|
|
STEELE CREEK NEWS
Hwy 49 Widening,
New Library were Topics at 2001 SCRA Meeting
(2/21/2001)
Representatives of the North Carolina Department of Transportation
gave an update on plans for widening Highway 49 (South Tryon Street)
from Tyvola Road south to the Buster Boyd Bridge at Lake Wylie at
the annual meeting of the Steele Creek Residents Association at
Olympic High School on February 20.
The new five lane section from Tyvola Road to Arrowood Road should
be complete and open in July 2001.
Widening from I-485 to Moss Road (at the entrance to the Crossings)
should begin soon and be completed in late 2002.
Construction of the final section from Moss Road to Buster Boyd
Bridge should start in June and be completed by the end of 2003.
The new, widened Buster Boyd Bridge should be completed in November
2001.
Other road news included:
Steele Creek Road (Highway 160) will be squared of at Highway 49 so
the roads will meet at 90 degrees.
The Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) lists highway projects
projected over the next seven years. No widening or other
improvements to Steele Creek Road are planned (other than at the new
I-485 interchange).
The planned completion date for I-485 from Arrowood Road to I-85 is
December 2003. (The eastern leg of I-485 should be open in July
2003, so the outer belt should be open from I-85 west of Charlotte
all the way around southern Mecklenburg County to I-85 northeast of
Charlotte in December 2003.)
A new stop light is planned on Highway 49 at Beam Road. This is the
only new stop light planned north of the Steele Creek Road
intersection.
Rich Rosenthal of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library gave an
update on plans for the new Steele Creek Library Branch at the
annual meeting of the Steele Creek Residents Association at Olympic
High School on February 20.
A site has been selected on Steele Creek Road (Highway 160) just
north of Highway 49. The 5-acre site is adjacent to the
Harris-Teeter shopping center and has a 500 foot frontage along
Steele Creek Road. Behind the proposed library site is a planned
40-acre site for a new southwest middle school that is expected to
open in August 2003. The library and school are expected to share
driveways, parking, utilities, and other infrastructure.
The library will have 15,000 square feet, which is almost four times
the size of the current library at the Steel Creek Commons Shopping
Center.
General Schedule is as follows:
Approval for purchase of site by the Mecklenburg County Board of
County Commissioners--March 2001.
Design--6 months
Bidding--2 months
Construction--12 months
Uplift (setting up furnishings, shelves, books, etc.)--2 months
The new library should be open in November or December 2002.
Residents will be able to attend public meetings to view and comment
on plans.
Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation also is looking at using the
school ball fields for a community park.
The library site is the location of the former Knox family house and
dairy farm.
(From the
Griers Fork HOA
website.) |