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A year ago, owners and operators of businesses along U.S. 70 East feared the demise of their establishments if the N.C. Department of Transportation carried out its plan to build a median through the middle of the corridor.

Those fears were not realized, however, as DOT officials announced in a letter last week they were shelving the proposal after further study of crash data.

With information now available to NCDOT, we do not recommend implementation of the concrete median at this time, Neil Lassiter, Division Engineer for the DOTs Division 2 office in Greenville, wrote in a Friday letter to J. Mac Daughety, chairman of the Lenoir County Transportation Committee. However, we do reserve the right to revisit this section of roadway for further safety improvements if the traffic crash rates trend upward in the future.

Officials with the DOT began seeking public comment in February of 2011 on a proposal to install the median between the intersections with N.C. 58 South and U.S. 258 South.

The department used data from a 2007 study, which reviewed five prior years of crash patterns, to show a median with a few openings could lead to a safer corridor than its current design, which consists of five open lanes, including a middle turn lane marked by yellow dashed lines that gives access to the restaurants, shops, gas stations and hotels from anywhere along the highway.

Business and property owners liked the existing design and immediately cried foul last year because they feared a median with only a few openings could hinder drivers access.

The project was expected to cost nearly $1 million; the DOT originally planned to let the contracts in May of 2011 and finish construction by the end of the year.

It didnt happen, though; the Lenoir County Transportation Committee passed a resolution against the project, as well as the board of the Kinston-Lenoir County Chamber of Commerce.

The matter also caused intense debate among the members of the Lenoir County Board of Commissioners and Kinston City Council.

Local Reps. Stephen LaRoque, R-Lenoir, and William Wainwright, D-Craven, introduced a local bill in the General Assembly to get the project stopped. The legislation did not pass before the 2011 session ended, though.

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DOT pulls median project after second review of crash data