City won't get vote on Super 70 commission

Havelock won't have a vote on the Super 70 Corridor Commission, but the city will no longer be asked to contribute money directly to the highway enhancement group.

The collective of counties and cities along the 135-mile U.S. 70 corridor between Clayton and Beaufort decided Thursday to give its six member counties an additional vote. Counties, which previously selected three voting members and one ex-officio member, now get four voting members for their $25,000 annual contribution.

"I am satisfied with the outcome, but if I had a choice, I'd give a vote to each city that Highway 70 goes through," said Danny Walsh, a Havelock commissioner who represents Craven County on the highway commission. "What we're trying to do is make it a little more reasonable."

The Super 70 group previously requested a $10,000 contribution from New Bern and $5,000 from Havelock in addition to Craven County's $25,000 tab. Havelock asked for an individual vote in exchange for its contribution, and a committee recommended a compromise of giving each county an additional vote, Walsh said.

Counties could ask their respective cities to pay part of the $25,000 fee, but cities will no longer be asked to contribute directly to the Super 70 board, Walsh said.

Havelock will not be required to pay $5,000 for its membership this year, but City Manager Jim Freeman said the money has been budgeted and commissioners may use it to repay the commission for holding a January public work session in Havelock that city leaders requested but was not required.

"It's been my position, as I advised the board, that even if we don't give the $5,000, I think the city is obligated to pay the cost to have that Super 70 meeting here in Havelock," Freeman said.

The highway group's plans for a limited-access freeway from Clayton to Beaufort are controversial in Havelock, where U.S. 70 serves as the city's main street. Businesses are clustered along the highway and its parallel service roads, and many believe streamlining U.S. 70 will choke cross-town traffic and hurt the local economy.

Walsh said the city's best chance to negotiate changes to the plan is for Craven County's delegates to work closely with the group's other members.

"I think what we're doing in Havelock is we are gaining the trust of the people on the board who thought we were just troublemakers," he said.

During Thursday's Super 70 business meeting in Smithfield, Walsh discussed several highway improvements he'd like to see in Havelock, including the addition of right turn lanes on the access road entering and exiting Greenfield Heights Boulevard and extension of the traffic signal at the end of Slocum Road.

He also asked the group, which works closely with the N.C. Department of Transportation, to consider correcting the grade difference between U.S. 70 and the service road at the highway's intersection with Ketner Boulevard where a traffic signal allowing left turns was recently removed.

Walsh said he proposed using the shoulder at the Ketner intersection to create an acceleration lane for traffic merging onto U.S. 70 East.

The Super 70 Corridor Commission's next meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. May 8 in Morehead City. The meeting is open to the public, but a period for public comment is not ordinarily provided during the group's business meetings.

Visit www.super70corridor.com for more information on the group or to view U.S. 70 concept maps.