GRANITE FALLS, NC (August 14, 2017)…On the evening of Monday, August 14, 2017 a community meeting was held at Grace Chapel United Methodist Church in Granite Falls to discuss the US 321 Widening Project. The fellowship hall at the church quickly filled up with an approximate estimate of 130 residents in attendance.
Local business owner of Sunlife Sunrooms Spas & More, John Dunn along with daughter, Sharon Grindstaff and son, David Dunn organized the meeting. When they saw that the new 2017 version of proposed plan US 321 for southern Caldwell County changed significantly from the 2016 version, they started asking questions and thus spending a lot of time researching this project extensively which led to having this community meeting. John Dunn spoke at length to inform the meeting participants how the proposed project would adversely affect the community as well as his business and other businesses. They did a fine job and were much appreciated for their hard work.
Caldwell County Rep. Destin Hall, Caldwell County Commissioner Donnie Potter and Caldwell County Commissioner Mike LaBrose as well as Catawba County Rep. Jay Adams were on hand to facilitate the discussion and to take questions. NCDOT officials were invited but were unable to attend.
Rep. Destin Hall assured the residents in attendance that all concerns would be communicated to the NCDOT and said that this project is one of his top priorities. Hall was very encouraged by the turn out to the meeting and thanked everyone for coming out. “This is the way we change things.”
Catawba County Rep. Jay Adams also helped to explain the nuts and bolts of the project but when he stated that “what we’re probably going to have to do is swallow hard and live with it (superstreet design) and then challenge it afterwards if it doesn’t work” to the dismay of the attendees.
Many people ended up being concerned that the six-lane superstreet design proposed would be an experiment. Doug Duffy of Northlakes stated, “I don’t want to be an experiment.”
If residents were allowed to vote on the Superstreet design it would have been a landslide in opposition. Most of the residents that spoke at the meeting had very strong convictions about the Superstreet design and are very concerned about traffic flow, accidents, and access to US321 South. Many people simply said they were not in favor of right hand only turns onto US321.
Another rumbling groan came from the meeting attendees when it was stated that the NCDOT decided to completely change the planned interchange at Grace Chapel Road and US321 to an intersection based on a few comments that they received.
One recurring topic of discussion was about New Farm Road and Alex Lee Blvd. Most in attendance, if not all, could not understand why these roads were not built to allow truck traffic. There is a 66+ acre parcel of land for sale by Caldwell EDC Properties which is located on New Farm Road that is zoned industrial that apparently would not benefit the exclusion of truck traffic. It was mentioned at the meeting that these roads could be brought up to specification to allow for truck traffic but at what and who’s cost? This begs the question…Why were these roads not built for truck traffic in the first place?
Captain Travis Davenport from the Grace Chapel Fire Department was quite adamant in speaking about the department’s response times to Lakeview Park as they could possibly be greatly extended by the proposed 2017 plan. Having another access point to Lakeview Park, possibly from Wolfe Road, would greatly increase response times to homes there resulting in saving precious lives. Davenport went on to say that they have difficulty now in meeting response times for this area.
School bus routes would possibly be greatly extended if they are forced to travel south across Lake Hickory out of Caldwell County to make a U-turn near Arby’s Restaurant to then travel north to turn right into Lakeview Park. School buses are required to travel in the right lane on highways and would result in bus drivers crossing over 3 lanes of traffic each way to make U-turns. Local school bus drivers already have a difficult time changing lanes on US 321.
A resident of Wolfe Road, Dan Christian, brought up a great point about tractor trailer traffic coming from Alex Lee Blvd. merging onto US321 South and then immediately coming upon a U-turn stating that this could be an accident-prone area.
Residents were also concerned about the process by the NCDOT to inform them about public meetings and updates to the proposed plans. Rep. Destin Hall said that he would address this concern with the NCDOT.
The ramifications of the proposed 2017 plan are too great to ignore, first affecting safety and then affecting travel to and from southern Caldwell County.
A note from the Caldwell County Chamber of Commerce…”The Chamber’s job is to keep our membership informed with good information and to connect them with proper avenues to have their voice and concerns heard. Change is hard. Good for some and not so good for others. Transportation and connection to major interstate corridors is essential to economic our strength in Caldwell County. We encourage our membership to participate in the collaborative process with the NCDOT to ensure that all concerns are heard and addressed by the agency during the design process.”
Rep. Destin Hall stated that “my plan is to go back to DOT, there is great unrest and expect them to hold further meetings.” Hall also stated “The most effective thing to do is email, this will help me fight for you in Raleigh.”
We would be remiss if we didn’t thank Grace Chapel United Methodist Church for hosting the meeting and especially to church member Sheila Williams for her assistance.
Sunlife Sunrooms Spas & More owner John Dunn graciously made a donation to Grace Chapel United Methodist Church for their hospitality and use of their fellowship hall.
——————————————————————————————————————-
Contact person at the NCDOT concerning this project:
Gene Tarascio – NCDOT Project Development
gtarascio@ncdot.gov
Comment here:
https://apps.ncdot.gov/ContactUS/PostComment.aspx?Unit=US321
Project website:
www.ncdot.gov/projects/us321widening
NCDOT Public Meetings website:
www.ncdot.gov/projects/publicmeetings
US 321 Widening Project for Caldwell County Facebook Page:
www.facebook.com/US321WideningProjectforCaldwellCounty