In light of concerns expressed by Polk County Local Government and local residents over planned improvements to Highway 108, North Carolina Department of Transportation representative Brian Burch has stated that:
· In the coming weeks, the NCDOT project team will review all of the public comments that we have received and develop responses to those comments.
· We will meet with local officials from Town of Tryon, Town of Columbus and Polk County to review the comments and determine next steps.
· If it is determined that improvements can be made to NC 108 that would be supported by the local governments and the public, we will move forward with changing the design.
· Until we have these discussions, I can’t give you a timetable on when we would present a new plan to the commissioners.
· Regardless of the outcome of this project, I assure you that the NCDOT will continue to work in a manner of goodwill with Polk County on any and all transportation issues.
· We fully understand that Polk County is opposed to the plan that was presented at the April workshop.