What: NCDOT Public Hearing on US 15-501 Bridge Replacement over New Hope Creek

When: Thursday, April 3, 2003, 7:00 p.m.

Where: Githens Middle School Auditorium, 4800 Chapel Hill Road, Durham

Who: Citizens concerned about Wildlife Protection and Trail Corridors along New Hope Creek

Why: Current DOT proposal falls short of recommendations for Wildlife Protection and Trail Corridors – Public support for alternate proposals essential

Background:

The North Carolina Department of Transportation has proposed Project U-4012 to widen US 15-501 between Mt. Moriah Rd. and Garrett Rd to six lanes. This project will require removal of the current bridges across New Hope Creek and two new bridges to be built to carry the six lanes across the creek.

The New Hope Creek Corridor between Duke Forest and Jordan Lake is the largest intact wildlife corridor remaining in the central Triangle. Its conservation as a natural and low-impact recreational corridor has been planned through more than ten years of extensive collaboration between Chapel Hill, Durham, Durham County, Orange County and private landowners. These jurisdictions, Triangle Land Conservancy and private landowners have invested approximately $4.5 million to preserve this corridor.

Currently DOT proposes to cross this important natural corridor with a bridge that is not high enough and not long enough, ignoring state and national trail standards and thereby restricting future trail use. Every relevant elected local government, the DOT’s own Transportation Advisory Committee, the NC Wildlife Commission, the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, the Durham Open Space and Trails Commission, the New Hope Creek Corridor Advisory Committee, the Triangle Land Conservancy, and private landowners have objected to the inadequate height and length of the bridge. The DOT proposal offers wildlife passage that is at the low end of the scientific literature’s recommended protection and is less protective than bridges DOT has planned or built recently, even though those bridges may not cross natural features as sensitive as the regionally significant New Hope corridor.

DOT is doing this damage to save an amount of money that is less than the public investment already made to protect the corridor. DOT is forgoing building a model project in order to save an extraordinarily small construction cost, and it is making this decision based on supporting documents that are incomplete and inaccurate.

DOT should increase the planned bridge’s height to 10 feet and its length to 300 feet to protect the New Hope Creek Corridor.

Click here for a detailed “Analysis of the 15-501 Bridge Replacement”

Click here for 15-501 Bridge Replacement Key Points