Overview

The Garden Parkway is supposed to be an east-west connector between I-485 at the Charlotte-Douglas Airport and I-85 west of Gastonia that relieves congestion. People started calling the Garden Parkway the “Toll Road to No Where” when they found out that the money would run out at US 321 just south of Gastonia’s historic Brookwood and York Chester neighborhood.

After citizens started asking questions, the Authority did a maneuver and promised to build the toll road all the way from I-485 in Mecklenburg County through south Gaston County and on to I-85. But the part from US 321 south of Gastonia to I-85 would just be a two lane road winding past Crowder’s Mountain through western Gaston County.

Land speculators, developers and people who build roads. Some convenience store owners and maybe construction workers. Maybe a few people who are willing to pay to avoid driving on Franklin Boulevard, though that is doubtful. It is hard to see how this toll road will generate jobs or that people in Gaston County will benefit.

The only jobs the toll road might bring is convenience stores, and construction for expensive housing and high end shops. It is possible that office parks might also locate along the toll road. There is no expectation that the toll road will bring any manufacturing, warehouse or industrial jobs. Local economic development officials have warned that the toll road poses the real risk of sucking development away from established retail corridors along I-85 and our downtowns.

Route Information

The four-lane highway starts at I-485 beside Charlotte Douglas Airport, and crosses the Catawba River at Paw Creek and Sadler Roads, passing north of the Allen Steam Plant. The recommended route clips the new Optimist Club fields, then crosses South Point Road between Boat Club and Tucker Roads. The route turns north to impact neighborhoods on Singing Brook/Brook Forest/Forest Lane and Belle Meade. After crossing the South Fork River at Lake Wylie Road and the northern part of the Paradise Point neighborhood, the highway crosses South New Hope Road between Suzanne Drive and Teakwood Road. The route runs parallel to and south of Union New Hope Road before it turns north beside the Coachwood and Greenhaven Lane communities. Funding for the highway at US 321 South runs short, so the route would be a two lane back country road to I-85. That corridor continues north beside Crowder’s Mountain State Park through New Haven Road and Skyland Drive. The highway crosses Franklin Boulevard at Shannon Bradley Road and would connect to I-85 just west of Exit 14, Bessemer City Road. Click here to see a map of the recommended route, with road names and property lines.

The toll road will cross South Point Road around Jim's Bait and Tackle. For years, boaters have stopped at Jim's Bait to get ice, worms and gas before they launch their boats for an afternoon on Lake Wylie. The owner was actively marketing the place so he could retire, until the bull's eye was painted on his roof.

Before it crosses South Point Road, the toll road clips the Optimist Club's Belmont fields. The Optimist Club has stepped up to purchase land and develop fields that provide area kids with the opportunity to learn the lessons of team work, self-discipline and fair play. The fields are spectacular, the work of thousands of hours of volunteers, and get heavy use all year round because there is a shortage of playing fields at the local schools. The Turnpike Authority says the fields won't be affected, but the plans show otherwise.

Moving west, the in-line Toll Road dragway takes out the go 'round Carolina Speedway. This is where you can go to see the kind of driving that early NASCAR was all about - local fellows who build their own cars taking them out for a dirt track spin on sultry summer evenings.

Just south of Forestview High School is Villa Roma. Generations of Gaston County families have gone to the eatery to give momma a break or to grab a bite after a football game. The Toll Road to no where takes out that Gaston County piece of history as well.

The official word is Summer 2011, but funding problems and other significant issues will almost certainly result in delays. That means that for as long as the Toll Road is on the books and not under construction, homeowners on and beside the routes will be in limbo, unable to sell their homes or borrow money against them.

What does it mean that the toll road will end in Gastonia's neighborhoods?

Over 20,000 truck and cars (or maybe 14,400, depending upon which Turnpike Authority numbers you use) will dump on to US 321 South and have to pass through the Brookwood and York Chester neighborhoods to get to I-85. This will be inconvenient, create traffic snarls, and lower neighborhood property values. At some point, US 321 would have to be widened.

Who chose the proposed route?

Engineers in Raleigh working for the North Carolina Turnpike Authority and the Federal Highway Administration.

Money

Estimates keep going up, of course. But figures from 2006 estimated it would cost $765 million to build the Toll Road from I-485 to US 321 South, and another $500 million to build the toll road from from US 321 South past Crowders Mountain to I-85, for a total of $1.2 Billion.

North Carolina taxpayers would pay for most of the road, to the tune of $35 million a year for 40 years. Drivers would have to pay tolls ranging between $2.20 and $4.40 a trip. The tolls and $35 Million a year in North Carolina taxes for forty years will be borrowed, and the North Carolina taxpayer will have to guarantee that the toll income will come in as the Turnpike Authority projects.

