CHARLOTTE – The N.C. Department of Transportation has selected the build alternative for a project to improve 8.5 miles of N.C. 73 between N.C. 16 in Lincoln County and Northcross Drive in Mecklenburg County. The purpose of the project is to improve the traffic-carrying capacity and safety of the N.C. 73 corridor in the project area.
The preferred alternative will minimize impacts to the greatest extent possible. It combines widening on both sides of the roadway and to one side of the road and requires less right of way. It will also cost less to build than the other alternatives considered.
Two public meetings were held in in February 2018 in Huntersville and Denver to gather public input on the project study area and project corridors. Input from those meetings helped develop design alternatives.
Additional public hearings were held in October 2018, where three project alternatives were presented, including the choice selected.
After the second round of public meetings, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held a public notice period from early November to early December 2018 to gather input from property owners and local government officials where streams and wetlands could be impacted.
NCDOT also met with an interagency resource team in late November 2018 to review the project alternatives and measures that would incorporated in the final design to minimize impacts. Last month, the merger team selected the preferred alternative, or Least Environmentally Damaging Practicable Alternative (LEDPA).
The other alternatives considered were:
- Alternative 2A: Widening along existing N.C. 73 with realignment in the vicinity of McGuire Nuclear Station and Beatties Ford Road
- Alternative 2B: Widening along existing N.C. 73 with a different realignment option than Alternative 2A.
NCDOT will continue coordination efforts with stakeholders in the project corridor prior to and during the project’s final design phase to address concerns to the greatest possible extent.
Final design is scheduled to start this summer.
For more information about the project, contact Wilson Stroud at 1548 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C., 27699, at 919-707-6045 or wstroud@ncdot.gov.