Monroe Connector/Bypass

Kym Hunter and Kate Asquith

October 23, 2013

Southern Environmental Law Center

• We are a public interest environmental law firm with offices

throughout the Southeast, including two offices in North

Carolina.

• We represent public interest groups for free.

• One of our primary focus areas is transportation and land use

policies and practices throughout the Southeast.

Why do local groups care about the Bypass?

• Local environmental groups

including the North Carolina

Wildlife Federation, Clean Air

Carolina, and the Yadkin

Riverkeeper have been involved

with the Bypass for many years.

• On behalf of these clients, we

brought and won the recent

lawsuit challenging NCDOT’s

review of the Bypass.

• Congestion on U.S. 74 is a problem, but we believe there are less

costly ways to fix the corridor.

• Local communities deserve to be informed about the Monroe

Bypass’s purpose and its likely impacts.

Overview of the Project

Proposed Monroe Bypass

Proposed Monroe Bypass

• 19.7-mile 4-lane highway from Marshville to Stallings

• Planned as a toll road, with preliminary toll estimate of

$2.50 each way for passenger vehicles and $10.27 for large

trucks

• 9 interchanges through undeveloped areas of Union County

• Construction cost estimate of about $900 million

• Cost not covered by toll revenue; $24 million/year

appropriated out of scarce NCDOT funds for 30 years

• Expected to save, at most, only 8-12 minutes

• It is projected to offer larger time savings by 2035, but only

because NCDOT expects traffic on U.S. 74 to get much worse

Legal Challenge to the Bypass

Charlotte Observer, November 19, 2012

• The United States Court of

Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

ruled against NCDOT, finding

it misled the public and

other agencies.

• The court recognized that

the flawed review masked

the Bypass’s impacts and

prevented a fair comparison

of alternatives.

• The Court ordered NCDOT to

re-evaluate its review of the

Bypass.

Since the Court’s Decision . . .

• NCDOT is re-evaluating its environmental review, and plans

to issue a new document reaffirming much of its old data

and conclusions.

• We’ve been in Union County talking with elected officials,

local communities, and individuals about the impact of the

Bypass and potential alternatives.

• Union County citizens and local governments alike have

begun calling for NCDOT to reconsider the Bypass.

How would the Bypass impact

traffic in Union County?

Not designed to benefit local traffic

• NCDOT has regularly admitted that the Bypass was never

intended, nor is it expected, to much improve current traffic flow

on U.S. 74.

• In fact, NCDOT admits it “would not be in favor of changes to US-

74 that would have a competing interest with the Bypass.”

• NCDOT’s documents demonstrate that they expect a travel time

savings to be at most, only 8-12 minutes.

• At a cost of $900 million, that is approximately $100 million per

minute!

• NCDOT says the Bypass’s travel time savings will increase to 20-30

minutes in the future, but only because NCDOT expects

congestion on U.S. 74 to increase dramatically.

NCDOT expects the Bypass to have a much smaller

impact on travel time than originally projected.

From an April 18, 2013 memorandum from consultant HNTB to Jennifer Harris, NCDOT

NCDOT consultant’s findings for

existing traffic conditions on U.S. 74

From a May 23, 2013 email between NCDOT staff and consultants

Result? NCDOT predicts the Bypass will provide

minimal travel time savings

Unfair Tolls• In Raleigh, drivers on the

Triangle Expressway pay $2.34

for an estimated 20 minutesin travel time savings.

• Drivers on the Monroe Bypass

will pay $2.58 for an

estimated travel time savings of

8-12 minutes.

• Union County drivers who want

to use the Bypass will pay more

than double what Raleigh

drivers pay for each minute

saved.

From NCDOT’s Comprehensive Traffic & Revenue Study (Sept. 2010)

Would anyone really use the Bypass?

• NCDOT admits trucking companies were mixed as to

whether truck drivers would pay initial toll rates of $10.27,

and has not reevaluated truckers’ willingness to pay in light

of new projections showing decreased travel time savings.

• NCDOT has not studied exactly how much of the truck traffic

on U.S. 74 is local and how much is through traffic.