Only if the state legislature earmarks the $35 million annual gap funding. Studies show tolls could not cover even the first leg of the project, so in 2008 the North Carolina legislature agreed to subsidize the toll road with $35 million each year for 40 years to pay for the funding gap. Given the economic collapse that means a huge state budget deficit and cuts to public education, now is a particularly bad time to fund the toll road to no where.

If the toll road loses public support, it is entirely possible that given the current financial crisis the General Assembly would even take back the $35 million subsidy it had promised two years ago.

Here is what $35 million could buy us in Gaston County

1. A complete fix of the US 321 – I-85 interchange
2. Replaces the 75 year old US 74 bridge at Catawba river and widens from 4 to 6 lanes
3. Buys back 3 ½ of the state’s school days that were cut
4. Keeps all the assistant principals, social workers, guidance counselors, and media coordinators who are to be cut
5. Hires back teachers and teaching assistants that will be cut

Community Impact

Yes. The route chosen by the Raleigh engineers ignores Belmont’s long standing land development plans and its desire for a route that closely parallels the Allen Steam Plant canal. If built, the highway will separate the Belmont Town center from folks south of the superhighway just as I-85 has separated North Belmont from the town center. That means that folks south of the highway will end up having their own churches, shopping, parks, and other services won’t be integrated into the life of the town of Belmont. Belmont town council has rejected the recommended route on numerous occasions.

Yes. The toll road will pump more cars and semi-trucks through Gastonia’s neighborhoods before they get to I-85. The Toll Road will promote sprawling residential development in southern Gaston County and put additional strain on already overcrowded schools and other city services.

Your Home

The government will have to pay you for the land it physically takes. Disputes often come up over what the land is worth. The government can take your land, pay you what it says the land is worth, and then you would have to litigate to try to get any additional money you think you are entitled to. That can take years. Meanwhile, the government has your land.

Under current law, if the government does not physically take your land, then it does not have to pay you anything, even if your home and land become essentially worthless because of the superhighway next door. Unless you live in a neighborhood meeting certain density requirements, the Authority will not put up any sound barriers.

If the government does not physically take your land, then it does not have to pay you anything. Buyers, of course, will not be interested in purchasing land that might one day be taken for a road or, worse, be next to a road. It could also be difficult to find a bank willing to finance a home equity loan or to refinance property that is in the proposed path.

Developer Information

The North Carolina Turnpike Authority would build the road, if it gets started. The North Carolina Department of Transportation does not have the money to build the road, and there is no reasonable prospect of it getting the money in the next twenty years.

The North Carolina Turnpike Authority is a special agency created by the state legislature to look into building six projects. The Garden Parkway Toll Road to No Where is number four on the list of six. The Turnpike Authority is to use tolls to pay for any project it actually begins to construct. Any road built by the Turnpike Authority must have demonstrated local support and a high probability of starting construction within a reasonable time.

Both the Turnpike Authority and the Department of Transportation are state agencies. The Turnpike Authority has an entirely different board, source of funding and mission from the Department of Transportation. The Department of Transportation may provide some support to the Turnpike Authority regarding the Toll Road to No Where, but that support will be minor because the Department of Transportation has no funding dedicated for the Toll Road.

Environment

Gaston County has the eighth worst ozone air pollution problem in the country and soon have the worst air pollution classification from EPA, “serious non-attainment.” Ozone pollution here is worse than any area on the east coast, including the Atlanta metropolitan region. Cars are the single largest source of the ozone pollution. A road that promotes sprawl in south Gaston County will only put more cars on the road and more ozone in the air, making a bad problem worse.

Ozone pollution is unhealthy for the elderly, children, asthmatics and people who exercise outdoors. Gaston County’s ozone pollution is so bad that requirements to clean up the air will soon make it difficult to attract good manufacturing jobs to the area. The name “Garden Parkway” is false advertising.

Alternatives

Because the toll road will be subsidized by state money and have no positive impact on Gaston County, the cost of constructing the toll road might well be better invested in high occupancy vehicle lanes and alternate commuter travel.

Here is what $35 million could buy us in Gaston County

1. A complete fix of the US 321 – I-85 interchange
2. Replaces the 75 year old US 74 bridge at Catawba river and widens from 4 to 6 lanes
3. Buys back 3 ½ of the state’s school days that were cut
4. Keeps all the assistant principals, social workers, guidance counselors, and media coordinators who are to be cut
5. Hires back teachers and teaching assistants that will be cut

The $35 million annual subsidy from the General Assembly could be spent on express buses, for example, or to support commuter rail from Gastonia through Belmont and on into downtown Charlotte. Commuter lines in the town centers, for example, would be an extraordinary and lasting economic stimulus for folks to gather and shop on their way between Gaston’s towns and on to Charlotte. This would be in keeping better with efforts to jump start downtown activity rather than a pay road promoting suburban sprawl and increased auto emissions that thrust the county ever closer to EPA’s ozone non-attainment standards.