BRADENTON, Fla. -The North Carolina Department of Transportation won federal approval to resume work on the 20-mile Monroe Bypass project, now estimated to cost as much as $923 million.
The project, held up two years by environmentalists' legal challenges and court-required studies, received a Record of Decision from the Federal Highway Administration Thursday moving the project forward, NCDOT said.
The new, limited-access tolled bypass will run from I-485 in Mecklenburg County southeast of Charlotte to U.S. 74 near Marshville in Union County.
The state issued $233.92 million of revenue bonds in 2010 and $370 million in revenue and grant anticipation revenue vehicle bonds in 2011 to finance most of the project. Tolls did not secure the bonds.
NCDOT will immediately resume purchasing right of way, conducting permitting work, and developing the final design, said Chief Engineer Mike Holder.
"We're pleased that FHWA has allowed us to restart work on this critical project," Holder said. "It will help greatly reduce congestion and provide a strategic connection between eastern Union County and Charlotte, a major economic center."
NCDOT said construction is scheduled to start in late 2014 or early 2015.
A new legal challenge is being considered by the Southern Environmental Law Center and its clients - Clean Air Carolina, the North Carolina Wildlife Federation and the Yadkin Riverkeeper - who filed the federal suit that halted the project for two years.
The organizations "are concerned that crucial information is still being withheld from the public and misrepresented in violation of law," SELC said. "Despite the Department of Transportation's dogged pursuit of this costly toll road, local opposition to the project increased over the past year."
Five municipalities in Union County have passed resolutions opposing the project. They are calling for improvements to an existing route, instead of building a new bypass.
NCDOT selected Monroe Bypass Constructors, a joint venture of United Infrastructure, Boggs Paving, and Anderson Columbia, as the design-build team after a lower court struck down an early challenge by SELC.
That ruling was overturned in May 2012 by an appellate court judge who found that studies for the project were flawed.
After the appellate ruling, the NCDOT suspended work and the Federal Highway Administration withdrew its first approval of the project for additional studies to be done.
In documents filed with the Highway Administration in November, the NCDOT said in order to retain the design-build team and its "favorable bid," the state agreed to pay monthly damage claims during the work stoppage.
Between May 22, 2012 and May 31, 2013, $1.54 million in damages were paid and an additional $69,000 in damages was being process. Proceeds from bonds sold in 2010 and 2011 were used to fund damage payments to the contractor.
Initially, the Monroe Bypass was estimated to cost around $720 million including acquiring right of way, utilities, and environmental mitigation. The new $900 million estimate includes factors such as inflation.
