07I40opens.pdf

David

T.

Hartgen

Nancy

Roy

The

processes associatedwiththedesign

and

construction of

major

highways can cause divisive controversies with

negativeoutcomes.

These

controversies arise

from

the

an-ticipatedimpacts of

proposed

alternative

highway

locations

beforeactual construction;however,

much

lessattention is

paidtotheeffects,predicted

and

unanticipated,of

new

roads

afterribbonsarecut.

Once

constructiondecisions are

made,

the short time period duringconstruction

and

shortlyafter

the grand

opening

providesa unique

"window

of

opportu-nity"for

communities

totake positive actionstoreapthefull

benefits of the

highway

while reducing its negative effects

(Figure 1).

To

those

communities

willingtoadaptto their changing environment,actiontaken duringthisparticulartime period caneffectively

produce

positivebenefits.

There

is

no

uncer-tainty about

some

ofthe highway's direct effects, such as

redistributionoftrafficvolumes; however,indirectimpacts,

suchas

economic development

alonghighwayinterchanges

willnotbefeltfor

some

time

and

are therefore

amenable

to

change.

David

T.Hartgenisprofessor

and

coordinator_{of'transportation}

smdies at UNC-Charlotte, where he directs the university's

growingInterdisciplinaryTransportation Studiesprogram.

He

isauthor of over

150

publications

and

reportsin allaspectsof

nansportation policy

and

isU.S.editorofthejournal

Transpor-tation.

He

holds degrees in engineering

and

transportation

planning

_from

Duke

University

and

Northwestern University.

Nancy Roy

is a

community

development specialist with the

North

Carolma

Division _of

Community

Assistance,

Fayette-ville,N.C.

She

hassixyears experiencein

community and

re-gionalplanningin North Carolina.

She

holds adegree

from

AustinPeayStateUniversity,

and

ispursuinga graduatedegree

inpublicaffairsatNorth CarolinaStateUniversity.

The

North

Carolina Division of

Community

Assistance,in

cooperation with local governments, other state agencies,

and

the privatesector, has initiated a study ofthe newest portion ofInterstate 40,a four-lanedivided limited-access

roadrunning

from

Raleighto

Wilmington, North

Carolina.

The

goalsofthestudyareto identifythe

major

impacts ofthe

highway

corridor,asconstructed

and

opened;

and

todevelop

actions that

governments

and

the private sectorcantaketo

reduce the highway's negative impacts

and maximize

its

positive ones.

A

Profile

of

the 1-40

Corridor

This 120-mile stretch of Interstate40,

under

discussion

and

planningforalmost twentyyears,

was

finally

opened

to

Figure 1

The "Window

of Opportunity"

after

Highway

Construction

planning

o

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CAROLINA

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fl

trafficin

June

1990 (Figure2). Itrepresents thelast

major

component

ofinterstate

work

to

be done

in

North

Carolina

and

inthe nation. Interstate

40

is

one

ofthe longesthighways

inthecountry,running2,455 miles

from

the

North

Carolina

coasttoBarstow,California.

Interstate40

now

connectstheformerlyisolatedportcity

of

Wilmington

totheinterstatesystem.

The

1-40corridoris

essentiallyrural incharacter, interspersedwithsmalltowns, agricultural

communities and

farmingdistricts.

Income

lev-els

and

general accessibility in the central portion of the corridor are lower,

compared

withthe corridor's ends. Inter-state 40 has increasedbothlocal accessibility

and

regional interconnectedness. 1-40 diverts truck

and

tourist traffic

from

parallel routes, reducingtraffic congestionin nearby communities, but businesses relying

on

the diverted traffic

may

alsobehurt.

However,

reducedairpollution

and

truck

noise, particularly at night, are

some

of the positiveeffects.

Inthefuture,roadsfeeding theinterstate

may

increase in traffic,

and

new

development

sur-rounding the interchangeswill result.

Recrea-tionalbusinessislikelyto benefit,since1-40has theeffectof

opening up

the central coastofthe Carolinas,considerablyreducingthetraveltime

to Carolina beaches

from

the inland cities of

Raleigh

and

the

upper

Piedmont.

The

resulting

increase in thetouristtradewillbring

conges-tion tobeach

and

coastalcommunities.

Beach-front property prices

may

also rise. Business

may

bedivertedfrombeach-relatedcenterssouth ofthis area, particularlythe

Grand

Strand

re-gionof

South

Carolina,

and from

the north,

par-ticularly the

Outer

Banks

of northern

North

Carolina'sseashore

and

southernVirginia.

