INC NEWS - East End Connector (news & letter to the editor)

[John Schelp]

Please send a brief email supporting the East End
Connector to Governor Easley (see addresses below).

More info: www.durhamloop.org

~John

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Letter: A call to action
(Herald-Sun, 9 March 2006)
 
We are one step away from finishing a race we began in
1959! We are about to either break the ribbon and
finish first, or we'll fall on our faces, mere inches
from the finish line. Many have invested years, now
you can do your part in just minutes. 

Call or email with this simple message. 

I respectfully urge you to fully fund the Durham East
End Connector (U-71) in the 2007-2013 Transportation
Improvement Program (TIP). 

Durham is one of the seven "urban loop" cities named
in the original 1989 Highway Trust Fund legislation,
yet, unlike the other loop cities, no project has yet
been built in Durham. There is a broad-based community
consensus behind the East End Connector, which is
supported by business interests, neighborhood
organizations and environmental groups alike. 

Wake County, by contrast, has received over $800
million toward I-540, its urban loop project.
Additionally, hundreds of millions have been allocated
for new "urban loop" cities that were not named in the
original Highway Trust Fund legislation. The East End
Connector is the oldest unbuilt highway project in the
entire state, on the books since 1959. 

In the interest of fairness, please fully fund the
Durham East End Connector in the 2007-2013 state TIP. 

Call NCDOT at 1-877 DOT 4YOU; Gov. Mike Easley at
1-800-662-7952; or Franklin Freeman, senior assistant
for governmental affairs at 733-6184. Or email:
governor at ncmail.net; ltippett at dot.state.nc.us;
franklin.freeman at ncmail.net. 

Bill Anderson
Durham

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State: Don't get connector funds hopes up
(Herald-Sun, 9 March 2006)

Durham officials have been warned not to raise their
hopes too high about getting money for the East End
Connector included in the state's next road-building
plan. 

But local officials hope their pressure -- and that
from a grass-roots e-mail and letter-writing campaign
-- might produce some construction funding. A draft of
the plan is expected in two months. 

The connector, first proposed in the 1950s, would link
the Durham Freeway with U.S. 70, providing a freeway
link between Interstates 40 and 85 and allowing
drivers between northern Durham and Research Triangle
Park to avoid downtown and adjoining residential
areas. 

The $73.6 million project also includes improvements
to U.S. 70 from the interchange with the new road
across N.C. 98 to the north. 

Local officials have been pushing for connector
funding from state money designated for city loop
roads over the next seven years. In January, they met
with Lyndo Tippett, state secretary for
transportation, to hammer that point home. 

But in a letter to Durham Mayor Bill Bell, Tippett
said $4 billion in loop projects will compete for a
fourth of that sum in the next spending plan. 

The letter said, "It is not possible to fund all loop
projects that might otherwise be ready in the next
seven years." 

Because of ongoing environmental studies and the need
to acquire land, the earliest construction on the
connector could begin would be 2010, according to the
letter. 

The letter also said the state is looking at funding
projects already under way or close to being
construction-ready. 

City transportation manager Mark Ahrendsen called
Tippett's letter "not very promising" at a meeting of
local transportation leaders Wednesday. But city and
county leaders plan to respond to Tippett's letter
before the draft spending plan is unveiled in April or
May. 

"We've gotten no construction dollars in 16 years. All
we are asking for is one tenth of that," Durham County
Commissioners Chairwoman Ellen Reckhow said of the $1
billion construction pot. "We need to respond." 

When the local Transportation Advisory Committee met
Wednesday, it decided the city and county should
create a joint response. 

"I can't see that we can craft it here, but I think
it's an important thing to do," said Alice Gordon, the
committee's vice chairwoman. 

An ongoing community effort is also pushing for funds
to be allocated to the connector. Supporters have a
Web site, www.durhamloop.org, and are circulating
e-mails urging Durham citizens to send messages to the
state and Gov. Mike Easley advocating for the project.