DOT plans meeting to discuss South New Hope widening

Neil Brock has been eagerly awaiting word on the state's plan for widening N.C. 279 where it extends into the southeastern corner of Gaston County.

He'll finally get a chance to see what's being pondered when traffic engineers hold an initial public meeting on the matter this month. But Brock is afraid to hear what it will mean for the land he owns at 4702 S. New Hope Road, where he had hoped to relocate his insurance business.

"This project has apparently taken a lot of twists and turns," he said. "At this point, I'm more concerned than ever."

The major road improvement will involve widening a 3.8-mile span of the highway between Titman Road and Union-New Hope roads, ending near the ABC Store in south Cramerton. The new four-lane design will cost about $57.6 million to implement, according to previous estimates.

The state still needs to acquire right of way, and construction had been scheduled to begin in 2021 and be completed in about a year, though that will likely be pushed back.

High-resolution maps showing preliminary ideas for widening the highway may be viewed online by clicking here, or by visiting ncdot.gov/news/public-meetings/Pages/U-5821-2019-08-27.aspx.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation will hold a meeting to inform the public of the project and gather input on the proposed design from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 27 at New Hope Presbyterian Church. No formal presentation will be made, meaning attendants can drop in at any time during the three-hour window to view the maps, ask questions and offer comments.

Comments and information that are received will be taken into consideration as work on the project develops. Residents can offer written comments at the meeting, or submit their thoughts via telephone, email or traditional mail until Sept. 11.

Four-lane fix

The DOT's plans were originally to simply add a third, center turn lane to that section of South New Hope Road. But after consulting with Gastonia officials in early 2018, the state agreed to bump it up to a four-lane project, based on the explosive residential growth coming to southeastern Gaston County and the need to better accommodate traffic flow on N.C. 279.

Local leaders have hailed the four-lane upgrade as a critical necessity. But it also means more land and right of way will be needed to turn the route into a boulevard with a grass or concrete median dividing the opposite lanes of travel, and turn pockets at crossroads and key intersections.

Depending on how close some homes, churches and businesses are to the existing highway, everything from parking lots and yards to structures themselves stand to be substantially affected.

Business in limbo

Brock spent $71,000 in August 2017 on a half-acre of land at 4702 S. New Hope Road, directly across from the Cramerton ABC store. An unoccupied home built in 1946 still sits there today, but the property has been zoned for commercial use for some time. He sees it as an ideal spot to open a second insurance office.

Brock knew the road was going to be widened when he bought the property, but he thought only a center turn lane would be added. The parcel already isn't very wide or deep, and he suspects the additional acreage the state will need for a boulevard with a median and roadside easement will severely limit his own options.

Nothing he's heard in the past year has made him feel any better about that.

"I'm probably about 50 feet from the road right now, and that's not much space," he said, adding the front yard is where he had planned to build a parking lot. "I've already had architectural plans drawn up for what I want to do there, but I've had to place everything on hold."

Brock worries that the need to relocate power and gas lines running down his side of the road could lead the state to pursue a "total take" of his building, and he isn't sure he would really get fair market value from the state buying the property.

"In my position and with all the other folks down there, every foot counts," he said. "Because we're not all that far from the road."

You can reach Michael Barrett at 704-869-1826 or on Twitter @GazetteMike.

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