Es-sentially, the effect ofthe

highway

may

be to

"smooth

out" thebeach-front property

devel-opment

to raise

economic

levels

and

accessibil-ity in the central part of the

North

Carolina

coast, thereby producinga

more

uniform

eco-nomic

basealongthe coastofVirginia

and

the Carolinas.

Militaryaccesswillimprove,benefittingthe

major

military installations at Jacksonville,

Fay-etteville,CherryPoint,

and

Goldsboro.

As

truck

traffic increases, the Port of

Wilmington

may

become more

attractive to

European

tradethan otherports,particularlyforCarolina-produced commodities. Citizens along the corridor will

now

findthemselvesclosertoareaservices,

hos-pitals,

community

colleges,

and

shopping,

ex-pandingthemarketsforthese

and

other

region-ally based activities.

These

residents will also find themselves closer in travel time to

major

metropolitanareas,thus increasing the

attrac-tiveness of those regions for jobs.

Moreover,

the corridor

communities

will

become more

attractiveresidentialsitesfor

peoplepresentlyliving intheurbanareas.

Pre-Study

Phase

In

August

1989, the

North

CarolinaDivision of

Commu-nityAssistance

(NCDCA)

began

tosurveyinterest in con-ducting a study of the Interstate's

economic

impact.

The

effort

was

considered timely since local officials

and

the

media had been

predictingan

"economic

boom"

and

called

theInterstate'scompletion"thesingle

most

importantfactor

to affect

development

in southeastern

NC

for decades."

Despite these claims

and

risingexpectations,

no

objective research to quantify the expected

development had

been conducted.

With

the costofthe 120-milestretchof highway

supportforastudytodeterminepossible

economic

impacts andidentitystrategies touseinthe corridor.

An

importantfactor tobe considered

was

the rural,

pre-dominantlyagriculturalnature ofthe corridor.Excludingthe corridorstartingpointatRaleigh,

and

terminusat

Wilming-ton,only two

communities

out ofthethirtyhave populations over5,000

and

amajorityhavelessthan1,000.

To

initiate this

discussion,

NCDCA

organized akick-offdinnersponsored bya largeutility

company. Over

100 personsrepresenting30

communities

attended the

October

1989 event. Speakers presentedvisionsof

what

the studycouldoffer

and

described

how

it

would be

directed by the

community

and

results-oriented. Subsequently,

many

local

governments

requested

and

received special presentationsto theirgoverningboards. Eventually,38

communities

supportedthestudy

and

agreed

toparticipate in corridor-widestrategic planning.

An

1-40 Steering

Committee

was formed

toguidethisstudy.

While

gathering

community

support

and

involvement,

NCDCA

was

alsodiscussingthestudydesignwiththe

Uni-versityof

North

Carolina at Charlotte. Since local

govern-ment

feescould onlybe expectedtogenerate$25,000against

an estimated totalcostofover$100,000, adraftofthestudy design

was

presentedtopotential fundingsources.

The

cor-porate

and

agency sponsors tookgreatinterest inthestudy

and

made

several suggestionsforrevisionsto thedesign to

ensuretheresults

would

beusablebysmallercommunities.

Funding

Along

with reviewing

and

refiningthestudy design,

fund-raising

became

a

major

focus for the steering committee.

Telephone and

electriccompanies, the

North

CarolinaRural

Economic

Development

Center,

and

the

North

Carolina

Department

ofTransportation

responded

quicklywith

gen-erous

commitments.

The

committee

asked

communities

to contributeatarateofthree centspercapita(with a

minimum

payment

of

$150

and

acap of$3,000),tohelpfundthestudy.

As

the

committee

moved

its meetingplacetoseveralsmall

towns alongthe corridor, the public

became

interested,

and

citizen attendance increased. Positive

media

coverage

re-sultedin

numerous

small,butextremelyimportant

contribu-tions

from

financial institutions, rural electric

membership

co-ops, regional councilsofgovernment, tourismauthorities

and

chambers

of

commerce.

The

challenging taskofraising sufficient fundspresentedan opportunityforsteering

com-mittee

members

representing ten countiesto

work

together

on

acooperativebasis,astheywill haveto

do

to

implement

studyfindings.

The

studyisstructured into

two major

efforts,

one

com-munity-oriented, theother technically-oriented (Figure3).

The

NCDCA,

asthecoordinatingagency,has overall

respon-sibility

and

leads the

community

involvementprocess.

