Currituck County was presented with two inaugural N.C. Department of Transportation Mobi Awards on Wednesday at a luncheon ceremony on the N.C. State Centennial Campus in Raleigh.
It was one of two winners in the innovation category for its Corolla Village Road Sidewalk Extension project, and was the overall winner in the suburban category for the Greenway Phase III project.
The second winner in the innovation category was the City of Raleigh for its GoRaleigh Bus Station Renovations.
Winners were chosen in five categories including rural, suburban, urban, tourism and innovation. The purpose of the awards is to honor towns, cities, and counties for multimodal projects that have had a transformational impact on and changed the landscape of communities.
“Our transportation system must be designed to meet the complex needs of the rapidly growing population of North Carolina,” said Transportation Secretary Jim Trogdon, who presented the awards along with NCDOT Deputy Secretary for Multimodal Transportation Julie White.
“The North Carolina Department of Transportation is committed to designing and delivering projects communities want, need and will use”, added Trogdon. “NCDOT Mobi Awards celebrate communities that are at the forefront of delivering multimodal projects. We are proud to partner with these communities to deliver these projects.”
The sidewalk extension project, completed in May 2017, was the third phase of improvements to public beach access in Corolla, and it has provided local citizens and visitors a pathway from the sound to the ocean.
“This project is a really exciting one,” said project coordinator Eileen Wirth. “We were able to provide our first American with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible ramp to the beach, which we have not been able to do in Corolla for the past several years.”
The final phase added a concrete sidewalk and a wood and concrete raised walkway that connects the sidewalk directly to the beach. Given its close proximity to tourist attractions, individuals have been afforded easier access to the village’s most popular sites.
In a similar fashion, the purpose of Phase III of the Corolla Greenway was to deliver more public access to the community and to provide a safe place for residents and visitors to travel. It runs along N.C. 12 and was built in locations where individuals previously shared the highway with motor vehicles.
Phase III added a three-mile ADA accessible extension onto the greenway. Since its completion it has provided bikers and pedestrians a safe place to travel, exercise, and in general enjoy the outdoor scenery while moving about the area.
“These communities are not connected with each other, so this section allows these different subsections of the community to come out onto the greenway to create that connection,” stated Wirth.
Both projects received public and private investment. With the increased connection and direct access to the community attractions and destinations provided by these projects, they have positively impacted the tourism industry, local jobs and businesses, and the overall economic development of the community.
Honorable mention honors in the suburban category went to the following:
- City of Winston-Salem (Long Branch Trail)
- Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation (Howard Coble Intermodal Transportation Center)
The Mobi Awards ceremony was hosted by NCDOT in partnership with Women Transportation Seminars, N.C. Go!, and N.C. State University Institute for Transportation Research and Education.