INC NEWS - East End Connector LEFT OUT of plan (N&O article)

Mon Mar 28 17:12:52 EST 2005

Thanks Caleb, but I'm doing more than just emailing.

I've been working hard on the Chamber Transportation Committee for the last four or five years and have deeply been involved with the Regional Transportation Alliance which has also sent out support for the East End Connector as the #1 priority for Durham.

For me,  it has been a political process for much too long a time in Raleigh.

Getting involved and staying involved (like yourself) is the only thing besides writting emails and letters out when this type of thing comes up.

We've got to lobby our own delegation about it and let them know that this road is a priority (both from a community stand point and a financial one) for us.

This weekend Ellen Reckhow said the same thing.

She's also mad as hell about it, too!

mike
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Caleb Southern 
  To: 'Mike - Hotmail' ; inc-list at DurhamINC.org 
  Sent: Monday, March 28, 2005 4:54 PM
  Subject: RE: INC NEWS - East End Connector LEFT OUT of plan (N&O article)

  Thanks, Mike. 

  I have been informed by Mark Ahrendsen (Durham transportation director) that the Environmental Impact Statement for the EEC will be done well in time to start construction before the year 2012. The only thing holding up this road is the political decision by the state Board of Transportation to delay the construction funding. 

  Political decisions can be influenced by us, the public.

  Please email the NC Board of Transportation (see addresses below) - and urge them to support the "Durham East End Connector".

  Thanks,

  Caleb Southern

  Ps: The East End Connector has been on the books for 46 years. It is the oldest unfunded highway project in the entire state!  ;-(

  NC Board of Transportation:

  tdenning at dot.state.nc.us; ltippett at dot.state.nc.us; info at durhamloop.org; stan at outerbanksrentals.com; 

  mblount3 at theblountlawfirm.com; cam at becajun.com;Lanny73763 at aol.com;tbetts at centura.com; kenspaul at gte.net; 

  napro1 at earthlink.net; dmcamp at bizec.rr.com; dgalyon at gfd.com; GRK at sbldrsinc.com; nancy.dunn at aladdintravel.com; 

  perkins at ncat.edu; cowellm at aol.com; Larry at larryhelms.com; judgecollier at bellsouth.net; cburrell at webmail.southwest.cc.nc.us

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  From: Mike - Hotmail [mailto:mwshiflett at hotmail.com] 
  Sent: Monday, March 28, 2005 4:45 PM
  To: southernc at mindspring.com; inc-list at DurhamINC.org
  Subject: Re: INC NEWS - East End Connector LEFT OUT of plan (N&O article)

  All,

  Caleb's correct.

  This issue also came up at a Chamber of Commerce Transportation Committee meeting last week.

  It seems that now that the floods gates have been opened for Trust fund money to be used for projects 'not strictly' considered (at least originally) loop projects, that the East End connector is behind the eight ball and being put further down the quene because it's Environmental Impact Study needs to be updated.

  The way this was explained is because other cities have had projects much further along in the process than the East End connector (on the books for more than 20years) and have a 'so-called head' start on it.

  Another issue that is being looked at very seriously is the equity formula.

  For instance,  if you look at the amount of money (per capita) that's being spent across NC and seen how much of it is being spent unequitably,  you'd have to agree that 'politics as usual' is influencing road construction elsewhere too.

  These are two seperate pots of money and Durham is getting screwed by both allocations (IMHO).

  mike shiflett

    ----- Original Message ----- 

    From: Caleb Southern 

    To: inc-list at DurhamINC.org 

    Sent: Monday, March 28, 2005 2:31 PM

    Subject: INC NEWS - East End Connector LEFT OUT of plan (N&O article)

    Road plan imperils Triangle projects
    East End Connector, signal system left out

    By BRUCE SICELOFF, Staff Writer
    News & Observer

    As state transportation officials update their spending plan, the Triangle's
    top priorities appear likely to be delayed for years or turned down
    altogether.

    A computer-synchronized overhaul for Raleigh's traffic signal system, No. 1
    on Wake County's wish list, gets no money in the latest draft of the
    Transportation Improvement Program for 2006 through 2012. The draft is now
    circulating among members of the state Board of Transportation.

    Durham County's top request is the long-sought East End Connector, to
    relieve residential neighborhoods of dangerous cut-through traffic between
    three busy commuter routes. Groundbreaking was set for 2010 in the state
    plan adopted two years ago, but the draft update would put off construction
    indefinitely -- until sometime after 2012.

    Some revisions are possible before the transportation board formally
    releases its draft plan April 6. The board plans to seek comment in public
    meetings across the state and then approve its final six-year plan for $6.6
    billion in transportation improvements in July. 

    Triangle leaders have been bracing for bad news since January, when the
    state transportation department said it would withhold more than $300
    million that Wake, Durham and five other counties in the DOT's Division 5
    were expecting. The region spent more than its share in the past decade
    under the state's "equity formula" for distributing transportation funds.
    State law requires the DOT to reduce Division 5's allotment accordingly and
    shift that money to other areas.