UNC-Charlotte,

under

contractto

NCDCA,

hasprimary

respon-sibility for technical elements of the study

and

provides assistanceto

NCDCA

on

the

community

involvement

por-Figure 3

Proactive

Planning

Schedule

I-4D

Comrrjittee

and

NCDCA

* Kick off

l r-:nmmittw~l

-. pnmiir mtg C

II Mrntegy I

1

Ml=s

i

Minding" Implem

I IJp-ilgn" I

UNC-Chorlbtte

r

Data

IAnoiysis

-T Policy.

Window,Fig.1

Sept Dec Mar Jun Sept Dec Mar June 1989

1990

1991

tion.

The

studyconsisted of

development

of the

corridor-widestrategicplanaddressingissues

common

toall

commu-nitiesaswellasfollow-upprojectstoaddress needs of

indi-vidual communities.

With an approved

study design, the university

began

data collection in

May

1990. Thisallowed

for the steering

committee

to be briefed

on

the strategic

planningprocess

and

todiscussthegeneral

economic

climate

ofthe region.

The

overallgoalofthe technical

work

istoprovidea

sound

basefor

communities

todevelopstrategicplans thatfitwell

with corridor objectives.

A

fundamental

constraint of the technical

work

isthatthetimetoplan,organize,gather

and

analyze data,

make

decisions

and

take action isshort,

two

yearsatmost.Therefore,a great dealofinformationneedsto

be compiled, organized

and

presentedrapidly,so that

devel-opment

and implementation

ofstrategic plans can occur

before negativeimpactsresult Thisconstrains the technical

effortto a seriesofquick

work

sessions, each with

prelimi-nary

and

finalfindings.Preliminaryfindingsare

made

avail-ableinrapid

form

forearlydiscussion,

and

arefollowed

up

laterby

more

detailed technical reports.

Gathering Information

County

and

Town

Statistics

An

extensivedatabase containingabout

400

economicand

demographic

variables describing the region is being pre-pared.Informationconsistsprimarilyofcensus

and

similar items;

community

reports

on

education, health,

and

budgets; transportationstatistics

on

mileage

and

services;labor force

and wages

by

major

SIC

category;

and

populationstatisticsby age

and

ethnicity.

Where

possible, several yearsofdata are

beingcompiled sothattrends

may

be developed.

The

studyis

not waiting for final results of the 1990 census, although thosestatisticsare available

on

apreliminarybasis.Figures4

and

5

show

examples.

A

modern

transportation-oriented geographic

10

CAROLINA

PLANNING

base to store

and

display this information.

TRANS-CAD

provides theability tomix,

match and combine

a varietyofstatisticsspatially

and

providesaunique

envi-ronment

tobetterunderstand

complex

relationships.It

provides afullrange of outputgraphics

and

transporta-tion

modeling

featuresas well.

P"RCAPITA INCOME

Traffic

Data

Working

with statistics provided by the

North

Carolina

De-partment of Transportation, a

complete

trafficpicture for the regionisbeing developed usingthe

TRANSCAD

data base.

Sta-tisticsare available

on

averagedailytraffic

and peak hour

loads,

truck/tractor

movements,

speeds

and

capacities,aswell as plans

for future road improvements. Traffic counts

collected sincethe

opening

of1-40 are being used todevelopestimates ofthe diversion

ef-fect

from major

parallel streets

and

the

in-creasedtraffic

on major

feederfacilities.

Interchange

Growth

Inordertobetterunderstand

how

growth

at

interchanges along 1-40 is likely to develop,

UNC-Charlotteresearchersreviewedpastgrowth

atinterstate intersectionsinrural

North

Caro-lina.

They

visited 103 interchanges

and

identi-fiedtheir

growth

patterns.Relatingthese pat-terns to availability ofinfrastructure, traffic,

zoningpatterns,visibility,sewer

and

water,

and

otherregional

and

site-based parameters,the researchersdeveloped aseriesofsimple

mod-els of interchange growth.

They

then applied these

models

to characteristicsofthe 1-40

inter-changes toestimate

growth

potential.

FIGURE

5.

1990

CENSUS

POPULATION

!

