Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
The Environmental News Services has the story.
Corridor K is a long-planned highway dreamed up in the 1960s to open up parts of rural Appalachia for development. Here’s the news release:
ROBBINSVILLE, North Carolina, August 21, 2008 (ENS) – A four-lane highway that would cut through a portion of the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina would have little impact on the ecosystem, according to a new draft environmental impact study by the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
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.
This proposed road way will do nothing but ruin the beautiful Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachian Regional Commission proposed this so called economic improvement in the 60’s and in today’s economic times it is nothing but old school thinking. There are plenty of ways to bring economic prosperity to an area with out spending billions of dollars to rip up our mountains and lay asphalt at the tax payer’s expense. It’s time to stand up to these politicians who are pushing this project and simply say NO!