Some supporters of the Northern Beltway will meet Thursday with state highway officials and legislators in hopes of encouraging them to move forward with the project.
They know that a lawsuit and the state's money crunch are just two obstacles, but A.C. Reynolds, one of the organizers, said that people in the path of the road have had their lives and properties on hold.
"We want to try to let the elected officials know that we have been in this thing too long, and we need something done, and we need it without hesitation," Reynolds said.
Reynolds' group, Northern Beltway Now, will meet with the highway officials and legislators at 6:30 p.m. in the fellowship hall at Vienna Baptist Church, 5729 Yadkinville Road.
The beltway has been in planning for a number of decades, but lawsuits and cash-strapped state finances have stalled its progress. In 1999, two groups opposed to the project -- the N.C. Alliance for Transportation Reform and Friends of Forsyth -- filed a lawsuit that stopped work on the western leg of the beltway days before it was to begin. The groups said that state and federal transportation officials failed to follow environmental and other guidelines.
The lawsuit was dismissed after highway officials agreed to do new environmental studies, studies that now include both the western and eastern legs of the beltway. The eastern leg, which will be part of the future Interstate 74, is now the higher-priority section of the road.
Beltway opponents filed a second lawsuit in 2008, when the new studies were complete. Opponents said that highway officials again had failed to follow guidelines, and that the study did not include how the road might affect the climate.
The state can't proceed with acquiring right of way until the lawsuit is settled. That means property owners such as Reynolds are stuck.
The delays in the project are sending the cost far higher. In 1999, it was estimated that the cost of the entire 34-mile beltway would be $1 billion. Today, the eastern leg alone is estimated at $869 million, said Pat Ivey, a division engineer for the N.C. Department of Transportation whose territory includes Forsyth County.
Ivey said that even if the lawsuit and money problems didn't exist, the beltway would be stalled. The state, he said, is working on a method of prioritizing loop roads so that the ones most needed get done first. That plan is to be completed this summer, he said.
Ivey said that even though he doesn't doubt that the Winston-Salem loop will rank near the top, the state can't buy land for the road until the legal hurdles are cleared.
"We don't want to spend any more money until we know that we can proceed with the project," he said. "If we were not to prevail (in the lawsuit) we would have to ask some serious questions."
As for the lawsuit, motions were submitted last summer by both sides asking the court to render a decision without going to trial. Attorneys will have a conference this week with a U.S. District Court judge to discuss the case.
State Sen. Pete Brunstetter, R-Forsyth, said that having the beltway in a state of limbo means "the worst of both worlds."
"When we had the money, we didn't have the priority," Brunstetter said. "Now we don't have the money or the priority."
wyoung@wsjournal.com
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