From the Charlotte Observer (3/23/11): Emails and documents suggest the N.C. Turnpike Authority didn't give the federal government a true accounting of how a proposed $800 million toll road in Union County would affect the environment, which may have made it easier for the highway to get approvals necessary for construction.
Before highways are built, the federal government requires environmental impact projections. Those are compared to a forecast of what would happen if the road weren’t built – how many houses would be built anyway, for example.
But when conducting its “no build” study, the authority used data that assumed the Monroe Connector/Bypass highway was already in place, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center in Chapel Hill. The group has filed a lawsuit to stop construction, scheduled to begin this year.
That means the Turnpike Authority didn’t do a true “build vs. no build” study – comparing instead building the road to building the road, the lawsuit argues.
“That’s cooking the books,” said transportation consultant David Hartgen, professor emeritus at UNC Charlotte, who is not connected to the lawsuit.