Bypass Meeting Set For Tuesday

by Cal Bryant - November 9th, 2007 - Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald

Those wishing to learn more about the proposed Ahoskie Bypass are urged to attend an information workshop on Tuesday, Nov. 13 hosted by the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

The informal session, not a public hearing, will be held between the hours of 4-7 p.m. in the Jernigan Auditorium of Roanoke-Chowan Community College.

Included in the session will be aerial maps displaying the seven potential bypass routes. Handouts and comment sheets will also be distributed.

Cal has written an excellent article covering the details of this process and an explanation of the options being proposed.

The various proposed paths are shown in the map below.



The one thing I would like to add is a brief explanation of two terms used in the article, for I have found that they are not clear to most people. Those two terms are FREEWAY and EXPRESSWAY.

Here in North Carolina the difference in the type of road described is very critical. Expressway really means a four lane "surface" highway, with intersections, traffic lights, driveway entrances and no real limit on access. Expressways always become congested with development very quickly, and the speed limits are lowered, driving away visitors. In addition they are lethal. Significantly more lethal than Freeways. Some of them have found to be 17 times more lethal than a Freeway. They are anything but what the name implies, a fast way to get somehwere.

The fast way to travel safely is a Freeway, which means limited access, with overpasses and on-off ramps and no situations where slower and faster traffic are mixed. It has proved again and again to be the greatest type of road to connect people together. These are the types of roads that are required to be a part of the Interstate System. However you can build a Freeway that is not Interstate, as U.S. 64 is from Raleigh to Williamston.

Freeways are the most desired type of road today, to bring people here and for us to get to places we need to go. Many people will not travel long distances unless they can drive on Freeways so they can safely travel at high speeds. If we ever expect to take advantage of the tourism opportunities here in the Inner Banks, we need Freeways to bring the people in.

That is the problem. Our short sighted government officials here in the Inner Banks, still insist they want everything built as an Expressway, the old type of surface road. This kind of thinking is 50 years out of date. Build a Freeway or expect to lose out on a tremendous opportunity to connect with potential tourists and allow local people and businesses to connect with the outside world. That will harm eco-tourism and business growth both. How does that make sense?