Skip to main content

Rep. Sue Myrick's letter to Gov. Easley and Sect. Tippett published in Charlotte Observer

US. Representative Sue Myrick's (R-Charlotte) letter to North Carolina's Governor Mike Easley and NC Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett was published in the Friday, November 30th edition of the Charlotte Observer.

Why are we delaying the completion of 1-485 in Charlotte again?

I read in The Charlotte Observer how rising prices of materials are leading to the delay. Why didn't these same rising costs delay the loops in Fayetteville and Wilmington?

Why are we building loops in Fayetteville and Wilmington before we complete the one in Charlotte?

We were working on the one in Charlotte back when I was mayor. That was 20 years ago!

... Last I looked Charlotte was the largest city in the state. There seems to be no recognition of that fact in Raleigh. No recognition that we are at a standstill with traffic. No recognition that we have a traffic problem.

Nor is there any recognition of the fact that the state DOT utterly botched up the southern leg of our yet to be completed loop by only putting in two lanes where there should have been four. So not only is the loop not complete, what is complete is already backlogged. When we called on you to fix that, you delayed that, too. It's still not fixed!

I fear that the N.C. Department of Transportation and the General Assembly do not fully realize the repercussions of these continual delays and how crucial this project is to the wellbeing of our residents. Aside from the fact that commuters are already forced to crawl in rush hour traffic, I must also point out that this delay has security implications.

If for no other reason, please reconsider our loop so that Charlotte is prepared to deal with any mass evacuation that, Lord willing, will never be required, but for which we should prepare.

Charlotte is home to two of the largest banks in the world, hosted the first and only trial of Hezbollah in the United States and is surrounded by two nuclear power plants. These facts make Charlotte increasingly susceptible to a man-made or terrorist activity requiring a mass evacuation.

In the event of such an emergency, the completion of this portion of highway is crucial to making sure Charlotte residents are able to be evacuated in a safe and timely manner. Pushing back this project continues to put citizens' safety at risk. That is unacceptable.

The other issue here is fairness. The outerbelt delay is merely symbolic of a number of road projects left to wither on the vine of DOT projects while less deserving ones down East get the money. Garden parkway, Monroe bypass, Charlotte outerbelt, etc. Raleigh couldn't care less.

We need relief from the state NOW. It must be nice for areas around the state capital and toward the coast to keep having their projects fully supported, and we all know why that is. But allocating money through political clout and the good ole boy network is no way to run a state.

We pay our fair share of taxes on this side of the state. When are we going to get our fair share of the services for which we paid? Why do only a handful of people in Raleigh get to decide who drives on four-lane roads and who sits in traffic?

People call us the Great State of Mecklenburg, implying that somehow wanting to get fair representation and fair allocation out of Raleigh amounts to arrogance on our part.

Wrong.

True arrogance is allowing the state to be split into East vs. West, and the east getting all the spoils because the General Assembly, as a whole, does not have the backbone to stand up to a few of its leaders and tell them to cut it out.

Story Link: http://www.charlotte.com/409/story/384616.html

Commentary:

There are a few things that should be pointed out in Rep. Myrick's letter. First, the DOT did not botch the southern portion of I-485. When it was planned and built, the idea of the amount of growth in places like Pineville, Ballantyne, and parts of Union County (Waxhaw) was not expected. Remember, that the first parts of I-485 were built in the late 80s, and the area exploded in growth in the 1990s. So did the DOT botch the Southern Part of I-485? No.

Myrick also brings up the classic Charlotte vs. Raleigh and Western NC vs. Eastern NC rivalry. And it does exist, after living in both Charlotte and Raleigh, I can attest to that. But she doesn't talk about the rivalry within Mecklenburg County. In 2005, when the widening of I-485 in Ballantyne was pushed forward in the schedule - thus delaying the completion of the loop from I-77 near Huntersville to I-485 near Concord and University - there was a lot of bickering between political leaders in the towns of Northern Mecklenburg County vs. the City of Charlotte.

And she isn't alone about bickering about the Eastern North Carolina projects moving forwards. The larger cities including Greensboro and Raleigh over the past two to three years have voiced their displeasure over freeways being built in rural areas of Eastern NC. The core of that issue is the balance funding rule within DOT between the various DOT districts. Early this decade and in the late 90s, a lot of the projects in Charlotte and the large cities benefited from funding that was for projects (not ready to move forward) in the Eastern part of the state. Well now those projects are ready and the balance has shifted.

I am surprised that Myrick didn't mention in her letter that Tippett is from Fayetteville. As of now, there have been no public allegations that Tippett was instrumental in keeping the Fayetteville Loop (I-295) funding moving forward.

Myrick, who was mayor of Charlotte from 1987-1991, has been very outspoken on the construction/funding delays with I-485. We'll continue to hear from her while the Draft STIP is being finalized.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ghost Town Tuesday; Mannfield, FL and the stairway to Hell

Back in 2015 I went searching the Lecanto Sand Hills for the original Citrus County Seat known as Mannfield.  Unlike Centrailia in Hernando County and Fivay in Pasco County I did find something worth seeing. Mannfield is located in the Lecanto Sand Hill section of Withlacoochee State Forest somewhat east of the intersection of Citrus County Route 491 and Mansfield Road. Mannfield was named after Austin Mann and founded in Hernando County in 1884 before Citrus County Split away.  In 1887 Citrus County was split from northern Hernando County while Pasco County was spun off to the south.  Mannfield was selected as the new Citrus County seat due to it being near the county geographic center.  Reportedly Mannfield had as many as 250 people when it was the County Seat.  The town included various businesses one might include at the time, even a sawmill which was common for the area.  In 1891 Citrus County voted to move it's seat to Inverness which set the s...

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

The Dead Man's Curve of Interstate 90 and Innerbelt Freeway in Cleveland

"Dead Man's Curve" refers to the transition ramp Interstate 90 takes between Cleveland Memorial Shoreway onto the Innerbelt Freeway in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.  Said curve includes a sharp transition between the two freeways which is known for a high rate of accidents.  Currently the curve (not officially named) has a 35 MPH advisory speed and numerous safety features intended to mitigate crashes.  When the Interstate System was first conceived during 1956, Interstate 90 was intended to use the entirety Cleveland Memorial Shoreway and connect to the Northwest Freeway through Lakewood.  The Innerbelt Freeway was initially planned as the northernmost segment of Interstate 71.  The extension of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway west of Edgewater Park was never constructed which led to Interstate 90 being routed through the Innerbelt Freeway.   Part 1; the history of Cleveland's Innerbelt Freeway and Deadman's Curve The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signe...