Southern leg of N.C. 43 would represent ‘stimulus type project'

As area leaders prepare to cut the ribbon opening the N.C. 43 connector, many are looking a little further down the road across U.S. 70 to the southern leg which would tie it to U.S. 17.

The two-mile roadway is drawn; the permits are in order; all the property owners have tentatively said they will give the state the right-of-way. But there is no current plan to fund the highway.

The New Bern Board of Aldermen passed a resolution at its last May meeting reasserting its support for the roadway.

"It could be done as a change order for the contractor who is already there," said Bill Hartman, New Bern city manager. "We have had the right-of-way committed and this is a good stimulus type project, shovel-ready for New Bern."

New Bern's public works director and assistant city manager, Danny Meadows, said, "Getting the southern leg of 43 constructed would be a means to get some traffic off South Glenburnie. The permits are in order and we don't need them to lapse."

Alderman Max Freeze said, "This is the first time we've been hit with something this sweet; where the timing and the project actually work together."

Local attorney, Troy Smith, who represents Weyerhaeuser Corporation, one of the four largest landowners along the proposed roadway, said, "Everything is in place and those permits expire.  They are tied to completion of north leg. The time over next year."

"Another thing that is driving this is that the agreement to give right-of-way is also time sensitive," Smith said.

Should a development with houses come in the pathway, the cost would go up exponentially.

The estimate now is about $23 million.

Smith said "the N.C. 55 to U.S. 17 highway was planned and permitted as a single project. It was only at the point in time that they got ready to do the north leg that the state backed off."

Hartman and Jim Davis, Craven County's economic development director, said both legs of the connector are important to New Bern's long-term growth and development.

Davis said there are not many five or more acres for commercial or industrial development in New Bern.

"This roadway would add about 12,000 acres for approximately 12,000 acres available for develoment that could be recreational, industrial, commercial and residential," Davis said.

The southern leg of nearby U.S. 17 New Bern bypass is being funded by Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicles, commonly called GARVEE bonds, authorized by the N.C. General Assembly in 2005. The bonds allow acceleration of federal funding to help finance project sooner and avoid cost increases.

Sue Book can be reached at (252) 635-5666 or sbook@freedomenc.com.