Highway commission to hear from residents

A highway enhancement group wants to know what you think about proposed changes to U.S. 70 in Havelock.

The Super 70 Corridor Commission has scheduled a public work session for 6 to 7:30 p.m. Jan. 17 at the Havelock Tourist and Event Center. Residents and business owners with questions, concerns or complaints about the Super 70 plans are encouraged to attend.

“This is a good opportunity to generate some feedback,” said Scott Chase, Havelock city planner. “Citizens will be able to speak to the Super 70 consultants. They will have the maps here, and people can actually talk to the traffic engineers and express their concerns.”

The commission is a partnership of the N.C. Department of Transportation and five counties and 15 cities along U.S. 70 from Clayton to Morehead City. The group plans to change the 134-mile corridor into a freeway-grade thoroughfare with fewer traffic signals, limited highway access and bypasses ringing the major cities.

In Havelock, the Super 70 plans include installation of a median along the highway from Pineview Street to the U.S. 70 and N.C. 101 junction. Some have opposed the median, which could reduce traffic to local businesses because of diminished highway access.

“We feel like it merits some careful analysis so that if and when the median is put in here, we have as many crossovers as necessary to make sure it benefits Havelock, the citizens and business owners,” Chase said.

Super 70 representatives also will discuss the Havelock bypass, with construction currently planned for 2015. Current plans show a nine-mile U.S. 70 bypass beginning east of Carolina Pines and ending near the Craven-Carteret county line. Construction is estimated at $117 million.

Chase said safety improvements to U.S. 70 will not be rendered obsolete by the installation of a bypass.

“Even when the bypass is built, you can anticipate that traffic patterns and what we see as traffic issues today will still be here,” he said. “A lot of the traffic that’s here now is local traffic.”

Sign-in and orientation is planned from 6 to 6:30 p.m., followed by a presentation on the Super 70 project from 6:30 to 7 p.m. A public question-and-answer session is set from 7 to 7:30 p.m.

Super 70 board members are scheduled to attend the meeting, along with engineers from Kimley-Horn and Associates, the commission’s consulting firm.

Chase said Ramey Kemp and Associates, the Raleigh transportation consultants hired by Havelock to review the Super 70 plans, also would be represented at the meeting.

Residents can discuss specific corridor projects and illustrate their ideas or concerns at mapping workstations that will be set up at the tourist center.

For a look at current Super 70 concept maps, visit the group’s Web site at www.super70corridor.com.