DOT Push for Ahoskie Bypass Criticized

Ahoskie, N.C. — The public is expected to sound off next week on a $111 million highway project in northeast North Carolina that the state Department of Transportation plans to build despite opposition from many local residents.

The 14-mile Ahoskie Bypass would whisk traffic around the Hertford County town and replace stretches of U.S. Highway 13 with a four-lane highway. Environmental studies of four proposed routes are expected to be completed this year, and the state plans to begin purchasing rights-of-way for the project in 2012.

Opposition to the bypass is building in Ahoskie, where residents don't like the idea of displacing dozens of homes and businesses and plowing under hundreds of acres of farmland for a highway that will send people elsewhere.

"I'd like to see (the area) remain country," bypass opponent Gary Terry said, calling the project a waste of DOT money.

U.S. 13 in Hertford County carries about 3,000 vehicles per day. By comparison, U.S. Highway 64 in Knightdale carried about 56,000 vehicles per day when the bypass east of Raleigh opened in 2005.

"If the folks in Raleigh, where there is real traffic congestion, knew they were going to spend $100 million-plus in a rural area, they'd be standing on somebody's head," Terry said.

But Windsor Mayor Bob Spivey said the bypass is needed to boost the economy in northeast North Carolina. Future plans include creating a major corridor from Winton in Hertford County to his Bertie County town.

"Jobs and opportunities of the future and for the generations to come are the ones that are really going to benefit from it," Spivey said. "You've got to have the vision now."

A public hearing on the bypass is set for next week. Terry and others said they would prefer the DOT spend money to improve N.C. Highway 11 in the county, but since that is a state road, there would be complications with using federal money on the project.

"All roads are political," Terry said. "I thought roads are built for traffic, but I have found out roads are built for economic development."

State Sen. Neal Hunt, R-Wake, questioned the need for the bypass and said the money would be better spent easing traffic congestion in Raleigh or Charlotte.

"Don't build the Ahoskie Bypass. Put the money in Wake County and Mecklenburg County, where they've got traffic congestion," Hunt said.

2 Comments

WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

2 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments

Are you kidding me? This is how our legislators spend tax money? Roads thru cornfields! All the while, where the people actually live and drive every day in horrible congestion, the bottlenecks are said to be too expensive to fix. Typical government at its best.

IveGotMyOpinion
March 4, 2008 1:17 p.m.

"U.S. 13 in Hertford County carries about 3,000 vehicles per day. "

Wrong. US 13 in Hertford County around Ahoskie carries about 7-15,000 vehicles a day, so about 9,000 vehicles per day would be much more accurate, or three times as much as quoted in the story. And these are numbers from 2006.

And this road would probably cost three times as much in Raleigh. And rural folks pay gas tax too. And when was the last time a project this size was done in the Ahoskie area? Just because cities have more people doesn't mean they should get all the money. Everyone should get their fair share, and the money is divided using traffic, population, and road mileage. Last I checked most cities have plenty of all three. And what about travelers going through the area? There are few people on much of the coastal plain, but many folks travel through the area on the way to the coast.

killerkestrel
March 3, 2008 11:21 a.m.