INC NEWS - East End Connector funds pulled (Herald-Sun, N&O)

[Caleb Southern]

INC unanimously supported the East End Connector in a 2002 resolution. A
list of supporters is at:
http://www.durhamloop.org/Support/index.html


To learn more about this issue, and for a link to send comments to NCDOT,
visit:
www.DurhamLoop.org


***

East End Connector hit with delay 

By PAUL BONNER : The Herald-Sun
pbonner at heraldsun.com
Apr 6, 2005 : 7:45 pm ET 

DURHAM -- Construction of Durham's proposed East End Connector, a road whose
timeline already dwarfs its projected 2½ miles of asphalt, was pushed back
at least another two years Wednesday. 

The state Department of Transportation changed its draft Transportation
Improvement Plan, a seven-year projection of road construction across North
Carolina that is revised every two years. 

The new version postpones construction of the connector from 2010 to
sometime after 2012. 

The connector, which advocates say has been planned since 1959, would
provide a quick link between the Durham Freeway east of Briggs Avenue
northward to U.S. 70 near its split between business and bypass routes. 

Despite its short length, it is projected to cost more than $95 million,
mostly because part of it must be elevated above a railroad yard. 

The connector was brought to the forefront by representatives of the Duke
Park and Trinity Park neighborhoods, where the north-south streets of Duke,
Gregson, Mangum and Roxboro carry Research Triangle Park-bound commuters
cross-town between Interstate 85 and the Durham Freeway. 

The proposed connector would give those motorists a quicker and more direct
route, says Caleb Southern, a Durham resident long involved in
transportation issues. For the neighborhoods, it would check a longstanding
tendency of the residential thoroughfares to turn into speedways at rush
hour. 

Southern and members of the neighborhood associations were at the DOT
building in Raleigh on Wednesday. There, in front of television news
cameras, some donned bull masks to express their dismay. 

"We called 'bull' on DOT for pulling the East End Connector," Southern said.


The price tag could be a bargain next to the problem it could help
alleviate, he said -- a regularly gridlocked I-40. 

"The DOT is looking at pouring billions of dollars into I-40," he said. 

The board's action also ran counter to a consensus of several planning and
elected bodies in the region, said Durham Mayor Bill Bell. 

A compromise supporting the connector had been worked out, with the City
Council, Board of County Commissioners, Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce
and the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Municipal Planning Organization all
supporting it, Bell said. 

Earlier, he said, the route was opposed by people in neighborhoods nearer it
and some with environmental concerns, he said. 

The consensus in its favor was affirmed last week, when the Durham-Chapel
Hill MPO met with that of Wake County, along with the Durham highway
district's representative to the DOT, Durham lawyer Ken Spaulding. 

Spaulding and two DOT board members told the gathering they would take its
wishes into consideration, Bell said. 

Also at that meeting, DOT representatives said the delay was because of
environmental assessments, said Durham County Commissioner Ellen Reckhow. 

But the DOT on Wednesday gave the reason as "to assist in balancing funds"
-- a reference to newer claims on the state's highway trust fund from which
the money for the connector would come. 

Still, Southern said, the Durham project should take precedence because it
has been on the books since the Eisenhower administration. Others agreed. 

"I don't think Durham should lose because new projects were added," Reckhow
said. 

Bell, Reckhow and Southern all said they plan to try to persuade the DOT to
expedite the connector before the draft is made final in July. A 60-day
period of public comment will include eight regional meetings across the
state. 



***

Road plan leaves Triangle holes
DOT's proposed seven-year plan cuts or delays local projects; final version
in July

By BRUCE SICELOFF, Staff Writer

Triangle leaders saw their worries confirmed Wednesday when key local
projects were delayed or curtailed in a proposed seven-year, $9.4 billion
spending plan released by the state Department of Transportation.
A $28 million computer-synchronized traffic signal system for Raleigh
received no state funds in the draft DOT plan. Durham's $100 million East
End Connector was recommended for funding, but its timetable was delayed by
three years.

The state Board of Transportation will be asked to endorse the draft plan
today, and it will solicit public comment before making its approval final
in July. Local officials and neighborhood activists said they would lobby
the state to commit more money for the traffic signals, the East End
Connector and other Triangle projects.

The high-tech signal network would make driving faster and breathing easier
across Raleigh. The city plans to use $7 million in local money and $17
million in federal clean-air funds for the project. Until recently, Triangle
officials had counted on the DOT to cover the remaining $4 million.

"That's our No. 1 priority, and it's a relatively small amount of money,"
Nina S. Szlosberg of Raleigh, a state transportation board member, said
Wednesday. She and board member Kenneth Spaulding of Durham said they would
work to get the project included in the state plan.

Calvin W. Leggett, DOT program development manager, said the issue would be
worked out in discussions with Wake County leaders. "We don't have $4
million lying around that isn't allocated for anything," Leggett said. He
added that he hoped state and local officials would find enough money to
allow the project to proceed.

Money is tight in the state Transportation Improvement Plan for 2006-2012,
especially for the Triangle. Construction costs have increased by about 50
percent in the past three years, Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett said
Wednesday. A recent cash-flow crunch forced DOT to delay dozens of projects
it had expected to launch over the next three years.

DOT's Division 5, including Wake, Durham and five other counties, had
expected to receive more than $700 million over the next seven years, but
its portion in the new draft spending plan is $414 million. The region spent
more than its share on highway projects over the past few years, and a
legislative formula for allocating money required a $300 million reduction
in future funding.

To slow the pace of spending statewide, DOT officials delayed scores of big
projects in the draft plan. The western swath of Raleigh's Outer Loop, the
widening of Interstate 85 in Orange County, and Durham's East End Connector
were among the casualties.

The connector would link N.C. 147 and U.S. 70 to complete a freeway that
bypasses downtown Durham and connects I-85 with I-40. In 2003, as part of a
deal to scrub a controversial northern Durham freeway project, Eno Drive,
state and city officials agreed to start construction on the East End
Connector in 2010.

The spending plan proposed Wednesday would postpone construction until
sometime after 2012, but planning efforts will start this spring. A DOT
contract to hire an engineering consultant for the connector is expected to
be approved today by the state transportation board.

Several Durham neighborhood activists flooded board members with e-mail this
week, lobbying for their pet project. "We want them to expedite this project
and return the construction to 2010, if not sooner," Caleb Southern, 35, of
Durham said Wednesday.

Money is the big problem. DOT leaders say they can count on only $50 billion
to help pay for an estimated $80 billion in transportation needs over the
next 25 years.

"Construction inflation is our worst enemy," Mark L. Foster, DOT's chief
financial officer, said Wednesday. "Unless we can bring additional resources
to the table, we're fighting a losing battle."

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