North Carolina to Consider More Appropriate, Less Destructive Approach to Corridor K
For Immediate Release
For more information, contact: Jim Grode, WaysSouth Executive Director, 706-508-3711Lucy Bartlett, WaysSouth Chair, 706-782-7262 North Carolina to Consider More Appropriate,Less Destructive Approach to Corridor K
(Asheville, February 4) — The Army Corps of Engineers has sent North Carolina transportation planners back to the drawing board and requires them to evaluate alternatives to a four-lane highway linking Robbinsville and Stecoah in the name of completing Corridor K, conceived some 45 years ago as a way to address poverty and isolation in the Southern Appalachians.
WaysSouth, an advocate for responsible transportation in the region, applauded the Corps’ decision. It was one of several organizations in the region that had asked the North Carolina Department of Transportation to reconsider.
“A divided highway would cause devastating damage to some of the most pristine areas of the southern mountains,” said Lucy Bartlett, WaysSouth chairman. “Our supporters wrote letters and attended public meetings to share our concerns about NCDOT’s proposals. We are grateful that the Corps has heard our voice and the voices of others in the region.”
Citing the comments of residents and other stakeholders in the region and noting the negative impacts of the four-lane alternatives, the Corps wrote in its letter to NCDOT that “the alternative of upgrading and improving existing two-lane roadways should be given full consideration as a practical alternative.”
In both North Carolina and Tennessee, WaysSouth has urged transportation officials to reconsider proposals for the construction of four-lane, divided highways as a way to complete the transportation corridor between Chattanooga and Asheville. The Tennessee Department of Transportation plans to study improvements to U.S. 64 through the Ocoee Gorge as one of several alternatives to address the area’s transportation needs. Until now, however, North Carolina had plans to analyze only the four-lane alternatives.
WaysSouth and other environmental organizations have argued that NCDOT’s own studies show that improvements to existing two-lane highways in the project area will exceed the needed traffic capacity for decades. Yet, the agency had refused to consider alternatives to a four-lane, divided highway that is projected to cost more than $375 million, damage watersheds and disrupt the growing tourism economy of the region, while delivering little or no improvement in mobility.
The original proposals under consideration in both Tennessee and North Carolina for completing Corridor K focused on cutting new highways through the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee and the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina. Both DOTs are now considering two-lane alternatives with lighter environmental footprints at significantly reduced costs to federal and state taxpayers.
“WaysSouth is pleased at this signal that agencies are beginning to recognize that the historic approach of building more and bigger highways is neither environmentally nor economically sustainable,” said Jim Grode, executive director of WaysSouth.