Skip to main content

NCTA releases Mid-Currituck Bridge Draft Environmental Impact Statement

Image
By
On March 31st, the North Carolina Turnpike Authority released their Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and recommended alternative for the Mid-Currituck Bridge

Of the three alternatives that saw the most scrutinization, the NCTA has recommended Option MCB4 to be built.  However, the Turnpike Authority has yet to decide on alignment 'C1' or 'C2' at the eastern end of the bridge.  The eastern terminus of the bridge will be at NC 12 in or near Corolla.  Option C1 lands at the southern end of Corolla Bay and about two miles north of the Albacore Street retail area.  Option C2 avoids Corolla Bay and meets NC 12 about a half mile south of Albacore Street.

In addition, the NCTA has yet to decide on the location of the toll booths on the mainland (US 158) side of the bridge.  The decision on the location of the toll booths has become a double edged sword as potential impacts to Maple Swamp and the Currituck Sound community of Aydlett has cause the most controversy.   NCTA has not released a timeline on when they will make a decision on options 'C1' and 'C2' or the mainland toll booths location.

Also, MCB4 will include the construction of a third 'contraflow' hurricane evacuation lane on US 158 from the bridge northwards to NC 168.  There would also be some widening of NC 12 in Corolla where the bridge ends, but the length of the widening will be determined by the ultimate eastern terminus of the bridge.  Finally, a recommendation to convert the NC 12/US 158 intersection in Southern Shores to an interchange (either a SPUI or compressed diamond) was made.  However, funding at this time is not available for that project.

The Turnpike Authority will be hosting public hearings on the DEIS in May.  The schedule for the meetings is as follows:
  • May 18 - Ramada Plaza, Nags Head
  • May 19 - Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education, Corolla 
  • May 20 - Currituck Cooperative Extension Center, Barco
Each hearing will begin with an open house starting at 3:30 pm, immediately followed by the public hearing at 7:00 pm.

The new target completion date for the bridge is now late 2014.

Story Links:
Mid-Currituck Bridge Draft Environmental Impact Statement ---North Carolina Turnpike Authority
Statement recommends Currituck bridge option ---Outer Banks Voice
Turnpike Authority Schedules Public Meetings for Bridge Project ---Carova Corner
Labels:

Comments

Da-ud said…
Wouldn't a rotary at the US 158/NC 12 intersection be less environmentally intrusive than an interchange?
9:54 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I-40 rockslide uncovers old debates on highway

By
The Asheville Citizen-Times continues to do a great job covering all the angles of the Interstate 40 Haywood County rock slide. An article in Sunday's edition provides a strong historical perspective on how the Pigeon River routing of Interstate 40 came about. And perhaps most strikingly, in an article that ran just prior to the highway's opening in the fall of 1968, how engineers from both Tennessee and North Carolina warned "...that slides would probably be a major problem along the route for many years." On February 12, 1969, not long after the Interstate opened, the first rock slide that would close I-40 occurred. Like many other Interstates within North Carolina, Interstate 40 through the mountains has a history prior to formation of the Interstate Highway System and was also a heated political battle between local communities. The discussion for a road that would eventually become Interstate 40 dates back to the 1940's as the idea for interregional high
2 comments
Read more

Mines Road

By
Mines Road is an approximately twenty-eight-mile highway located in the rural parts of the Diablo Range east of the San Francisco Bay Area.  Mines Road begins in San Antonio Valley in Santa Clara County and terminates at Tesla Road near Livermore of Alameda County.  The highway essentially is a modern overlay of the 1840s Mexican haul trail up Arroyo Mocho known as La Vereda del Monte.  The modern corridor of Mines Road took shape in the early twentieth century following development of San Antonio Valley amid a magnesite mining boom.  Part 1; the history of Mines Road Modern Mines Road partially overlays the historic corridor used by La Vereda del Monte (Mountain Trail).  La Vereda del Monte was part of a remote overland route through the Diablo Range primarily used to drive cattle from Alta California to Sonora.  The trail was most heavily used during the latter days of Alta California during the 1840s. La Vereda del Monte originated at Point of Timber between modern day Byron and Bre
Post a Comment
Read more

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

By
When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River.  Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207.   Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road.   The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939.   Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune .  Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903.  The postal name was sourced from Bates Station owner/operator George Ba
Post a Comment
Read more