Making connections

Thanks to federal stimulus dollars, Kinston will have its long-awaited extension of C.F. Harvey  Parkway between U.S. 258 North and U.S. 70.

Gov. Bev Perdue and Transportation Secretary Eugene Conti announced Tuesday that the $64 million project, scheduled to begin this summer, is among the state's "shovel-ready" transportation projects set to be funded with federal stimulus money.

"That's really important for this TransPark and it's important for the people of eastern North Carolina," Perdue told a throng of local business, civic and political leaders who gathered on the Kinston Regional Jetport tarmac to welcome her.

The four-mile Harvey Parkway extension has been on the city's wish list of transportation projects for just over a decade. It is considered a critical infrastructure improvement for the Global TransPark.

"This will provide direct access from U.S. 70 to the Global TransPark," Conti, the former vice chairman of the Global TransPark Authority, told the crowd.

Conti said the bidding process is scheduled to open in May and construction will begin soon after. The project is expected to be complete in 30 to 36 months.

Ed Eatmon of the DOT's Division 2 office said the extension will begin where the highway currently stops at U.S. 258 North and will end at U.S. 70 West near Electrolux.

It will include 12 bridges, most of them overpasses, and access will be limited to interstate highway-style interchanges.

Perdue cited federal statistics stating that 30 jobs are created for every $1 million spent on transportation projects. She said the Parkway extension could "save or create 1,900 secondary or primary jobs," including those hired to work on the project and those who benefit from them spending money in the community.

The governor and Conti spent Tuesday traveling by jet from Lenoir to Mecklenburg to Guilford and Alamance County, unveiling the first projects that $466 million in federal money has been set aside for. It is the first half of stimulus funds for state transportation projects.

David Anderson can be reached at (252) 559-1077 or danderson@freedomenc.com.