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Committee Requests Interstate Toll-Road Analysis

Posted on: Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 09:00 CST

By Steve Jones, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Feb. 22--SHALLOTTE, N.C. -- An N.C. legislative committee unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday asking the N.C. Turnpike Authority to study the feasibility of making Interstate 74 a toll road in Brunswick and Columbus counties. The study would determine if tolls would support the construction and maintenance of the interstate that is planned to connect with S.C. 31, also known as the Carolina Bays Parkway. While the request for the study from the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee is nonbinding, turnpike authority spokeswoman Julia Jarema said she does not know of any official study requests the authority has turned down. "If they want us to look at it, we'll look at it," she said. The authority is authorized by the General Assembly to build nine toll roads in North Carolina and is already conduct- ing feasibility studies on six, Jarema said. Included in those is the Wilmington Skyway, which would include a new bridge across the Cape Fear River into Brunswick County. Long-term plans call for connecting the skyway with Interstate 140, the Wilmington bypass that will have its southern end in Brunswick County. State Sen. R.C. Soles, D-Columbus, said the plans for a large container port in Brunswick County heighten the need for I-74 as well. Soles and Rep. Bonner Stiller, R-Brunswick, sit on the oversight committee.

The resolution cites a request from the Alliance of Brunswick County Property Owners Associations to expedite I-74 by making it a toll road as one reason the study should be conducted. Gary Halberstadt, president of the Alliance, called the study "a first step in getting the toll road approved."

"If it's found to be feasible, it cuts off a chunk of waiting time," he said It could be decades before the road is built if it had to wade through the normal, nontoll funding process of the N.C. Department of Transportation. The DOT has tens of millions of dollars in highway needs across North Carolina and no money to fulfill them. Jarema said she did not know how much the feasibility study would cost or how long it would take to complete. She said the authority has a scheduled conference call Friday, but did not know if the request for the study would be on the agenda. The next meeting of the authority is in mid-March. Contact STEVE JONES at (910) 754-9855 or sjones@thesunnews.com [mailto:sjones@thesunnews.com].

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

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Source: The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, S.C.)

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