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Home My WebLink About20070932 Ver 1_Information Letter_20090313 Office of the?pea6r Fro Tempore ,orth (11arolina 440use of ?Represeutatif es o Late tscgislati'Oc (Office Puilhing 3011 ?q- jgalishurg !?trvet, Foam 301 ?Rateigll, cNartll (Rarolina 27603-5925 WILLIAM L. WAINWRIGHT SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE 12TH DISTRICT: CRAVEN & LENOIR TELEPHONE: (919) 733-5993 March 13 2009 , (919) 828-3801 FAX EMAIL: williamwOncle9.net HOME ADDRESS: PO Box 33 HAVELOCK, NC 28532-0033 The Honorable Eugene A. Conti, Jr. Secretary of Transportation, NCDOT 1501 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699-1501 RE: NC 43 Connector - New Bern, North Carolina Dear Mr. Secretary: COMMITTEES: FINANCE, CHAIRMAN WAYS B MEANS, VICE CHAIRMAN APPROPRIATION. SUBCOMMITTEE ON CAPITAL HEALTH INSURANCE Thank you again for meeting with me, Representative Underhill, and Senator Preston on February 25, 2009 to discuss our concerns regarding intersection access to the 43 Connector. As you know personally, the 43 Connector was an economic development project never intended to be a strategic corridor. With the construction of the Highway 17 Bypass immediately to the West, the primary purpose of the 43 Connector will be to serve as a four lane, high volume collector road providing service to local streets. In this regard, BSH, for whom the Connector was constructed;, fully supports the requested access by Craven County, the City of New Bern, and the major property owners adjacent to NC 43. Following a commitment made at a meeting in my office last fall with NCDOT officials, the property owner paid for a Traffic Impact Analysis prepared by Ramey Kemp & Associates pursuant to the requirements of NCDOT. This TIA was delivered to NCDOT weeks ago and confirms the appropriateness of the requested access. Ramey Kemp's recommended design arising out of the TIA is a modified super street that has been reviewed and approved as appropriate by Mr. Joe Hummer. Ramey Kemp will proceed with a final version of the TIA as soon as NCDOT agrees with the design concept to include phasing of the access to provide initial construction of full at-grade signalized intersections at the two proposed access. locations with signalization installed as traffic may warrant in the future. This requested access is a critical economic development issue for Craven County and New Bern as each of these local governments have emphasized over the past year in correspondence and resolutions directed to NCDOT. The principal development involved is approximately five hundred fifty (550) acres with an estimated development value of three hundred (300) to four hundred (400) million dollars. Geographical and environmental limitations in the New Bern area severely restrict the amount of available developable CA %4? va/ The Honorable Eugene A. Conti, Jr. March 13, 2009 Page 2 property. Refusal by NCDOT to approve necessary access will result in loss of this proposed project and leave a 2.6 mile barrier to New Bern's development to the west (the only direction in which development is possible). Specifically, I am requesting that NCDOT: (a) Acknowledge that the 43 Connector is not a "strategic corridor". (b) Accept the data and intersection access recommendations in the TIA prepared by Ramey Kemp. (c) Review and approve a phasing plan pursuant to the final TIA that allows conventional access to the development along NC 43 until such time as the modified super street concept is required by traffic demand. Finally, from the outset of discussions on this issue months ago, the property owner offered to settle the condemnation for the 43 Connector right-of-way at the value offered by the State and also to fund the design and construction of the requested access at no cost to the State. NCDOT has refused to discuss this with the property owner or local governmental officials. I wholeheartedly agree with your comment that positive cooperation between legislative and local government officials, property owners and NCDOT is necessary to achieve maximum benefits for the citizens of our state. Your willingness to work with us on this matter is appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. (Eail Speaker Pro Tempore WLWIbe cc: Representative Alice G. Underhill Senator Jean Preston Mayor Thomas A. Bayliss, III Chairman Jason R. Jones Mr. Walter B. Hartman, Jr. Mr. Harold Blizzard Mr. Ramey Kemp ,/Mr. Taylor Downey Mr. J. Troy Smith, Jr. a ?KlDrlt Qlarolintt Grrwral(?\ssem6lV tpresenfatiLes muse of Mate Tzgistatific Office ?