monroe connector/bypass presentation slides
TRANSCRIPT
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Monroe Connector/Bypass
Kym Hunter and Kate Asquith
October 23, 2013
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Southern Environmental Law Center
• We are a public interest environmental law firm with offices
throughout the Southeast, including two offices in North
Carolina.
• We represent public interest groups for free.
• One of our primary focus areas is transportation and land use
policies and practices throughout the Southeast.
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Why do local groups care about the Bypass?
• Local environmental groups
including the North Carolina
Wildlife Federation, Clean Air
Carolina, and the Yadkin
Riverkeeper have been involved
with the Bypass for many years.
• On behalf of these clients, we
brought and won the recent
lawsuit challenging NCDOT’s
review of the Bypass.
• Congestion on U.S. 74 is a problem, but we believe there are less
costly ways to fix the corridor.
• Local communities deserve to be informed about the Monroe
Bypass’s purpose and its likely impacts.
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Overview of the Project
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Proposed Monroe Bypass
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Proposed Monroe Bypass
• 19.7-mile 4-lane highway from Marshville to Stallings
• Planned as a toll road, with preliminary toll estimate of
$2.50 each way for passenger vehicles and $10.27 for large
trucks
• 9 interchanges through undeveloped areas of Union County
• Construction cost estimate of about $900 million
• Cost not covered by toll revenue; $24 million/year
appropriated out of scarce NCDOT funds for 30 years
• Expected to save, at most, only 8-12 minutes
• It is projected to offer larger time savings by 2035, but only
because NCDOT expects traffic on U.S. 74 to get much worse
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Legal Challenge to the Bypass
Charlotte Observer, November 19, 2012
• The United States Court of
Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
ruled against NCDOT, finding
it misled the public and
other agencies.
• The court recognized that
the flawed review masked
the Bypass’s impacts and
prevented a fair comparison
of alternatives.
• The Court ordered NCDOT to
re-evaluate its review of the
Bypass.
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Since the Court’s Decision . . .
• NCDOT is re-evaluating its environmental review, and plans
to issue a new document reaffirming much of its old data
and conclusions.
• We’ve been in Union County talking with elected officials,
local communities, and individuals about the impact of the
Bypass and potential alternatives.
• Union County citizens and local governments alike have
begun calling for NCDOT to reconsider the Bypass.
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How would the Bypass impact
traffic in Union County?
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Not designed to benefit local traffic
• NCDOT has regularly admitted that the Bypass was never
intended, nor is it expected, to much improve current traffic flow
on U.S. 74.
• In fact, NCDOT admits it “would not be in favor of changes to US-
74 that would have a competing interest with the Bypass.”
• NCDOT’s documents demonstrate that they expect a travel time
savings to be at most, only 8-12 minutes.
• At a cost of $900 million, that is approximately $100 million per
minute!
• NCDOT says the Bypass’s travel time savings will increase to 20-30
minutes in the future, but only because NCDOT expects
congestion on U.S. 74 to increase dramatically.
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NCDOT expects the Bypass to have a much smaller
impact on travel time than originally projected.
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From an April 18, 2013 memorandum from consultant HNTB to Jennifer Harris, NCDOT
NCDOT consultant’s findings for
existing traffic conditions on U.S. 74
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From a May 23, 2013 email between NCDOT staff and consultants
Result? NCDOT predicts the Bypass will provide
minimal travel time savings
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Unfair Tolls• In Raleigh, drivers on the
Triangle Expressway pay $2.34
for an estimated 20 minutesin travel time savings.
• Drivers on the Monroe Bypass
will pay $2.58 for an
estimated travel time savings of
8-12 minutes.
• Union County drivers who want
to use the Bypass will pay more
than double what Raleigh
drivers pay for each minute
saved.
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From NCDOT’s Comprehensive Traffic & Revenue Study (Sept. 2010)
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Would anyone really use the Bypass?
• NCDOT admits trucking companies were mixed as to
whether truck drivers would pay initial toll rates of $10.27,
and has not reevaluated truckers’ willingness to pay in light
of new projections showing decreased travel time savings.
• NCDOT has not studied exactly how much of the truck traffic
on U.S. 74 is local and how much is through traffic.
• NCDOT’s revenue study was based on assumption of
20-30 mph travel speeds in the U.S. 74 corridor. But their
records show that the 2013 travel speed was 40-50 mph.
• NCDOT assumes large increases in traffic volume in the U.S.
74 Corridor in the future, pushing drivers onto the Bypass.
But NCDOT saw no such increases between 2007 and 2012.
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How would the Bypass impact
growth in Union County?
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NCDOT says growth is not expected
NCDOT has
consistently
claimed
that the
Bypass will
have less
than 1%
impact on Union
County’s
overall
growth.
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NCDOT’s Latest Growth Data
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NCDOT predicts
that commercial
growth will shift
to the areas
around the
Bypass
interchanges.
Instead, NCDOT expects the Bypass
to affect where growth occurs.
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NCDOT has
admitted that
this growth shift
could negatively
impact the
potential for
commercial
development in
downtown
Monroe.
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Many locals think
the Bypass will result in growth
• Local groups, like the Union County Chamber of
Commerce, think the Bypass will spur growth.
• Several local town councils have expressed the worry that
the type of growth they expect from building the Bypass
would cause more of a strain on county services than it
would pay in taxes, increasing Union County’s
overall tax burden.
• Local communities cannot effectively plan without an
honest evaluation of the Bypass’s likely growth impacts.
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• The Bypass would destroy at least 499
acres of active agricultural lands.
• Several families will lose farms that have been in their possession for
over a hundred years, in one case since
before the Revolutionary War.
• Ninety-five households, 47
businesses, and three churcheswill be forced to relocate. The road will
also disturb seven neighborhoods.
Other Impacts in Union County
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What will help Union County
travelers?
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But is there a more cost-effective solution
than the proposed Monroe Bypass?
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What Could NCDOT Do?
• Reopen consideration of alternatives to the Monroe Bypass
actually focused on fixing traffic on U.S. 74.
• Consider updating existing parallel roads.
• Revisit NCDOT’s own 2007 report, which detailed an estimated
$13.2 million in improvements to U.S. 74 that would provide a
satisfactory Level of Service for 22 out of 23 signalized
intersections from Stallings to U.S. 601.
• NCDOT has begun to implement some of these ideas.
Prudence requires NCDOT re-evaluate the need for and
efficacy of the Bypass in light of these changes.
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Improvements to Parallel Routes
1. Monroe Road Loop: already on 2040 MTP
Candidate Projects List; new road (continuing the
recently completed Martin Luther King Boulevard)
from Secrest Short Cut Road near Monroe Mall to
Walkup Road at the east end of Monroe.
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0
Monroe Bypass/Connector Preferred Route
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Monroe Rd Loop (MTP 269-270) added
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Improvements to Parallel Routes
2. Old Charlotte Road/Old Monroe Highway:
several segments already under consideration for
widening to multi-lane in Matthews, Stallings,
and Indian Trail.
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Old Charlotte Highway added
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Improvements to Parallel Routes (cont.)
3. Secrest Short Cut Road: not currently on any MTP
Candidate Project List, but follows the proposed
Bypass for much of its length and could be widened
to multi-lanes and otherwise improved to carry
traffic much more safely and conveniently for local
residents.
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Secrest Short Cut Rd / Unionville-Indian Trail Rd added
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Other Improvements to U.S. 74
• Signalization improvements/elimination
• “Superstreet” upgrades to intersections
• Additional overpasses to reduce number of
signalized intersections
• Additional lanes in some places of U.S. 74
• Service roads for business access, leaving U.S. 74
primarily for through traffic
• Fewer side streets crossing U.S. 74 directly, resulting
in better U.S. 74 mobility
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Why Should You Care?
• It’s not clear that the toll road, as designed, will
actually help people in Union County.
• $900 million is a lot to spend with so many
questions remaining, especially if U.S. 74 can be
fixed for much less.
• Union County has immediate road-improvement
and maintenance needs that NCDOT is currently
not meeting.
• If the Bypass spurs massive new commuter-
subdivision growth, the cost to service those new
homes will fall on ALL Union County taxpayers.
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Is there a better way to
meet Union County’s needs?
Let’s find out!