^^Vf

JOHNSTON_f I

/IHARNETT

A_^A]

WAYNEl

BERLANDi lr

|t,UM

sampsonM k,

V |DUPLINll|j§ftft(i

*\

/ 11 'I'SLOWjL j

POPULATION

1 1 - 50,000

1 1 50,000 - 150,000

13

150,000 - 300,000

Hi

300,000 OR MORE

X

iPENDERl

pll^

\|NEW HANOVER1

Business

and

CitizenSurveys

UNC-Charlotte

surveyed a representative

sample

of busi-nessesalongthe 1-40 corridor todeterminetheir characteristics

and

to

gauge

opinion about

improvements

that

communities

should

make

tobenefit

from

1-40.

The

TRANSCAD

datasystem

displaysthegeographicrelationships

between

respondents' opin-ions

and

their"reliance

on

1-40. Similarly, citizens

completed

a shortquestionnairefocusing

on

theiropinionsaboutpotential

local

government

strategies.This data

was

also displayedusing

the

TRANSCAD

system.

As

this information

comes

together,

analysisisbeing prepared

on

a varietyofsubstantive questions.

Analysis

Phase

TrafficForecasts

Using models

thatrelatetraffic topopulation

and

economic

growth

and

activity,analystsare forecastingtraffic

on

each

sec-tionof I-40and

on major

parallel

and

feeder routes.

Adjustments

are being

made

forroute diversions or traffic reductions as a

resultofthe Interstate.

Economic

ActivityatExits

Researchersare analyzingexitcharacteristics

and

traffic fore-caststoestimatethe already increasing

economic

activity ateach

exit

on

1-40.

For

each exit, the

development

potentialfor

new

motels, sit-down

and

fast-food restaurants, gas stations, truck

stops,residentialdevelopment,

and

otherservicesarebeing

shows

therelative twenty-year

development

pres-sureat 1-40interchanges usingtheseprocedures.

Economic

Forecasts

Economic

forecasts,beingprepared witha

loca-tionquotient

economic

forecastingmodel,will

iden-tify those individual counties

which

are likely to

enjoy

employment

growth

asa result of1-40. This growthisbeing

compared

with

growth

ratesof other groups of counties in

North

Carolina

and South

Carolinathathave not

had

recent

major

improve-ments

inaccessibility.

Growth

Points

Using

a

method

known

assuccessive overlays,a

number

of key locations in the corridor arebeing analyzedfortheiroverall

growth

potentialforretail

and

industrialsites.This

method

involves assessing

each pointforincreasesin accessibility,interchange development,traffic,population,

employment, and

spending power.

Portof Wilmington

The

team

is assessing the extent of changes in

tradethroughthePort of

Wilmington

asaresultof

theincreased1-40trade. Accountingforrecent events

inEastern

Europe,

thestudywillalsolookbriefly at theeffectsofincreasedtraffictothePort of

Wilming-ton, particularlythe effects oftruck

and

container

traffic

on

thestreetcirculationsystem ofthecity.

Figure 6

20

Year Development

Pressureat1-40 Exits- 1989TrafficLevels

LJ SingleFamilyHomes

Ed SitDownRestaurants

Gas

B

FastFood

I Motels

apj

CrossRoutes

Community

Participation

Community

involvementis an integral part of the study

and

islargelyresponsibleforitssuccess.

Community

partici-pation inthe study is beingensured through a

number

of mechanisms.

1-40 Steering

Committee

Earlyinthe study,county

and

community

representatives

inthecorridor

were

askedtoparticipateinstudydesign

and

planning

and

tojoina steeringcommittee. This

committee

consistsofelectedofficials,economic development and

chamber

of

commerce

directors, private sectorindividuals,

and

gov-ernment

agencyrepresentativesofthe region.

The

1-40

Steer-ing

Committee meets

periodicallytoreviewstudy progress,

provideguidance,

and

inform thegeneralpublic.

Public

Forums

Sincethe data collectionphase providedabreak overthe

summer

months

of1990, the

committee was

facedwiththe

possibility that the project might lose

momentum.

It

was

decided that this

would

be an excellent time to

encourage

community

input. Publicforums,sponsored bylocal

cham-bers of

commerce, were

scheduled duringJuly

and

August

at

four locations alongthe corridor. Agricultural groups, the general public

and merchants

representinga varietyof

busi-nessinterests

were

invited.

Over 300

persons attended the

forums

and

participatedinastructured

agenda

aimed

at

un-coveringissues as well as prospectivestrategies. Excellent

media

coverage helpedto

keep

the projectbeforethe public

and

to

emphasize

thefactthatthe steering

committee

would

use the

forum

information

when

theirplanning meetings

re-convened

inthefall.

Strategic

Actions

As

the study proceeds, task forces arebeing organizedto

reviewinformationforeach sub-area ofthe entire corridor,

and

torespond tosuggestions concerningstrategies.

