The word on U.S. 76 connector: ‘wait’ again

By JEFFERSON WEAVER
Staff Writer

The U.S. 76 connector is still in the state’s highway plans, but the funding isn’t.

The N.C. Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) is a long-range list of the state’s highway plans.

Chief among the local concerns is a proposal to create a connector from the South Carolina line at Tabor City to U.S. 76 near Chadbourn, along the N.C. 410 route.

The state estimates the project would cost a total of $99 million, including right of way acquisition and construction.

Also in the unfunded project category was upgrading 40.2 miles of U.S. 74-76 to interstate standards.

When the highway was last improved, much of the road was built to interstate standards in anticipation of future plans to funnel large numbers of travelers from South Carolina and Wilmington through Columbus.

That project is estimated to cost $200 million.

Among the approved projects are two improved interchanges on U.S. 74.

Funding was approved for intersections at N.C. 242 and N.C. 211, with construction beginning in 2010.

A study on four-laning N.C. 87 between Elizabethtown and U.S. 74-76 at Riegelwood was approved for another $6.2 million.

A major improvement project for N.C. 11 (including road widening and bridge replacement over the Cape Fear River) was approved for studies beginning in 2012, but no construction funds were immediately recommended.

While TIP projects are prioritized by the North Carolina Board of Transportation, funding is determined by the legislature.