City expected to join counties in U.S. 70 planning

Kinston leaders are considering a $10,000 payment to be a “player in the game” of planning U.S. 70’s future. Now, it’s up to Lenoir County.

Several other counties along the corridor between Raleigh and the beach have joined to hire a consultant firm to work with the state Department of Transportation during planning of the U.S. 70 bypass. Other counties are contributing $25,000 each. Lenoir County, including Kinston, was told it could get by with paying only $20,000.

City Manager Ralph Clark said the money would come from next year’s budget.

The $20,000 would buy two seats for the county and two for the city on the multi-county committee “to communicate with the DOT,” County Commissioner Earl Harper told City Council members Monday.

“We can present a unified voice,” he said. “Cam McRae thinks Kinston should be a player in the game.”

The state wants to speed up traffic along the road, saying many motorists have complained that the road is too congested and slow. Engineers have proposed a bypass in some areas, installing traffic lights in others and removing lights in still other places.

Harper didn’t give the consortium idea a hard sell. He admitted wondering initially what a consultant could do to sway the minds of DOT engineers.

“(U.S.) 70 is a four-lane boulevard,” he said. “There are things that can be done in the next 20 to 25 years other than a light. We can make some efficiencies until the bypass is built.”

Drivers, frustrated by traffic, already are coming up with alternative routes to the easternmost part of the state, Harper said. The implication is that businesses are beginning to see a loss of revenue because of the switch.

Abbreviated bypasses, referred to as fly-ins, and left-turn-only lanes offer two possible solutions to expediting the 35,000 cars that travel daily on the road during summer. Some have even mentioned turning U.S. 70 into a toll road, he said.

LaGrange, where the alleged traffic problem along U.S. 70 has been “solved,” has not been asked to help finance the consultant, Harper said.

The County Board has not agreed yet to participate in the committee.