KANNAPOLIS – Monday, N.C. Department of Transportation officials announced that funding for a new railway overpass in north Kannapolis would be dropped following concerns from city officials and new cost estimates.
The planned bridge would have carried 24th Street over the Southern Railway tracks, connecting it to North Main Street.
In order to build the overpass, the level of the road would have to be raised significantly.
An artist’s rendering of the site presented to the Kannapolis City Council earlier this year showed a sizable hill carrying North Main Street up to the level of the new bridge.
Not only did the design cause concerns, but Legg said business owners along North Main Street told the city that the project would drive them out of business.
Under the state’s plan, as much as four miles of North Main Street would be closed to all but local traffic for as long as a year, Legg said.
The irony, City Manager Mike Legg told the Post, is that the federal stimulus funds being used for the project were meant to create jobs.
For businesses that rely on drive-by traffic, Legg said that long of a detour “would essentially be a closure.”
At Monday’s Kannapolis City Council meeting, members reacted to the state’s announcement by taking issue with language in the press release that, they said, made it sound as if the city had opposed the new bridge.
Reached by phone Friday, Pat Ivey – division engineer for Division 9, which includes Rowan County – said the transportation department didn’t intend to lay the blame on city leaders.
“We know the City Council is supportive of the project,” Ivey said. “They have always been supportive of the project, and that has not changed.”
Ivey also confirmed that there is no way forward for the project in its current form.
According to Legg, the city had requested an “on-site detour” that would still have allowed traffic to reach nearby businesses during construction.
But the costs involved would have been great – “from $300,000 up to $1 million,” Legg said.
Ivey said state’s cost estimate was “nearly a million dollars” for the detour.
“And the way we understood it, by talking with the business owners and the city staff, is that really without this on-site detour the project was not going to be acceptable to the citizens there,” Ivey said.
“After weighing all the different options, we weren’t making anyone happy with this project,” Ivey said. “We felt like this was the best decision.”
Kannapolis and the N.C. Department of Transportation have struggled and compromised over railway crossings in Kannapolis for the better part of two decades.
In 1996, Legg said, the city agreed to close three railroad crossings in south-central Kannapolis in exchange for an overpass.
In addition, Legg said, the state wants to close three more crossings, at 18th, 22nd and 29th streets, although the promised overpass is not going to be built.
“They want to close 29th Street anyway, with or without a bridge,” Legg said.
Legg said the city wants to explore options for improving the at-grade crossings at 18th Street and 22nd Street.
Moreover, Legg said, the city’s real railroad crossing concern is south of downtown.
Rogers Lake Road crosses South Main Street, twin railway tracks and South Ridge Avenue, all within a space of less than 100 yards.
Two stoplights in close proximity at those intersections create a potential safety risk, with traffic sometimes stopped on the railroad tracks in spite of warning signs.
Legg said he hopes the state will eventually build an overpass there. In the meantime, improvements to the intersection are planned.
Ivey said he doesn’t know when any new railway overpasses will be built in Kannapolis.
Rogers Lake Road is on the Cabarrus County side of Kannapolis, in Division 10.
Ivey said he didn’t want to comment at length on a project outside of his division.
But, he said that the project might not be eligible for the current stimulus money – intended to create a dual-track railway between Greensboro and Charlotte – because there are already two tracks there.
Even so, Ivey said, “I can assure you and your readers that the Rogers Lake crossing is one of the highest priorities for the NCDOT Rail Division.”Division 10 Engineer Lewis Mitchell could not immediately be reached for comment.
As for a north Kannapolis overpass, Ivey said the state will start over with a new planning process.
Still, Ivey said, “we really don’t know when that’s going to occur because we wouldn’t be able to fund it.”
Legg said the city will continue to work with state officials on the issue.
“We’ve made it clear to them that we never opposed (the overpass),” Legg said. “All we did was pursue things that made it a better project.”
Contact Hugh Fisher via the editor’s desk at 704-797-4244.