Skip to main content

Gastonia City Council waffles on Garden Parkway

Image
By
The Gastonia City Council was expected to pass a formal resolution opposing the controversial Garden Parkway last night. But the announcement never came.

Over the weekend, members of Gastonia City Council began to talk about the prospects of the controversial toll road and offer alternatives.

“I think it’s dead,” said Gastonia City Manager Jim Palenick.

Palenick, with other Council members, put together alternative plans for the annual $35 million in gap funding that is allocated within the state budget for the Garden Parkway.

The alternative plan includes: completion of I-485 in Mecklenburg County, a drastic overhaul of the existing US 321/I-85 interchange, extending Hudson Blvd. west beyond US 321, and establishing commuter rail between Gastonia and Charlotte.

Palenick says that he would approach leaders in the Charlotte region with the plan and hopes that both communities can promote the idea as a region.

"We recognize your biggest problem," said Palenick. "How about if we help you solve it and in turn you help us solve some problems? If we join forces, maybe people will listen to us. Maybe the legislature will make a farsighted visionary approach to this."

But the General Assembly controls where and how that gap funding is allocated, and fears that the General Assembly would not agree with the alternative helped to shelve the resolution, for now.

Story Links:
Gastonia council expresses doubt over 'Garden Parkway', offers alternative ---Gaston Gazette
Gastonia leaders hold back on formally supporting Garden Parkway alternative ---Gaston Gazette
Gaston officials reject Garden Parkway ---WFAE-FM
E-mail: Parkway News - Highest Priority - Call to Action Tuesday, 6pm (Dec 15) - Stop The Toll Road

Commentary:
Opponents of the Parkway were optimistic going into Tuesday's meeting; and if the resolution against the highway passed, it would have been a serious blow to the Garden Parkway's chances.

However, though they were optimistic, the opponents feared that Parkway supporters would "...turn the screws on them." And well, their fears came to fruition. A member of the NCTA Board of Directors who was in attendance at the meeting mentioned how the General Assembly would most likely not re-allocate the funds into the alternative plans.

Bob Spencer, the NCTA board member, said that members of the General Assembly may take the alternative plan suggestion as a slight and did not personally think the alternative plan would be successful.

Nothing like holding $35 million in transportation funding over someone's head to push through a highway that continues to lose support with the local community.

It'll be interesting to see how this political game plays out in 2010.
Labels:

Comments

Matt in CLT said…
I still think the Garden Parkway is an asinine idea. I like the idea of instead upgrading the 321 interchange. That is a project which would be worth every dime...and given the development in the close proximity of the interchange, a nice piece of engineering.
9:06 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The case to move Interstate 73 in Southern Ohio onto US 33

By
Every decade or so, Ohio pushes to revisit the proposed Interstate 73 that would connect Michigan to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  It's been happening since Congress legislated the route in 1991.  Within Ohio, Interstate 73 generally follows the US 23 corridor from Portsmouth through Columbus to Toledo, and into Michigan. Since High Priority Corridor Five was created , Ohio has really done nothing to move forward with Interstate 73.  Sure, there have been feasibility studies here and there.  But actual dollars and construction just haven't occurred. The US 33 Nelsonville Bypass appears to have been built to Interstate standards. However, Ohio has been slowly upgrading US 33 to a full freeway through Southeastern Ohio.  Bypasses of Lancaster and Nelsonville opened in 2004 and 2013, respectively.  Other sections of two-lane road are being twinned, some to freeway or, at a minimum, to expressway standards.  Currently, a $274 million widening project in...
Post a Comment
Read more

Local Sign Find - The last remnant of Business Interstate 95 between Kenly and Rocky Mount , NC

By
As you head north on Interstate 95 at Exit 107 for Kenly and US 301, you'll notice something odd about the overhead sign for the exit.  Peeling off the sign for all that can see is the word 'NORTH' off-center from the US 301.  This old sign (probably close to original from when this section of I-95 opened - more on that in a little bit) gives a hint to a short-lived Business Interstate Route that ran from here to Rocky Mount. The last hint of the Kenly-Wilson-Rocky Mount Business I-95 (Shaun White - August 2020) Interstate 95 in North Carolina has a unique history.  But one of the overlooked and forgotten pieces of Interstate 95 in North Carolina is the 38 mile section between Kenly and Rocky Mount.  When opened to traffic in late 1978, it was the next to last piece of Interstate 95 in North Carolina to open replacing a four lane US 301 from Battleboro through Rocky Mount and Wilson to eventually tying back into the Interstate in Kenly. Though it was not delayed in l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nostalgia fast food with style - Returning to Rax

By
Nostalgia. It sells. It evokes, and more accurately, warps memories of days gone by.  Things were better, simpler, and we eat it up. Nostalgia can make you drive three hours and over a hundred miles out of your way just to reconnect with a dying fast-food restaurant you last enjoyed in the early to mid-90s.  That person was me - that restaurant was Rax. I could go on about Rax's history, but in short, Rax was briefly a very popular roast beef fast-food chain.  Growing up in the 80s and early 90s in Western PA, Rax was the good fast-food spot.  The milkshakes.  (Personally, the chocolate chip milkshake was heaven.)  Uncle Alligator Kids Meal with the chocolate chip cookie. Take that McDonald's Happy Meal!  The fancy salad and hot foods bar.  Going to Rax was special.  Like so many similar restaurants, various investments, management decisions, etc., led Rax to almost disappear overnight.  By the time I graduated college in late 1999, abou...
Post a Comment
Read more