Hardly anybody likes the N.C. Turnpike Authority's new ideas about possible routes through southern Wake County for a planned six-lane toll road from Holly Springs to Garner and Knightdale.
So the Turnpike Authority will announce today that it is eliminating some alternative routes from further consideration.
Residents of neighborhoods in and around Fuquay-Varina, Holly Springs and Garner criticized the new options presented in September at public meetings on a project called the Triangle Expressway Southeast Extension. The Wake County commissioners voted unanimously in October to endorse the original path (it's the dotted line you see on the map here) that had been proposed in the 1990s.
Check back here later for updates on the turnpike announcement.
Bruce Siceloff reports on traffic and transportation. A News & Observer reporter, editor and blogger since 1976, he took over the
Comments
No misleading at all
Fri, 11/05/2010 - 18:43 — bendalThe NCTA was required by current state AND Federal law to evaluate more than one alternative. Note the word "current"; when the protected route was selected years and years ago, more alternatives were not required to be studied. The same thing has happened around Greensboro and Winston Salem; the DOT and cities had protected one route, but FHWA and state law required more than one alternative be studied before they'd grant final approval.
That's all those other routes were; an attempt to satisfy the requirements by providing other feasible alternatives. Were they going to be actually competitive routes compared to the one already protected? Probably not, which is the REAL reason why they were dropped. Now there's two final routes, and I'd bet a large sum of money that the final route chosen is the protected one. You see, all the routes can't be eliminated at this point; two is the minimum # of routes allowed to be fully studied before a final decision is made. So if you want to believe that "South Wake County spoke and NCTA listened", if it makes you feel better go and do that. But, those other routes were there only to satisfy the laws; the probability that any of them would have been the final route was around 0%.
What?
Thu, 11/04/2010 - 12:41 — nancyncYou mean to tell us that the Turnpike Authority possibly misled the public in the recent past when they said they were 'obligated' to look at alternatives, at a date years past the original plan?
I hope someone takes a long hard look at the TA and finds out who got what job from whom if they feel they can do as they please and when they please and until the people rise up, they'll continue to behave that way.