thedrifter
02-22-08, 04:27 AM
Marine officials seek to keep traffic light at housing area
COREY FRIEDMAN
2008-02-21 11:42:00
DAILY NEWS STAFF
FREEDOM ENC
HAVELOCK - Cherry Point is asking a highway enhancement group not to remove the U.S. 70 traffic signal that provides access to Slocum Village military housing.
Col. Frank P. Bottorff, commanding officer of the Marine Corps air station, wrote that Cherry Point is "not supportive of the removal of this signal" in a Jan. 25 letter to Kimley-Horn and Associates, consultants for the Super 70 Corridor Commission.
"This light and the one at the Holly (Drive) intersection serves 537 military families living in Slocum Village," Bottorff said in the letter. "Additionally, the signal at Jackson Drive serves to facilitate egress for firefighting equipment."
A drawing shown to Havelock residents at the Super 70 group's January public work session at the Havelock Tourist and Event Center showed that the Jackson Drive traffic signal would be removed in 2011, Bottorff wrote.
The Super 70 concept - streamlining the 135-mile U.S. 70 corridor into a freeway-grade thoroughfare from Clayton to Morehead City - has been panned by Havelock residents and business owners who use the highway as a local main street.
Havelock commissioners have criticized the highway plans and considered withdrawing the city's membership in the group, which is composed of representatives from the six counties and 15 cities along the U.S. 70 corridor as well as with engineers from the N.C. Department of Transportation.
Bottorff's letter contains three recommendations to the Super 70 group made on behalf of Cherry Point.
A planned highway median near Fort Macon Drive should contain a break allowing left-turn access to the 249 military families in Fort Macon air station housing, Bottorff wrote.
"All the families living in this area would work aboard Cherry Point and, for the most part, get off work at the same time," he said in the letter. "The current median layout would require this surge of traffic in the afternoon to go to Hollywood Boulevard and make a U-turn."
Cherry Point is also asking the Super 70 group to study a flyover intersection at the junction of U.S. 70 and Slocum Road, a site of heavy traffic congestion during peak entrance and exit times at the air station's Slocum gate.
Danny Walsh, a Havelock commissioner and a Craven County delegate to the Super 70 group, said the commission and the DOT are in favor of installing a flyover at Slocum Road. He said the only possible hiccup would be finding enough money for the project.
"These are only reasonable requests for the safety of the military in our community," Walsh said. "I see no reason why the Super 70 committee could not back 100 percent of these recommendations."
For a look at current Super 70 plans and concept maps, visit the group's Web site at www.super70corridor.com.
Ellie
COREY FRIEDMAN
2008-02-21 11:42:00
DAILY NEWS STAFF
FREEDOM ENC
HAVELOCK - Cherry Point is asking a highway enhancement group not to remove the U.S. 70 traffic signal that provides access to Slocum Village military housing.
Col. Frank P. Bottorff, commanding officer of the Marine Corps air station, wrote that Cherry Point is "not supportive of the removal of this signal" in a Jan. 25 letter to Kimley-Horn and Associates, consultants for the Super 70 Corridor Commission.
"This light and the one at the Holly (Drive) intersection serves 537 military families living in Slocum Village," Bottorff said in the letter. "Additionally, the signal at Jackson Drive serves to facilitate egress for firefighting equipment."
A drawing shown to Havelock residents at the Super 70 group's January public work session at the Havelock Tourist and Event Center showed that the Jackson Drive traffic signal would be removed in 2011, Bottorff wrote.
The Super 70 concept - streamlining the 135-mile U.S. 70 corridor into a freeway-grade thoroughfare from Clayton to Morehead City - has been panned by Havelock residents and business owners who use the highway as a local main street.
Havelock commissioners have criticized the highway plans and considered withdrawing the city's membership in the group, which is composed of representatives from the six counties and 15 cities along the U.S. 70 corridor as well as with engineers from the N.C. Department of Transportation.
Bottorff's letter contains three recommendations to the Super 70 group made on behalf of Cherry Point.
A planned highway median near Fort Macon Drive should contain a break allowing left-turn access to the 249 military families in Fort Macon air station housing, Bottorff wrote.
"All the families living in this area would work aboard Cherry Point and, for the most part, get off work at the same time," he said in the letter. "The current median layout would require this surge of traffic in the afternoon to go to Hollywood Boulevard and make a U-turn."
Cherry Point is also asking the Super 70 group to study a flyover intersection at the junction of U.S. 70 and Slocum Road, a site of heavy traffic congestion during peak entrance and exit times at the air station's Slocum gate.
Danny Walsh, a Havelock commissioner and a Craven County delegate to the Super 70 group, said the commission and the DOT are in favor of installing a flyover at Slocum Road. He said the only possible hiccup would be finding enough money for the project.
"These are only reasonable requests for the safety of the military in our community," Walsh said. "I see no reason why the Super 70 committee could not back 100 percent of these recommendations."
For a look at current Super 70 plans and concept maps, visit the group's Web site at www.super70corridor.com.
Ellie