Northern Connector worries mount

Owners of motels along U.S. 301 are concerned that the new Northern Connector project will hurt business by siphoning traffic off the highway.

Other business owners, however, envision the $31.9 million connector project as a boon for commercial development in the areas where the connector will feed out onto U.S. 301 along Fenner Road.

Officials have said that one of the main reasons for building the new four-lane divided highway linking U.S. 301 to Hunter Hill Road is to relieve traffic on U.S. 301 south of N.C. Wesleyan College.

But some business owners who count on traffic volume along U.S. 301 think the road project is a waste of tax money.

Kokila Patel and her husband own North Gate Suites and Exxon Price Down Food Mart convenience store, which are located about a mile south on U.S. 301 from the proposed connector’s northern entrance.

She said she does not want the connector built.

“Nobody is going to listen to us,” Patel said. “We are small people. Rocky Mount is ruled by some few, very rich people. You cannot talk against them, or they will ruin you.”

Patel said she realizes that there is nothing she can do to halt the connector project, especially since land is being cleared to make way for the new highway.

“Whatever they do is in store for me. It’s my destiny,” she said.

But Patel said she can’t understand why officials feel a need to reduce traffic on U.S. 301.

“Already, this section is not busy,” she said.

Her concerns are mirrored by Henant Patel, the manager of the Sunshine Inn on U.S. 301. He is not a related to Kokila Patel, but shares her concerns about the connector project.

That motel is located a couple of miles south of the connector’s proposed northern entrance.

“Since the economy is down, there is no traffic (on U.S. 301) at all now,” he said. “That (connector) is even going to make it worse.”

Rocky Mount Mayor David Combs said the connector should not hurt businesses along U.S. 301. He said hotels usually are destinations where people book rooms in advance.

Combs, a real estate broker, is an owner of seven acres of property on the east side of U.S. 301 near the connector’s northern entrance.

Combs said he invested in the property in 2002 when he was not mayor. He also said the Northern Connector project was not a factor in the investment, pointing out that in 2002 there were questions about its final route and whether the state would actually fund the project.

“We (the land investors) felt like growth would go north on U.S. 301 and spread out away from the mall area,” he said. “We really didn’t know anything about the Northern Connector at that time, other than it’s probably something on the city’s radar at some point in time.”

Now that the connector is being built, it should help spur business development along its path, including the area along U.S. 301 south of the college, Combs said.

“I think it will help open things up,” he said.

That’s how Lance Cherry sees it, as well. The owner of Twin County Motorsports of Rocky Mount, which is located only a few blocks south of the connector’s proposed northern entrance, said the highway is going to be a positive for businesses on U.S. 301, like his in the immediate vicinity of the connector.

“The only people using this loop (connector) are going to be local people, I think,” Cherry said. “All it is going to do for us is put more traffic coming right out here (onto U.S. 301), and that is probably going to lead to more development on this side of Rocky Mount. That’s the way I see it. It can only be good for us in the future.”

Sam Shehadeh’s convenience store, the Tar Heel Mart at 2320 N. Wesleyan Blvd., is a few miles south of the Northern Connector’s entrance on U.S. 301. He doesn’t envision the new highway hurting his business.

He said a lot of his customers come from businesses in the area.

“Most of the industry and workers are on this side (of Rocky Mount),” Shehadeh said. “We get customers from from Consolidated Diesel Co. and Hospira. They’ll come down (to the store) anyway. Probably some of them will use the connector, but not a majority.”