`T<F uiLbins 300 P- Jalis6urVr hrret, ?Ranrrr 301 Faleio, JNari4 Tzrrnlina 27603-5925 5 PEAKER PRO TEMPORE WILLIAM L. WAINWRIGHT 12TH DISTRICT TELEPHONE: (919) 733-5995 (9191 B2B-3801 FAX EMAIL: vilif9 w@ncleg.net August 24, 2007 M... A.O..S.; PO Box 33 HAVELOCK, NC 2 6 53 2-003 3 Mr. Lyndo Tippett Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Transportation 1501 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699-1501 Dear Mr. Tippett: COMMITTEES FINANCE. CNAI RMAN WAV6 B MCANR. VICE CNLIRMAN APPROPRIATIONS SUOCOMMITTCC ON CAPITAL HEALTH INSURANCE We are writing to request that North Carolina Department of Transportation (NC DOT) reconsider the proposed design for the NC Highway 43 Connector project in Craven County. We understand that your staff engineers and attorneys have heard concerns from the City of New Bern as well as Weyerhaeuser about the safety and future use of the proposed "left over" or "Michigan Super Street" design for the NC Highway 43 Connector. Both parties request a full movement intersection with signalization, rather than the left over design. We share.their concerns and urge you to change your proposed design. We believe there are several reasons why the left over design is inappropriate for this project. A full movement intersection with signalization would be a much safer design for multi axle commercial and industrial vehicles such as log trucks. The proposed road will divide a large, active tract of Weyerhaeuser's timberlands. It is critical that commercial vehicle safety and the safety of passenger vehicles sharing the road with these commercial vehicles be considered. Also, the City of New Berri believes that the left over design will increase travel distances and travel times for citizens of the large residential area to the east in order to access Highway 70. The limited access, left over design will also not help to alleviate the current overcrowding Glenburnie Road. rl?/ Mr. LyndoTippett August 24, 2007 Page 2 In summary, we strongly and respectfully request a reconsideration of the design of the NC Highway 43 Connector in Craven County. Representative Alice Underhill cc: Cam McRae Dan Devane Deborah Barbour Neil Lassiter Taylor Downey Walter B. Hartman, Jr. MT 77 SEP - 4 200? ?\Inrfj V.Mr,t[ttrM L&P.YIEY21[?ssetttlt[?t J&Ciiate SENATOR JEAN R. PRESTON COMMITTEES: 2ND DISTRICT AGRICU LTUREf EN VIflONMENT/NATURAL RESOURCES OFFICE: 1121 LEGISLATIVE BUILDING APPROPRIATIONS ON EOUGATION/PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 16 W. JONES STREET APPROPRIATIONS/BASE BUDGET RALEIGH. NC 2760 1-2808 EDUCATION/PUBLIC INSTRUCTION PHONE: (919) 733-5706 FINANCE (919) 715-7506 FAX MENTAL HEALTH/VOUTH SERVICES A August ^ L9 2007 TRANSPORTATION EHAIL: , jBdnp RGI29.nRI DISTRICT: CARTERET, CRAVEN AND PAMLICO COUNTIES Mr. Lyndo Tippett North Carolina Department of Transportation 1501 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699-1501 Dear Mr. Tippets I am writing to request that North Carolina Department of Transportation (NC DOT) reconsider the proposed design for the NC Highway 43 Connector project in Craven County. I understand that your staff engineers and attorneys have heard concerns from the City of New Bern as well as Weyerhaeuser about the safety and future use of the proposed `left over' or "Michigan Super Street" design for the NC Highway 43 Connector. Both,parties request a full movement intersection with signalization rather than the left over design. I share their concerns and urge you to change your proposed design. I believe there are several reasons why the left over design is inappropriate for this project. A full movement intersection with signalization would be a much safer design for multi axle commercial and industrial vehicles such as log trucks. The proposed road will divide a large, active tract of Weyerhaeuser's timberlands. It is critical that commercial vthicle safety and the safety of passenger vehicles sharing the road with these commercial vehicles be considered. Also, the City of New Bern believes that the left over design will increase travel distances and travel times for citizens of the large residential area to the east in order to access Highway 70. The limited access, left over design will also not help to alleviate the current overcrowding Glenburnie Road. In summary, 1 strongly and respectfully request a reconsideration of the design of the NC Highway 43 Connector in Craven County. Sincerely, 9tan ?Preston cc: Cam McRae Dan Devane Deborah Barbour Neil Lassiter \.Xaylor Downey 1 Walter B. Hartman, Jr.