North Carolina Plans Four-Lane Highway in National Forest

Area conservation groups say that conclusion is wrong.

The 10 mile section of the proposed Corridor K highway would run from Stecoah to Robbinsville in Graham County. NCDOT has not yet released specific dates and deadlines for a public comment period on the draft environmental impact study.

The groups say the project is "exorbitantly expensive, would pose a threat to local water quality, wildlife habitat and other natural resources, and would not be the boon to economic development it was conceived to be 40 years ago."

The project is part of a road network planned by the Appalachian Regional Commission in the 1960s to improve the economies of the Appalachian states. In the 40 years since the project was conceived, its critics say the plan is a relic because nearby highways have been improved and the new construction is not needed.

The highway, projected to cost $378 million, would cut a 2,870 foot tunnel under the Snowbird Mountains and require excavation of three million cubic yards of rock.

Road construction is projected by NCDOT to bury about a mile of mountain stream, resulting in increases in siltation and other pollutants in these waters.

Mountain stream on the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina (Photo courtesy U.S. Forest Service)

The conservation groups point to studies conducted by NCDOT that show that for most hours of the day, driving the new road would make no difference in travel times compared to existing routes. Modest improvements would make the existing routes ready to have what the groups call "acceptable levels of traffic" for 20 years.

"The financial cost and environmental impact of this project cannot be justified in light of its meager transportation benefit," said D.J. Gerken, senior attorney in the Asheville, North Carolina office of the Southern Environmental Law Center.

"With a construction cost of more than $38 million per mile, the agency's refusal to consider cost-effective improvements to existing routes instead of this new construction is a major problem we will be calling on them to reconsider," said Gerken.

"Like a lot of the communities in this area, Graham County has adopted economic development plans that focus on increasing heritage tourism, not the kind of heavy industry that looks for a four-lane highway," said Bob Grove, a member of the Western North Carolina Alliance.

Conservation groups have expressed concern over the environmental impacts the project would have on the health of nearby streams as well as wildlife habitat, forests and rare species.

"The Stecoah and Cheoah Bald areas are environmental treasures, and we are deeply concerned about the impact road construction will have on the exceptional mountain streams, wildlife and pristine forest habitat here," said Hugh Irwin, programs director for the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition.

In addition to the road's environmental impacts, the draft study reveals that 35 families would be displaced and others would face a "high probability" that their well water supplies would decrease.

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