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Pitt to reap rewards from 64 Bypass opening
By T. Scott Batchelor, The Daily Reflector
Thursday, July 07, 2005
The ribbon cutting Friday to open the new U.S. 64 Bypass around Knightdale bodes well for Greenville and Pitt County's business and leisure travelers, local officials said.
The $175 million freeway is slated to cut 10-15 minutes off the trip from Greenville to Raleigh along U.S. 264 and U.S. 64.
"It ought to be good for us," said Marvin Blunt III, a Greenville resident and local representative on the State Board of Transportation."Somebody asks me every day, 'When's this thing going to open?'"
John Chaffered, executive director of the Pit County Development Commission, said the route would "definitely" have an impact on the community, providing a 70 mph city-to-city conduit.
"A large part of what we're selling is that we're much like the Triangle – similar assets, but certainly not to the level that they have or the numbers," Chaffee said. "We're playing off our proximity to the Triangle."
Cutting the roughly 80-minute drive time by 10 or 15 minutes "improves the opportunity for collaboration" among entities such as East Carolina University, N.C. State and UNC-Chapel Hill, Chaffee said.
In addition, the Raleigh area brings "certain amenities that we aren't large enough to be able to have," such as an international airport and large museums, he said.
Greenville and Pitt County become more attractive to "companies that may be based in the Triangle that may be looking for branch locations,"Chaffee said. "It really puts us in a much better position to be able to compete for those projects than even we had in the past."
Debbie Vargas, executive director of the Greenville-Pitt County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the shortened drive will make the city "more attractive as a convention destination."
"Anytime we can shrink 15 minutes off of somebody's ride, it will make us more attractive as a destination for conventions," she said.
It also makes the drive to the beach shorter, she said, "and typically a lot of those people will stop through (in Greenville)" for restaurants, gas and shopping.
Austin Bunch, ECU's chief of staff, makes frequent trips to Raleigh to represent the university to state officials.
He summed up the opening of the Knightdale bypass in one word: "Hallelujah."
"It's just going to be a great time-saver in terms of having to deal with unknowns of Knightdale traffic," he said. Oftentimes, depending on the time of day, traffic would bottleneck near Knightdale.
"It means a trip to Raleigh is nowhere near the hassle it is now," Bunch said.
Greenville resident Shirley Cox had much the same reaction while she pumped gas on Stantonsburg Road, part of which is also U.S. 264.
"Praise the Lord," said Cox, adding that she travels to Raleigh with some frequency. "I always get stuck right there (in Knightdale)."
On a recent trip, the drive from Greenville to Raleigh took almost two hours because of the congestion, she said.
With the bypass opening, "I'm going to have to do a road trip," Cox said.
T. Scott Batchelor can be
contacted at sbatchelor@
coxnews.com and 329-9567. |
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