The Virginian-Pilot
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The final report needed for building a 7-mile bridge over the Currituck Sound in North Carolina was released Thursday by the state.
Construction on the bridge, which has been in the planning stages for more than 20 years, is expected to begin near the end of this year. The span's estimated cost is $500 million to $600 million and it's expected to open in 2017.
The report, a final environmental impact statement, has more than 200 pages of details on the bridge's design and its expected effects on wildlife and neighborhoods.
On the mainland side, the two-lane toll bridge would intersect with U.S. 158 just south of Coinjock and would pass 2 miles through a swamp running parallel to Aydlett Road. It would then cross the sound to a point near the Corolla Bay subdivision. Toll booths would be on the mainland side.
With the bridge in place, driving time from Norfolk to Corolla would be reduced from two hours or more on a busy summer Saturday to about an hour, but for a price: Tolls could be as high as $27 one way for weekend visitors and as low $3 for residents on weekdays.
Residents of Aydlett and Corolla have long opposed the bridge. Advocates say it will reduce traffic through Duck and southern Currituck and cut driving time from the mainland.
In 2010, the North Carolina General Assembly began setting aside $15 million per year to finance bridge costs not covered by toll revenue. That amount is scheduled to jump to $28 million annually in 2013.
The bridge will be built by a partnership between the state and private companies called the Currituck Development Group.
Copies of the report may be viewed until Feb. 3 at the Currituck County courthouse; public libraries in Currituck and Dare counties; the town of Duck's administrative building; town halls in Kitty Hawk and Southern Shores; the NCDOT maintenance yard office in Maple; as well as by appointment at the Turnpike Authority office in Raleigh.
Comments on the report will be accepted until March 12. They can be emailed to midcurruituck@ncdot.gov or mailed to Jennifer Harris, an engineer with the North Carolina Turnpike Authority, at 1578 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1578.
Jeff Hampton, 252-338-0159, jeff.hampton@pilotonline.com
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OI bridge
I would have thought the Bonner bridge is more important than one going to Corolla. Some of the bridges piles are not even touching the sand bottom. This bridge is in need of replacement much more then a bridge to Corolla. Who cares if all tourists sit in traffic on 12. There is nothing cool up there anyway, unless you like hanging with people from NY, NJ, Penn, and of course Ohio.
Its about time!
I work in Powells Point in Currituck and live in KDH. I battle the Saturday traffic every weekend in the summertime. It usually takes me 1-2 hours to get home on switchover days so where it says driving time on a Saturday mid-summer from Norfolk to Corolla is 2hrs isn't close, it is more like 3 to 3 1/2 hours. I will not miss the traffic at all. As for buisnesses in Southern Currituck I see more people vacationing in Corolla to use the bridge and 158 to get to the southern beaches of KH, KDH, and NH so that they do not have to deal with the 25mph speed limit and pedestrian traffic through Duck. Also it will help the golf industry in Currituck.
It will be worth it
The sooner the better! Once it is built, I don't doubt some of the greatest users of the bridge will be the locals. From having to drive from Hampton Roads to Corolla or Duck many times at the height of the tourist season and put up with all the traffic and frustration, I'll GLADLY pay the toll to make the trip less stressful and quicker.
$27 is small potatoes...
...when you're paying $5k or more for a week in Corolla.
I welcome the bridge. Local merchants on 158 may suffer from some loss of the tourist trade, but they may gain a bit of it back from those of us who, for decades, haven't ventured out of our homes on summer weekends for fear of a gruesome death on the highway.
The flip side is that the benefit is mainly to residents south of Aydlett. The gridlock on 168 in the northern half of the county will continue. But in any case, evacuation of the northern Outer Banks will be greatly facilitated.
Thank God
People are going there anyway so why torture everyone? I would be happy to pay the $27--how much is your time, not to mention gas and wear and tear on your car, worth?
Now can we please get a replacement for the Bonner Bridge? Please!
Thank God
People are going there anyway so why torture everyone? I would be happy to pay the $27--how much is your time, not to mention gas and wear and tear on your car, worth?
Now can we please get a replacement for the Bonner Bridge? Please!
Toll
I thought Chesapeake was bad with $6 on the expressway.