Officials update commissioners on NCDOT projects
Published 10:24 am Tuesday, August 13, 2019
County commissioners have learned of several road construction projects on the radar of N.C. Department of Transportation.
The projects include constructing a roundabout on Bethel Church Road, widening N.C. Highway 73 from Albemarle to the county line, widening N.C. Highway 49 from Mount Pleasant to the Yadkin River and widening U.S. Highway 52 from Albemarle to Norwood and from Deland Road to Dennis Road. These projects are competing against others in Anson County and part of Union County to get state funding. Anson and Union are part of the Rocky River Rural Planning Organization with Stanly.
NCDOT allocates state funds through a data-driven scoring system called the Strategic Mobility Formula, which evaluates projects based on factors including an analysis of the project’s existing and current conditions, the benefit projects would provide to the area and how the projects fit in with local priorities.
RRRPO Director Lee Snuggs said none of the Stanly projects have scored well enough with the Strategic Mobility Formula to be prioritized over other projects in the state.
The Stanly projects are “our wish list, they’re in the holding tank and are things we would like to see happen,” Snuggs said.
He said the next step would be for the NCDOT to commit to the projects and fund them.
Snuggs and NCDOT Division 10 engineer Scott Miller said they are looking for other projects in the county that would make sense to pursue.
“You may know of some areas that need to be brought attention to,” Miller said. “We want to make sure everything’s on our radar.”