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The half-acre lot where Jan Romans Realty once stood for many moons at 909 U.S. 64 W. in Murphy is empty today, the building taken to the ground. Four years ago, the lot sold for $254,000, according to the Cherokee County Register of Deeds office, but despite having no improvements the lot recently sold again, this time for a considerably higher price tag of $400,000.
The buyer? The N.C. Department of Transportation. And why would that agency need it? In order to construct a roundabout at the non-existent intersection of Marks Drive.
That might have struck you as odd because that same DOT held a meeting after the Cherokee Scout’s press time Tuesday at Tri-County Community College in Peachtree to let the public learn more about the “proposed project to improve safety and traffic flow along U.S. 64 West.” On Oct. 2, Cherokee County Commissioner Ben Adams pleaded with the public to come to the meeting and let their voice be heard, calling it “our last chance” to prevent the roundabout, which opponents say is unnecessary and a waste of taxpayer money.
However, what was the point of the DOT holding a meeting to give members of the community a chance to express themselves when officials had already made a final decision, as evidenced by the expensive lot purchase?
This shouldn’t be a surprise to Scout readers. A March 23 meeting on the DOT roundabout in downtown Murphy turned out to be just for informational purposes, and didn’t really give the public a chance to have input into the project. There’s nothing local residents like less than being told about major changes after they have already been decided.
Six months later, in another front-page report on Sept. 13, the Scout reported DOT spokesman David Uchiyama as saying the delay of the U.S. 64 roundabout was only for administrative reasons and not affected by public outcry. He said the roundabout was removed from the current project so construction contractors could finish the original paving job and insurance paperwork.
Re-read the part in italics. If public outcry wasn’t enough to get DOT officials to change their minds then, why should local residents feel like anything will be different today, regardless of how things went in last night’s meeting?
Here’s a little history. According to a memo from DOT division engineer Wanda Payne, the original U.S. 64 project – which did not have a roundabout – was coordinated with Cherokee County and funded in 2015. Following a public hearing in 2016, the project would create four wide traffic lanes and a fifth center turn lane on a 1.2-mile stretch of U.S. 64 with a speed limit of 40-50 mph.
At that time, it did seem like the public influenced the DOT into getting rid of a hard median on U.S. 64 West, with limited turning lanes. That idea was so unpopular at least one business threatened to leave town the moment construction started if officials didn’t remove the hard median in favor of a center turning lane.
In 2017, commissioners requested a connector road be added from U.S. 64 West across from Marks Drive to Old Ranger Road with a traffic signal. The new intersection would serve an Emergency Medical Services station that was being planned. Smith Hollow would be combined with Marks Drive into a single street at the new intersection.
Naturally, after all of this planning the EMS station was moved to Peachtree Street, and the traffic signal at the new intersection was canceled. And despite that connector road being built months ago, it remains closed to drivers, who could use it most during construction.
If residents want to continue fighting the U.S. 64 West roundabout, submit comments to the DOT before Tuesday, Oct. 24, at 984-205-6615 (enter project code 4198 to leave a message), by email to us74roundabout-murphy@publicinput.com or through ncdot.gov.
While a roundabout in downtown Murphy can be justified, I can’t imagine the highway engineers who designed roundabouts had a non-intersection like Marks Drive in mind for them.
David Brown is publisher of the Cherokee Scout. You can reach him by phone, 837-5122; email, dbrown@cherokeescout.com; or on X @daviddBstroh.