These

groupswillfocus

on

sixkeyareas:

Education

Infrastructure

Recreation

and Tourism

Community

Services

Economic

Development

12

CAROLINA

PLANNING

The

strategy

development

process involvesbothplansfor

various sub-areasofthe corridor

and

corridor-wide strate-gies tobe

implemented

bygroups ofcounties

working

to-gether.

There

willbeoverallsteering

committee

reviewofthe separate task force strategy meetings, since

many

issuesare

interrelated.

As

the project enters the policy phase, the study

willproducea

well-documented

corridor

development

plan

forthethirty-fivecommunitiesintheregion.Secondly,through theplanningprocess, participantswilldevelopa historyof

working

together

and

gainunderstandingthat the highway

linkagescanleadtocorridor-wide benefitsforall

communi-tiesinvolved.

Results ofthis studyshould be available in September,

1991.

While

itis

premature

to identify specificactions

appro-priate for avarietyof circumstancesinthe corridor,it

may

be

useful atthispointtolist

someof

theitems beingconsidered. Transporta

don

In lprovenrents

•

Widen

_selected

major

routes that feed_{1-40 tofourlanes.} • Acceleratecompletion_ofan urban loop

around

Wilming-ton.

•

Upgrade unpaved

_roadstopaved road_status.

• Reconfiguretruckrouteaccess through communities.

Interchange

Development

• Providesewer and/or water_{servicestoselected}

interchanges.

• Carefully

zone

thearea

around

each interchange

and

be-tweenan interchange

and

itsnearbytownsfor

appropri-atedevelopment.

•

Encourage

businesses_{tolocate closerto 1-40.}

Signs

and

Advertising

Pass signordinanceslimiting the

number

and

sizeofsigns

visible

from

1-40.Establish corridor standardsforsign

ap-pearance

and

size.

Development

and

Community

Services

Re-signdirectionstohospital

and

community

colleges.

Advertise

community

college

and

trainingservicesinnew

-markets.

Coordinaterealestatelistingsacross the corridor. Establish a corridor association of

chambers

of

com-merce.

Expand

or

merge

schooldistricts.

Advertisethe corridorindistantcities.

• Restructure _the

economic

recruitment _{process to take}

advantage ofthefavorable 1-40business climate.

Develop and

maintaina database ofland parcels for

in-dustryrecruitment purposes.

• _{Assistexisting}businesses to_attract

new

employees.

• Establishacorridor-wideplanning_district.

• Establish corridor-widezoning ordinances

and

_a

coop-erativezoning treatment of grandfatheredparcels.

CooperativeCorridor-

Wide

Strategies

•

Promote complimentary

_{advertisingof}

community

serv-icesacross a

number

oftowns.

• Enact_signing

and

zoningordinances.

• _Establishan 1-40business association.

• _{Preparealong-rangecorridor}

development

_plan.

Summary

Inthe

window

ofopportunity provided bythe

opening

of

a

new

highway, cooperativestrategicplanningisparticularly

charged. Efforts

must

be undertakenrapidly,data collected

and compiled

accurately

and

quickly, decisions

made, and

actions implemented.

Numerous

constraints

and

threats

operate to

undermine

the probable success ofthe effort.

Communities

may

not have available funds.

They

may

not

work

well together.

They

may

view each otherascompetitors

ratherthanascooperators or

may

simply not agree

on what

isbest for the region.

The

narrowness ofthe time

window

increasesthe pressure.

On

theother hand,the benefitsofasuccessfulcooperative

effortaresubstantial.

Communities

thatcan

work

togetherto

findwaystoparticipateindeveloping apositive future areina

betterpositiontoensure thattheirplansucceeds.

The

singular

opportunityto directthe benefitsderived

from

the

accessibil-ity provided by Interstate 40

may

substantially affect the corridorfor

many

yearsto

come.

While

the stakes are high

and

therisksaregreat,thereis

no

better alternativethanto

leverage theopportunities

which

have

been

provided.

Acknowledgements

This materialisbaseduponworksupportedinwholeorinpartby the1-40

SteeringCommittee andnumerous privateand public projectsponsors.

Majorcontributorstothestudy include theNorthCarolinaRuralEconomic DevelopmentCenter, theNorthCarolina DepartmentofTransportation

andtheU.S.Economic DevelopmentAgency.Theprojectismanagedby the

NorthCarolina Division ofCommunityAssistance.Anyopinions,findings,