    Despite the warnings, Wake and Durham officials expressed dismay about the
    prospective cuts and delays.

    "That's a shock," Ellen Reckhow, chairwoman of the Durham County
    commissioners, said Friday when told the state might postpone the $90.3
    million East End Connector. "I think there's going to be great consternation
    in Durham as to why that's happening."

    Joe Bryan, the Wake commissioners' chairman, said the state's allocation
    formula does not fairly address the Triangle's urban traffic problems. "We
    need to figure out how to get the transportation money where the congestion
    is," Bryan said.

    Other Triangle projects would suffer if the transportation update were
    approved in its current form:

    * A 12.4-mile extension of the Interstate 540 Outer Loop from Research
    Triangle Park to Holly Springs for $294.6 million. Construction would move
    from 2008 to 2012.

    * Widening I-40 from Wade Avenue to U.S. 1 in Cary, the only part of the
    interstate in Wake County with only four lanes. DOT officials had indicated
    last year that money was available to add this $45.3 million project to the
    schedule, but the draft 2006-2012 plan does not include it. Also awaiting
    state funding is the widening of the parallel stretch of the I-440 Beltline
    from Wade Avenue to U.S. 1 for $77.3 million.

    * Widening I-85 for 7.5 miles from Hillsborough to Durham for $52 million.
    Construction would be postponed from 2010 to 2012.

    * Widening Alston Avenue between N.C. 147 and Holloway Street in Durham and
    replacing railroad bridges, $19.9 million. The work would be put off from
    2010 until sometime after 2012.

    * Extending Booker Dairy Road in Johnston County for 3.7 miles from U.S. 70
    Business west of Smithfield to U.S. 301, $31.6 million. Work would be
    postponed from November 2005 to 2009.

    * Widening U.S. 401 for 18.5 miles from Raleigh to Louisburg, including a
    Rolesville bypass, $89.6 million. Construction would be delayed three years,
    to 2011.

    * Widening Davis Drive for five miles near Research Triangle Park, from N.C.
    54 to Morrisville-Carpenter Road. Construction would be postponed to March
    2006.

    A proposed $28 million high-tech upgrade for Raleigh's 500 traffic signals
    would speed cross-town trips and cut air pollution by reducing the time
    drivers spend idling at red lights. Local leaders said it would provide
    great environmental and transportation benefits for a moderate price. Last
    year they announced plans to pay for it with the help of federal clean-air
    funds and $7 million from the city of Raleigh.

    But DOT officials have not guaranteed the state's share -- $4.2 million --
    so the signal system overhaul is "an unfunded project" in the current
    version of the six-year spending plan.

    "Essentially the whole project is in limbo because they either can't or
    won't put their part of it on the table," said Edison H. Johnson, director
    of Wake County's transportation planning agency.

    The six-year plan lists two other new Wake County projects but doesn't
    promise full state funding. The 1.7-mile extension of Timber Drive in
    Garner, from N.C. 50 to White Oak Road, would cost $11.2 million and begin
    construction in 2009. The $18 million realignment of Falls of the Neuse Road
    through Wakefield in northern Wake County, including a new Neuse River
    bridge, would start in 2011.

    Wake, Durham suffer

    Wake and Durham counties stand to lose the most from this year's "equity
    formula" reallocations, but leaders from other parts of the state have
    shared their complaints that state funding is not keeping up with urban
    traffic problems and the expense of interstate highway improvements.

    The six-year update to the DOT plan will reflect both the equity formula
    cuts for Division 5 and the effects of a statewide slowdown in
    transportation spending.

    Transportation officials have made most of their changes to the 2006-2012
    plan in private. The DOT provided a copy of the March 9 draft of the
    six-year plan in response to a public records request from The News &
    Observer. DOT spokeswoman Ashley T. Memory said the document was
    "preliminary and still subject to change."

    Holly Springs Mayor Richard G. Sears said he will lobby DOT officials to
    change the proposed four-year delay for the I-540 extension.

    "This road is essential," Sears said, "not only to people in Apex and Holly
    Springs and Fuquay-Varina, but also the people in Harnett and Johnston
    counties and anybody else going that way."

    Nancy M. Kelly, mayor of Rolesville, said she hoped DOT officials would
    stick with their schedule to widen the two-lane U.S. 401.

    Rolesville has two stoplights, and its population only recently reached
    1,000. Kelly said three big development projects in the works will triple
    the town census in three or four years. Three years is too long to wait for
    a new bypass, she said.

    "We have quite an amount of traffic," Kelly said. "If you don't need to come
    to Rolesville between 4 and 6 p.m., it's probably a good thing to wait."

    Staff writer Bruce Siceloff can be reached at 829-4527 or
    bruce.siceloff at newsobserver.com. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    _______________________________________________
    INC-list mailing list
    INC-list at rtpnet.org
    http://lists.deltaforce.net/mailman/listinfo/inc-list
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.deltaforce.net/mailman/private/inc-list/attachments/20050328/8d690fab/attachment-0001.htm