Robbinsville – Residents within the town limits of the county seat may soon be in contact with the N.C. Department of Transportation.
Jimmy Terry with the DOT spoke with the Robbinsville Board of Aldermen during the April 7 meeting about the upcoming purchases of properties along the latest Corridor K expansion, which will extend from within the town limits, across N.C. 143 (Sweetwater Road) and south on U.S. 28 in Stecoah to the four-lane junction in Wolf Creek – all in an effort to widen the roadway in both directions.
Terry presented the town with a resolution that deferred all water line removal, relocation and repair costs spurned by the project to be the responsibility of the DOT.
“All betterment costs will be 100 percent paid for by the DOT,” Terry said. “It will be no cost to the town for water and sewer relocation.
Mayor Steve Hooper forewarned the department’s representation of the layout of the water system, noting that during a repair last summer at the intersection with Five Points Road, several water lines were discovered, with pipe widths ranging between 2-8 inches. The cost of that repair was around $55,000.
Hooper made mention of the need for mapping the new path of the lines the DOT will install.
“Some of our predecessors have laid stuff that we didn’t even know where it flowed (to),” Hooper said.
“Anything that’s in conflict with the project – whether found during design or like you said, whenever we start digging with a backhoe and water starts coming out of the ground,” Terry quipped in assurance, which drew a laugh from those present.
Terry added that right-of-way purchases would begin in either August or September, with a target date to begin the project of September 2022. He also indicated the intent of having all 14 miles of the construction underway at the same time.
Corridor K is a long-standing project that hoped to connect Asheville to Chattanooga, Tenn., but stalled once engineers reached the Nantahala Gorge. The DOT finally drafted the best option for plans last fall, which includes alternating passing lanes across N.C. 143, widening the road through Stecoah (where a pedestrian sidewalk will run parallel to the southbound lane), expanding to four lanes at and a land-bridge for hikers and wildlife on the Appalachian Trail at Stecoah Gap.
Also discussed at the meeting:
* The mold issue at Robbinsville Town Hall should be fully resolved by the end of April.
* The new entrance at Robbinsville High School – which connects to U.S. 129 North (Rodney Orr Bypass) – will soon be renamed Wayne Carringer Boulevard. The bridge on the connector has already been named in memory of J.L. Phillips.
* Finance director Sonya Webster announced that the town was at 75 percent of its 2020-21 fiscal budget, which concludes June 30. Webster also noted that through March, the town had collected 96 percent of its past-due taxes.
* The town is actively getting quotes for new speed bumps on Atoah, Circle and Ford streets, as well as two new trackhoes for use by maintenance personnel.