles will go through Manteo and 7,700 cars will travel through Manns Harbor. The road has to get wider to handle the additional influx, highway engineers said.
``There's only one route proposed now,'' state transportation department spokesman Carl Goode said this week from his Raleigh office. ``We've looked at several options. And this one seems to be the most feasible.''
During a hearing held in October 1994, engineers presented three options for widening the road between Manns Harbor and Nags Head and replacing the bridge over the Croatan Sound. Some Roanoke Island business owners seemed concerned that by routing traffic away from Manteo, potential customers would bypass their businesses. But others said widening the existing highway to four lanes would ruin the character of the quaint waterfront town.
``I have mixed feelings'' about the new route, Elizabethan Inn manager Martha Pitts said Wednesday. ``It certainly could have a negative impact on our business because cars will be able to bypass us instead of driving right by our door.
``But a four-lane road through Manteo would pass right through our parking lot,'' said Pitts, whose hotel sits on the west side of U.S. 64/264 in Manteo. ``I don't even know how they'd do that.''
To build the new bridge, highway officials will have to buy and bulldoze two residential homes - one in Manns Harbor and one in Manteo. Two vacant buildings near the bridge's ends also will have to be removed. And about 14 acres of wetlands will have to be disturbed in and around the Croatan Sound.
The existing bridge between Manteo and Manns Harbor probably will remain open even after the new span is completed. Goode said there are no plans to remove it. And Owens said keeping the old bridge ``is imperative'' because it will create a loop for travelers who want to get to ``The Lost Colony'' outdoor drama, the North Carolina Aquarium, the Elizabethan Gardens and other attractions on the north end of Roanoke Island.
``Leave that old bridge in and you'll get truck traffic out of Manteo on the new one while letting visitors have a quick shot around the town, back onto the island,'' Owens said. ``They can go around Manteo on the new bridge, through a quick loop in Manns Harbor, and get back onto the north end of Roanoke Island via the old bridge without having to actually go through Manteo.
``In this road business, you ain't never gonna make everybody happy,'' said Owens. ``So you might as well at least get their input.'' ILLUSTRATION: PUBLIC HEARING
The North Carolina The Department of Transportation will hold a
public hearing about plans for a new bridge between Manns Harbor and
Roanoke Island at 7 p.m. on Feb. 18 in the Manteo Middle School
Auditorium.
Plans call for a four-lane bridge to cross the Croatan Sound between
the junction of U.S. 64/264 in Manns Harbor and the midway
intersection on Roanoke Island, near the junction of Route 345 to
Wanchese - so motorists traveling between Nags Head and the Dare
County mainland would be able to bypass Manteo on the new span.
All comments are welcome. Plans of the proposed route are on display
at the state Department of Transportation office in Manteo. For more
information, call Carl Goode at (919) 250-4092.