Proposed span would be friendly to the Earth, financiers' wallets

CURRITUCK

A recycled-plastic walkway and sun-powered lighting are some of the features that could make the proposed Currituck mid-county bridge one of the most environmentally friendly structures of its kind.

The project also could be historic because it would be financed and run by investors who would recoup costs by charging tolls. Scheduled to open in 2013, the bridge could cut travel time to the Currituck Outer Banks by an hour or more on summer weekends.

The North Carolina Turnpike Authority will invite investors and contractors to submit qualifications by the end of the month, including their ability to build Earth-friendly structures.

Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare, sent a letter to the Turnpike Authority last week requesting features that would limit pollution from the new

7-mile-long bridge. Features include a treated runoff system, a recycled-plastic walkway, sun-powered lighting and an aesthetic design that better blends with the Currituck Sound environment.

With green features included, the bridge would be "like no other in the state or nation," Basnight wrote.

Basnight, president pro tem of the N.C. Senate, was influential in getting the Turnpike Authority to accept the project and to use private investment and construction, the first such public-private partnership in the state.

State engineers were already planning a bridge with features that would not pollute the sensitive and shallow Currituck Sound but have not worked out the details, said Jennifer Harris, staff engineer for the Turnpike Authority.

"We need to research them," she said. "But innovations like these are important to us."

By early next year, the state plans to choose a contractor and negotiate specific bridge designs, she said.

"It would be a pretty special bridge," Harris said.

Since 1989, when the project was first scheduled, estimates were projected to be under $100 million but have risen to between $500 million and $600 million, raising questions over whether the green extras will add too much to the cost.

Private interest has been greater than expected. Last week, about 200 investors, designers and contractors from around the world gathered in Raleigh for a briefing on the project.

Tolls are expected to pay for construction costs and provide a return on investment.

The bridge has had widespread support, including among local elected officials, but opponents have said the bridge will add to development and traffic congestion on the Outer Banks. Even crime could increase in the Corolla area, said longtime critic Barry Richman in an e-mail.

"Clear evidence exists nationwide of substantial increases in serious crime spurred by increasing ease of access to and egress from geographic areas," Richman wrote.

The bridge is one of the long-est-running and most debated highway projects in state history. Dozens of state and federal agencies and elected officials have wrestled over the viability of the project since at least the 1970s.

Jeff Hampton, (252) 338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com