NOVEMBER 5, 2009 ISSUE
N.C. Transportation Head: 421 Widening on Schedule
Farthing Street Neighborhood Residents Express Concerns Over Median
North Carolina Transportation Secretary Gene Conti (right), along with other Department of Transportation representatives including Division 11 Engineer Michael Pettyjohn (center), met with Boone Mayor Loretta Clawson (left), town staff and local media at Boone Town Hall on October 29. Photo by Anna OakesNorth Carolina Secretary of Transportation Gene Conti visited Boone on October 29 to meet with Boone Mayor Loretta Clawson and also heard from concerned citizens and fielded a few questions from the local media.
Conti stated that the Highway 421 widening project in Boone is on schedule, with the section between the Highway 105 Extension and Highway 194 on target for completion in time for the August 2010 opening of the new Watauga High School, located off East King Street. The N.C. Department of Transportation (NCDOT) “fast-tracked” this section of the project, meaning there are incentives for the contractor for finishing on time and disincentives for not finishing on time.
The project will widen a 1.1-mile section of Highway 421 from Hardin Street to Highway 194 in Boone to a modified four- and six-lane section.
John Heffren and Jack Gross spoke to Conti on behalf of the Farthing Street and Chestnut Drive neighborhood, which he said includes about 150 homes. The plan for the 421 widening includes a raised concrete median, which will block residents in that neighborhood from turning left to travel east on Highway 421. Heffren said the median will force residents to travel to the Hardin Street intersection to turn around and that it will make it difficult for emergency vehicles to access the neighborhood.
“We really need a traffic light at that intersection,” Heffren told Conti.
On the subject of federal stimulus funds, Conti said that all of the more than $700 million in stimulus dollars designated for highway projects in the state have been allotted but that the NCDOT is still seeking discretionary funding for a few projects.
Transportation projects to receive federal stimulus funding in the High Country include the 421 widening, which received $14.4 million; AppalCART, which received $6 million to build a new 23,000-square-foot transit center on the Highway 105 Bypass; a project to resurface and widen Highway 194 from Highway 19 East to Highway 221 in Avery County, which received $896,191; and a project to resurface and install guardrail Highway 16 in Ashe County from Highway 88 to the Virginia state line, which received $2 million.
When asked about the NCDOT’s consideration of route alternatives for the proposed Boone bypass, also known as the Daniel Boone Parkway, Conti said the NCDOT is currently reevaluating all of its programs and priorities and putting together a “much more realistic” plan for future projects. He said the department is developing a five-year work plan of projects that it intends to deliver within a five-year window. That process is expected to be completed in spring 2010, he said.
The fate of the Daniel Boone Parkway will depend on the new priorities that are set, Conti said.
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