THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 26, 1994 TAG: 9410260495
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DeGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE ISLAND LENGTH: Long : 134 lines
Within 12 years, the North Carolina Department of Transportation is going to have to replace the bridge which connects the north end of this Outer Banks island with the Dare County mainland to the west.
Transportation officials could merely build a new bridge at the existing location. Or they could replace the 39-year-old span with a bridge that would carry traffic on a more straight line to the mainland, bypassing Manteo and most of the tourist attractions on Roanoke Island.
During a public information workshop Tuesday night, state highway workers presented about 60 local residents with three options for replacing and relocating the Manns Harbor bridge.
Whatever plan the state chooses, transportation workers said the new span will have to carry four lanes of traffic instead of two. And roads connected to either end of the bridge will have to be widened to four or five lanes.
The options basically call for improving the current winding route from the bridge at Nags Head through Manteo and the north end of Roanoke Island to the bridge at Manns Harbor, or striking west from the Nags Head bridge and across a new bridge to Manns Harbor, south of the present highway.
``We've got to decide whether to impact existing, man-made areas such as the town of Manteo or to impact undisturbed, natural environments that wouldn't affect residents as much,'' said Lubin Prevatt, assistant manager of the state transportation department's planning and environmental branch. ``That's why we're here tonight. That's what we want the people to tell us.''
According to transportation department handouts and maps, state officials currently are considering:
Widening U.S. 64/264 to multi-lanes through Manns Harbor and constructing a new, four-lane bridge across the Croatan Sound. The bridge would have one end at the intersection of U.S. 64/264 in Manns Harbor and the other near the Midway intersection of U.S. 64/264 and N.C. 345, leading to Wanchese. This option would bypass Manteo and deposit mainland travelers near the base of the Washington Baum Bridge to Nags Head. Two businesses would have to be moved. Thirty-four to 170 acres of wetlands would be disturbed. Estimated cost is $86 million to $105 million. The new bridge would be between 4.1 and 5.1 miles long.
Widening U.S. 64/264 to multi-lanes through Manns Harbor and Manteo and replacing the existing Croatan Sound bridge with a four-lane span in the same general location. This option would require the widening of the existing road through Manteo and would probably mean 60 homes and businesses would have to be relocated. About 40 acres of wetlands would be disturbed. Estimated cost is $94 million. The new bridge would be the same length as the existing one, approximately 2.7 miles.
Widening U.S. 64/264 to multi-lanes through Manns Harbor and replacing the existing Croatan Sound bridge with a four-lane span in the same general location. Then, workers would construct a new, multi-lane bypass through Burnside Forest and around Manteo. This option would require 41 homes and businesses to be relocated. Between 28 and 140 acres of wetlands would be disturbed. Estimated cost is $81 million to $105 million.
``We've looked at two different designs for the bridge within the first and third options,'' said state transportation department bridge engineer Charles R. Cox of Raleigh. ``People think we're really callous about the environment. But our main goal is to minimize the impact this project will have. That's why the number of acres affected and cost varies so drastically. Those numbers will depend on where we site the ends of the bridge.''
Transportation workers hope to begin acquiring rights of way for the new bridge project by 1998. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2001. Work should be completed within three years.
Last year, between 3,600 and 15,000 vehicles crossed the bridge from Manns Harbor to Manteo every day.
``They've got to get some of this traffic out of here. And a new bridge to Midway is the only way to go,'' said Rod Lanyon, one of the Roanoke Island residents who attended the workshop. Lanyon owns a home on U.S. 64/264 about one mile from the foot of the current Manns Harbor bridge. He doesn't want a widened road to cut through his front yard.
``If you put five lanes through Manteo, how would the kids get across that highway to go to school? That would be bad,'' Lanyon said. ``There are too many access roads on the north end of the island, too. What are they going to do? Put a stop light at each one while people are traveling 65 miles an hour through there? No. You've got to move the bridge so the traffic goes around Manteo. Widening that existing road would just split the whole town right down the middle.''
Hurbert Ambrose agreed. A resident of Manns Harbor for more than half a century, the 73-year-old Dare County native said transportation workers should choose the first option - and leave Manteo and Manns Harbor alone.
``It would ruin us to have five lanes through here, really and truly it would,'' Ambrose said. ``I don't want a new highway through Manns Harbor. I don't want a new highway through Manteo. Look what it's done to Currituck, splitting it in half like that.''
Like Lanyon and Ambrose, most of those who turned out seemed to support plans to build a new bridge bypassing Manteo and Manns Harbor and depositing traffic at the Midway intersection. Some Manteo business owners, however, have expressed fears that a bypass bridge or road would hurt their tourism income. If people didn't have to drive through Manteo, some said, tourists may not visit the town at all.
State Transportation Board member R.V. Owens III said those fears are unfounded.
``There's no doubt that a bridge to Midway would cut Manteo traffic by 25 to 40 percent,'' Owens said. ``But with the Lost Colony, Elizabethean Gardens, aquarium, Fort Raleigh, Elizabeth II ship, Ice Plant Island and other waterfront attractions, they'd still make it to Manteo. A lot of the traffic there right now doesn't go through to the bridge anyway.
``Manteo is a destination in and of itself - and that won't change - no matter where we put the bridge,'' Owens said. ``We just have to make sure we fight for proper signs for , ingress and egresses.''
If a new bridge is built a few miles southeast of the current span, Owens said he would fight to keep the existing bridge open. That way, he said, motorists could loop around or through Roanoke Island - and have two choices to travel. Transportation could even upgrade the existing span.
``This new bridge is really about economic development,'' said Owens. ``When the four lanes between Columbia and Tarboro are completed, it will save about 35 minutes on the trip. If a new span is built between Manns Harbor and Midway, that will cut off about 15 minutes. Then, the trip from Raleigh to the Outer Banks will be a lot shorter.''
Decreased travel time, Owens said, may entice more Carolina vacationers to choose Dare County instead of Wrightsville or Atlantic Beach.
``We're going to get into more extensive environmental studies now,'' Cox said near the end of the three-hour public workshop. ``We'll look at public comments from tonight and those we gather later. And we'll try to eliminate at least one of those options.''
By late 1995, Cox said, N.C. Department of Transportation officials will bring their revised plans back to the public for a hearing. MEMO: BRIDGE TALK
The N.C. Department of Transportation wants to hear where you think
the new Manns Harbor bridge should be. For more information, or to
register your opinion, call (919) 733-7842 or write:
Charles R. Cox
Transportation Engineer
N.C. Department
of Transportation
P.O. Box 25201
Raleigh, N.C. 27611 by CNB