Ocean Highway Improvements Bring Economic Boost
business, economic boost, elizabeth city, ocean highway, u.s. route 17, waterfront,
U.S. Route 17 has served for decades as a commercial corridor between Elizabeth City and its Virginia neighbors to the north.
What started as a path for pushing barges along the Dismal Swamp Canal had by the 1920s evolved into a two-lane paved highway used by vacation travelers and others with business along the Atlantic Coast.
Now‚ improvements to the old Ocean Highway are helping move northeastern North Carolina into the Hampton Roads-area trade currents‚ and that’s good news for the region’s economy‚ says Rick Watson‚ director of the North Carolina Northeast Partnership.
“ This transportation corridor is going to do nothing but enhance our ability to transact business‚” says Watson‚ whose coalition of private and public institutions represents a 16-county North Carolina region.
“ From an economic development standpoint‚ any improvement in the infrastructure changes things for the better.”
Among other advantages‚ the highway expansion will make it easier for North Carolina businesses to access the deep-water port at Norfolk‚ says Matt Wood‚ chairman of the Albemarle Economic Development Commission.
“ The only other port in this region is Wilmington‚ and Norfolk is much larger‚” Wood says. “With all the international trade and manufacturing going oversees‚ [the ports] were seeing all this movement of products in and out. That bodes well for us.”
Route 17‚ which starts in Fort Myers‚ Fla.‚ is being improved to near-Interstate standards from Myrtle Beach to Norfolk. In January 2003‚ Virginia’s Commonwealth Transportation Board awarded a $41 million contract for the final phase of work‚ focusing on about 18 miles running from the North Carolina state line to U.S. Route 104 near Chesapeake‚ Va. The widening is scheduled to be complete by July 2005‚ according to the Virginia Department of Transportation Web site.
Road crews have already constructed bypasses around several North Carolina cities‚ including a new and more circumspect detour around Elizabeth City‚ further streamlining travel along Route 17. This roadwork – along with improvements to U.S. Route 64‚ Interstate 95 and state Route 168 – is reducing travel time between northeastern North Carolina and Virginia significantly.
The benefits cut both ways‚ with Virginians gaining a straighter shot to North Carolina’s beaches as well as better access to its skilled labor force. About 10‚000 workers from northeastern North Carolina already commute to Virginia to work‚ Watson says.
“ Better infrastructure improves our ability to do business with each other‚ to have travel tourism with each other‚ and for each region or area to be able to enjoy the benefits of each other‚” he adds.
Joint economic development efforts are already seeing results‚ says Ben Berry‚ an Elizabeth City banker who serves on the boards of both the Hampton Roads (Va.) Chamber of Commerce and the North Carolina Northeast Partnership.
“ We’re big on the regionalism concept: two states but one area‚” Berry says. “We all work together for the benefit of the region.”
Among North Carolina companies finding southeastern Virginia a fertile ground for growth is Gateway Bank‚ which Berry started in Elizabeth City in 1998. Half the bank’s 12 branches are in the Tidewater Virginia area and half are in northeastern North Carolina.
The U.S. Census Bureau has indicated at least three North Carolina counties – Pasquotank‚ Currituck and Camden – are likely to be added to the Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News MSA‚ or metropolitan statistical area‚ by 2005. Companies often use MSA designations‚ awarded by the U.S. Census Bureau‚ to identify potential sites for business expansions and relocation throughout the country.
“ The Hampton Roads-area MSA is the third-largest MSA in the southeastern United States‚ after Atlanta and Miami‚” Berry says. “That’s something a lot of people don’t know.”
Watson calls the relationship between the two regions “a win-win for everybody.”
And Wood believes that as more Virginia-based business owners get a look at the Elizabeth City community‚ with its thriving and attractive downtown area and nice neighborhoods‚ business expansions and relocations will be heading this way.
“Anyone who can see you could come down here and live in our nice little community‚ and not have all the traffic hassles you have in Hampton Roads but only be 35 miles away‚ might just as soon locate [their business] down here‚” Wood says.
Story by Renee Elder
Photo by Anthony Boshier
