It doesn’t look like the bridge will get state funding any time soon. The result for the proposed Currituck Bridge: a score of 23.4 points out of a possible 100, giving it a rank of 178th in importance to North Carolina. According to the Virginian-Pilot, the Tarheels have scored some 1,284 projects and plans to release results for another 500 in May. ![]() ![]() I’m sure there are a lot of vested interests in the Outer Banks that would love to see new transportation capacity that would make it easier for even more visitors to come rent cottages, rent kayaks and go surfing. But North Carolina has instituted a system that we’re still working on here in Virginia: a methodology for ranking proposed highway projects according to cost, saved travel time, congestion relief, safety and economic benefits. The project worked its way through the traditional North Carolina project-approval system and, at one point, construction was expected to begin in 2012 and to be open to traffic in 2013. The Mid-Currituck Bridge, expected to cost $411 million in its most recent incarnation, could save an hour’s driving time. It sure would be nice to have a bridge across the Currituck Sound directly to Corolla.Īs it happens, the state of North Carolina was planning to build a seven-mile span from Coinjock to Corolla. Then, if you’re staying in Duck, Whalehead or Corolla, you have to head back north through more congestion. Heading south between Chesapeake and Kitty Hawk, you follow four-lane roads jammed with as many as 50,000 cars on Saturdays. Many Virginians know the agony of driving to vacation in the Outer Banks at the peak of the summer season.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |