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STEELE CREEK NEWS
Highway 160
Widening Anticipated by 2025
(September
20,
2013) The Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization
(CRTPO) board voted on Wednesday to release the draft
2040 Metropolitan Transportation Plan
(MTP) roadway project lists for public comment. These lists are the
result of Tier 1 and Tier 2 evaluations described in previous news
stories on this web site. There is a high probability that projects
on the draft list will be included in the final MTP that will be
adopted next spring.
Two projects to widen NC
Highway 160 (Steele Creek Road) appear on the Horizon Year 2025
list, which means that these projects are expected to be completed
and open to traffic by 2025. They are not actually funded but
are expected to be funded by 2025.
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The two Highway 160 projects are ID # 172: the portion from
Shopton Road West to S Tryon St (Hwy 49) and ID # 173: the portion
from S Tryon St (Hwy 49) to the South Carolina state line.
The project lists are
fiscally constrained, which means that projects make the list for a
Horizon Year only if adequate funding is anticipated to be available
to complete their construction by that Horizon Year. Projects listed
under Horizon Year 2025 are anticipated to be completed during the
period 2016 through 2025.
Draft Fiscally
Constrained Roadway Project List
Click
HERE
to view the full list. It is divided into five
parts. Project funding (or Strategic Transportation
Investments) is divided into three categories: Statewide
Mobility (statewide projects, such as interstates), Regional
Impact (to improve connectivity within regions), and
Division Needs (to address local needs). Furthermore, CRTPO
is in two regions and two divisions. So the roadway projects
are divided among five lists: Statewide. Region E
(Mecklenburg/Union), Region F (Iredell), Division 10
(Mecklenburg/Union), and Division 12 (Iredell). |
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The draft roadway
projects list does not include projects expected to be constructed
by 2015 because those are already progressing through funding and
construction processes.
The two Highway 160
projects are on the Region E list. They are in as good a position as can be expected. Although they
rank in the middle of the Horizon Year 2025 list for Region E
projects, the order of a project within a Horizon Year does not
matter, according to Nicholas Landa of CRTPO. Projects are simply
expected to be completed sometime within that Horizon Year period.
The total estimated
cost of the two Highway 160 projects is $64.3 million in 2012
dollars. However, the
estimated cost in future year dollars (when the widening is expected
to occur) is $95.2 million.
Two other Steele
Creek area projects are on the list for Horizon Year 2030 (to be
completed in the period 2026 through 2030):
Project # 144 -
Widening of I-77 from Woodlawn Road to I-485
Project # 169 - Widening Highway 49 (S Tryon Street) to 6 lanes from
I-485 to
Steele Creek Road
The I-77 widening was placed in the Horizon Year
2030 period because it will be very expensive and would bump many
Horizon Year 2025 projects to later years. In addition, a lot of
planning, environmental, and design work is required before this
project could be constructed, which could push out the timeline for
construction of this entire project anyway.
It was considered to be more feasible to place
Highway 49 in the 2030 Horizon Year time frame because not enough
planning, environmental, engineering work has been done on the
project to warrant constructing it sooner than the other projects in
the 2025 Horizon Year.
Draft Fiscally Constrained
Roadway Project List Available for Public Comment
CRTPO
officially released the
fiscally constrained
roadway project list for public comment beginning Thursday,
September 19 through Friday, October 4, 2013. In addition, three
Public Meetings have been scheduled to provide additional
information to the public about the project list. To provide
comments, please fill out the comment form
available in the Public Meetings section on the
2040 Metropolitan Transportation Plan
web page and
return it to staff as instructed on the form.
The
public can also provide comments at any of the following Public Meetings
scheduled next week:
Tuesday September 24
5:00-7:00 PM
Charles Mack Citizen Center
215 N. Main St, Peddler Room
Mooresville, NC 28115 |
Wednesday September 25
5:00-7:00PM
Cultural Arts Center
100 Navajo Trail
Indian Trail, NC 28079 |
Thursday September 26
5:00-7:00 PM
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center
600 East 4th St, Room 266
Charlotte, NC 28202 |
All
comments will be compiled by staff and presented to the CRTPO
Technical Coordinating Committee (TCC) and board for consideration.
Ultimately it is the CRTPO board’s decision whether or not to make
changes to the list, but a technical recommendation by the TCC could
be made if compelling comments are received. All comments that are
received throughout the Plan update process become part of the Plan
documentation. They also help the CRTPO board and staff understand
what the community priorities are.
Since both Highway
160 projects are listed under the first available Horizon Year,
prospects for their completion as early as possible will be best
if their position on the list is not changed.
Once CRTPO approves
the 2040 MTP next spring, North Carolina DOT will
evaluate the included projects to see which should be added to
the statewide Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) (also
called the Seven Year Plan) when it is updated, likely in late
2014.This process will determine which projects actually get
funded. |
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Terminology Changes
The Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning
Organization, or MUMPO, is transitioning to its new name,
the Charlotte Regional Transportation
Planning Organization, or CRTPO.
The 2040 Long range Transportation Plan is now called the
2040 Metropolitan Transportation Plan. |
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To comment on this
story, please visit the
Steele Creek Forum.
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Facebook page.
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