• NCDOT’s revenue study was based on assumption of

20-30 mph travel speeds in the U.S. 74 corridor. But their

records show that the 2013 travel speed was 40-50 mph.

• NCDOT assumes large increases in traffic volume in the U.S.

74 Corridor in the future, pushing drivers onto the Bypass.

But NCDOT saw no such increases between 2007 and 2012.

How would the Bypass impact

growth in Union County?

NCDOT says growth is not expected

NCDOT has

consistently

claimed

that the

Bypass will

have less

than 1%

impact on Union

County’s

overall

growth.

NCDOT’s Latest Growth Data

NCDOT predicts

that commercial

growth will shift

to the areas

around the

Bypass

interchanges.

Instead, NCDOT expects the Bypass

to affect where growth occurs.

NCDOT has

admitted that

this growth shift

could negatively

impact the

potential for

commercial

development in

downtown

Monroe.

Many locals think

the Bypass will result in growth

• Local groups, like the Union County Chamber of

Commerce, think the Bypass will spur growth.

• Several local town councils have expressed the worry that

the type of growth they expect from building the Bypass

would cause more of a strain on county services than it

would pay in taxes, increasing Union County’s

overall tax burden.

• Local communities cannot effectively plan without an

honest evaluation of the Bypass’s likely growth impacts.

• The Bypass would destroy at least 499

acres of active agricultural lands.

• Several families will lose farms that have been in their possession for

over a hundred years, in one case since

before the Revolutionary War.

• Ninety-five households, 47

businesses, and three churcheswill be forced to relocate. The road will

also disturb seven neighborhoods.

Other Impacts in Union County

What will help Union County

travelers?

But is there a more cost-effective solution

than the proposed Monroe Bypass?

What Could NCDOT Do?

• Reopen consideration of alternatives to the Monroe Bypass

actually focused on fixing traffic on U.S. 74.

• Consider updating existing parallel roads.

• Revisit NCDOT’s own 2007 report, which detailed an estimated

$13.2 million in improvements to U.S. 74 that would provide a

satisfactory Level of Service for 22 out of 23 signalized

intersections from Stallings to U.S. 601.

• NCDOT has begun to implement some of these ideas.

Prudence requires NCDOT re-evaluate the need for and

efficacy of the Bypass in light of these changes.

Improvements to Parallel Routes

1. Monroe Road Loop: already on 2040 MTP

Candidate Projects List; new road (continuing the

recently completed Martin Luther King Boulevard)

from Secrest Short Cut Road near Monroe Mall to

Walkup Road at the east end of Monroe.

0

Monroe Bypass/Connector Preferred Route

Monroe Rd Loop (MTP 269-270) added

Improvements to Parallel Routes

2. Old Charlotte Road/Old Monroe Highway:

several segments already under consideration for

widening to multi-lane in Matthews, Stallings,

and Indian Trail.

Old Charlotte Highway added

Improvements to Parallel Routes (cont.)

3. Secrest Short Cut Road: not currently on any MTP

Candidate Project List, but follows the proposed

Bypass for much of its length and could be widened

to multi-lanes and otherwise improved to carry

traffic much more safely and conveniently for local

residents.

Secrest Short Cut Rd / Unionville-Indian Trail Rd added

Other Improvements to U.S. 74

• Signalization improvements/elimination

• “Superstreet” upgrades to intersections

• Additional overpasses to reduce number of

signalized intersections

• Additional lanes in some places of U.S. 74

• Service roads for business access, leaving U.S. 74

primarily for through traffic

• Fewer side streets crossing U.S. 74 directly, resulting

in better U.S. 74 mobility

Why Should You Care?

• It’s not clear that the toll road, as designed, will

actually help people in Union County.

• $900 million is a lot to spend with so many

questions remaining, especially if U.S. 74 can be

fixed for much less.

• Union County has immediate road-improvement

and maintenance needs that NCDOT is currently

not meeting.

• If the Bypass spurs massive new commuter-

subdivision growth, the cost to service those new

homes will fall on ALL Union County taxpayers.

Is there a better way to

meet Union County’s needs?

Let’s find out!