INC NEWS - East End Connector project in doubt (Herald-Sun)

[Caleb Southern]

Please send a brief email to the state Board of Transportation urging them
to "Support the Durham East End Connector in the 2006-2012 TIP". To learn
more, visit www.DurhamLoop.org <http://www.durhamloop.org/>  

 

Please also forward this to your neighborhood listservs.

 

(A sample email you can copy and addresses for the NC BOT are included below
the article).

 

Thanks,

Caleb Southern

 

 

***

 


East End Connector project in doubt 


 



 

BY GINNY SKALSKI : The Herald-Sun
gskalski at heraldsun.com
Mar 30, 2005 : 12:02 am ET 

DURHAM -- A long-awaited Durham road may be facing another wait, as the
state juggles highway money in what it calls an effort to be fair to areas
that haven't gotten as much lately. 

As the April 6 release looms for the final draft of a state road-building
blueprint for 2006 through 2012, supporters of the East End Connector are
gearing up to keep the project on the list. 

Their concerns are rooted in rumblings and news reports that the blueprint,
dubbed the Transportation Improvement Plan, may not include the connector. 

Plans for the road, designed to link U.S. 70 with the Durham Freeway and
access to nearby downtown and Research Triangle Park, have been on the books
since 1959. 

Supporters say the connector will reduce speeding traffic cutting through
residential neighborhoods. 

"There are hundreds of citizens who worked to make the East End Connector
Durham's top priority and who are still engaged in this process," said Caleb
Southern, who created a Web site in 2002 about the issue. "So we're asking
the state Board of Transportation to restore funding for the East End
Connector." 

Board Member Kenneth Spaulding, a Durham attorney who represents Durham and
six other counties in the state Department of Transportation's Division 5,
said he already has heard from East End Connector supporters who want the
project to make the latest list. 

Spaulding said he still is reviewing the recommendations made by the DOT
staff. The biggest problem facing the connector, he said, appears to be
funding fairness. 

In the past 10 years, Division 5 has received more transportation money
funding than other regions. As a result, the state's "equity formula"
requires that its funding be reduced and transferred to other areas. 

"There's no question [the connector] is very important," Spaulding said.
"Yet I must say in regard to other projects and programs in the 5th Division
[that] I'm hearing from residents of those communities as well regarding
their projects." 

Mayor Bill Bell said he plans to lobby state transportation officials and
other decision-makers to put the connector back into the coming plan. The
draft could be changed before April 6, a DOT spokeswoman said. Once it is
released, the public will have 30 days to comment. 

"We just need to sit down and talk about how do we get that move back," Bell
said. 

Bell was instrumental in shifting the connector to the top of Durham
County's priority list in 2003. That's when he helped negotiate a compromise
to a long-standing, controversial plan to build Eno Drive -- conceived
decades ago as a loop across then-northern, now near-northern, Durham. 

Eno Drive opponents said the loop was unnecessary, would harm the
environment and damage established neighborhoods as it headed toward the Eno
River State Park. Under the compromise, the connector and an upgrade of U.S.
70 had to be completed before Eno Drive. 

Meanwhile, plans for Eno Drive were reworked and renamed as the Revised
Northern Durham Parkway, which would run from U.S. 70 at the Wake County
line to Glenn School Road at Interstate 85, then northwest along Old Oxford
Road before ending on a new road just north of Snow Hill Road at Roxboro
Road. 

 

 

 

SAMPLE EMAIL

(You can cut and paste this into your email program.)

 

Send to:


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;
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

 

 

Subject: SUPPORT Durham East End Connector

 

 

Message:

 

 

Dear Secretary Tippett and Honorable Members of the N.C. Board of
Transportation,

 

I am writing to urge you to fund construction of the Durham East End
Connector in the 2006-2012 Transportation Improvement Program.

 

The East End Connector (EEC) is the oldest unfunded highway project in the
entire state (U-71, planned in 1959!). It is also the top priority of the
Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro MPO, and Durham City Council and Board of County
Commissioners. This road enjoys the official support of numerous community
groups and neighborhood associations throughout Durham. 

 

The EEC is also of statewide significance. It will provide direct freeway
access from I-85 North to Research Triangle Park (RTP), one the state's
largest job engines. In addition, it will greatly improve access from I-85N
to RDU airport, the US-1 south corridor, and western Wake County.

 

The EEC will also complete an east-west link that will provide an
alternative to the eternally gridlocked I-40 corridor through RTP. NCDOT and
the taxpayers of North Carolina could save billions on future upgrades to
I-40 by building the EEC and allowing US-70 to serve as a parallel route to
ease congestion on this perennially overcrowded corridor.

 

The EEC is eligible for state Highway Trust Fund dollars. Please make the
construction of this needed road a priority in the 2006-2012 TIP.

 

 

Sincerely yours,

 

 

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