The NDOT has already spent millions of dollars surveying and studying the highway. They have concluded that it’s not safe in its current form, and the project is now so far along, that it may not be easy to put the brakes on it. In face of growing pressure from the community, the Commissioners held a special meeting on October 10 to approve a letter making a “NO BUILD request to the Foothills Regional Commission’s Rural Planning Organization, or R P O, which is the agency responsible for representing the county’s needs – and wishes – when it comes to DOT projects.
It's not the first time that the DOT has come to the county with a scheme to widen an important route. They tried it a few years ago with Highway 108 between Columbus and Tryon. Back then, just like today, the folks who live on the highway were none too keen on the idea.
The NCDOT has already spent millions of dollars surveying and studying the highway. They have concluded that it’s not safe in its current form, and the project is now so far along, that it may not be easy to put the brakes on it. In the face of growing pressure from the community, the Commissioners held a special meeting on Oct. 10 to approve a letter making a “NO BUILD" request to the Foothills Regional Commission’s Rural Planning Organization (RPO), which is the agency responsible for representing the county’s needs – and wishes – when it comes to DOT projects.
So, it looks like the commissioners were responding — better late than never — to the citizens who have the most to lose, both in terms of land, and peace and quiet. But if you read the letter all the way to the end, a different story emerges. The last paragraph asks the RPO to stop considering Highway 9 north and Highway 9 south for any modernizations in the future, with the exception of turn lanes at Polk Central Elementary school “or other life safety issues on this route.”
Given that the widening project was first proposed by the DOT as a safety measure, doesn’t that suggest the county’s “no build” letter actually endorses the project?
I reached out to the DOT’s lead engineer on the project, Wanda Austin, but haven’t received a response. But I did sit down with Karen Pack, one of the lead organizers of the community opposition to widening highway 9, on which she has lived for decades. We met at her mother’s house, also right along Highway 9, of course, two days after that board meeting, to talk about the history of the project, what it has meant for her personally, and what the political implications might be.
Resources
BoC letter to RPO:
https://i0.wp.com/polknc.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/NoBuildLetter-scaled.jpeg?resize=1392%2C1801&ssl=1
Keep Highway 9 Rural Facebook group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/565863185320477
Foothills Rural Planning Organization:
https://foothillsregion.org/regional-development/isothermal-rural-planning-organization-rpo/
