The State Department of Transportation along with several Pitt County municipalities held another public meeting Monday evening on the Southwest Bypass project.
The 12.6 mile bypass will take motorists from the west side of Ayden to the west side of Greenville. The four-lane highway has the potential to spur commercial and residential development at five interchanges planned along the route. In April, a public meeting was held for residents to weigh in on the Southwest Bypass Land Use Plan, which guides the design and scale of future development. Senior Planner with Pitt County Planning Department Eric Gooby said more than 350 people responded to the survey and more than 60 people attended the public meeting.
“A lot of the input really focused on wanting to preserve the rural and agricultural nature of the area. So that was a big concern. Then a lot of folks also wanted to make sure that any development that occurred at any of the proposed interchanges along the highway, that that development was managed appropriately and was something that was good for the area.”
The next step in the process is collecting comments on the draft Future Land Use Map, which will be presented at the public meeting at Pitt Community College from 4-7.
“That map was prepared based off the input that we got at that first public meeting. And then we’re also got some draft recommendations that we're going to run through and really just want to get a second take on how the public feels.”
Construction is underway on the Southwest Bypass and is expected to be complete in June 2020. The highway will relieve congestion on Memorial Drive (N.C. 11) and Stantonsburg Road (U.S. 264 Business) and improve travel time along the U.S. 264/N.C. 11 corridor.