For several months, the City Council of Washington has been considering the merits of a proposal by the North Carolina Department of Transportation to turn 15th Street from Carolina Avenue (17th Street) to U.S. Highway 264 East into a major, big-city thoroughfare with a 17-foot median, limited left turns and five U-turn intersections.

As with any contested issue, misconceptions and misunderstandings have arisen. In such situations, separating fact from fiction can become difficult.

We write, therefore, to clarify eight misconceptions about the DOT’s plan.

Myth No. 1: Traffic accidents will be substantially reduced. In reality, the reduction in accidents estimated by the DOT is only 25 percent — or less than two accidents per month. Considering that the great majority of accidents on 15^th Street are of the fender-bender variety, and none have resulted in fatalities over a five-year period (2011-2016), the cost to North Carolina taxpayers of $20 million is both excessive and unnecessary.

Myth No. 2: No homes or businesses will be lost. The DOT plans to expropriate at least 12 feet of private property on each side of 15th Street. Based on our analysis, 42 homes and businesses will be dramatically affected, meaning they will either be lost completely or not be of any functional use.

Myth No. 3: New businesses could then move onto vacated properties. While this may be true for some properties on the south side of 15th Street, most properties on the north side may no longer be deep enough, once their frontages are reduced, to satisfy city set-back regulations. As a result, those properties would not be suitable for houses or businesses.

Myth No. 4: Property values will not be affected. One business owner on 15th Street reports that the property value of his local company will decrease by as much as 66 percent if the DOT has its way. And we estimate that other homes and businesses will lose between 10 percent and 20 percent of their value. Moreover, a drop in property values means a drop in the city’s property tax base, which translates into less money for city administration and programs. The city is already facing a deficit for 2017-18. We can ill afford a drop in the tax base.

Myth No. 5: There will be no decline in business activity along 15^th Street. If potential customers of a business can access the business only with difficulty, the business will decline. People will simply go where access is more convenient. This will be the situation for businesses on 15th Street, both during construction and afterward. In addition, trucks delivering to businesses along 15th Street will have much greater difficulty in reaching their destinations, as the U-turns accommodate only passenger cars, not large pick-ups or delivery trucks.

Myth No. 6: Drainage of rain and storm water in the 15th Street corridor will improve. As part of its project, the DOT plans to dig up old city drainage pipes and replace them with larger ones. But unless all of the adjacent older pipes are also upgraded at the same time, the result will be increased flooding in that part of town, which already experiences major problems.

Myth No. 7: There will be no negative impact on adjacent neighborhoods. Fifteenth Street is a mixed corridor of businesses and homes. It sits in the middle of densely populated neighborhoods on either side of the road. On the south side, 15^th Street is bounded by a designated historic district. The inevitable result of transforming 15th Street into a highway will be diminishment of the convenience and attractiveness of these neighborhoods. The additional pavement, concrete and limited crossing points would create a barrier between neighborhoods. Cars will drive through the neighborhoods and turn around in people’s driveways in an effort to avoid the complexity of U-turns. Property values will decrease.

Myth No. 8: Having the DOT spend $20 million on 15th Street will be good for the town.

This could not be further from the truth. DOT’s project would disrupt the lives and diminish the investments of many who own homes and businesses on 15th Street and in the adjacent neighborhoods. It would destroy trees and shrubs lining the road. It would detract from the small-town appeal that Washington is working so hard to build on. In short, this proposal is the wrong choice for Washington, and its negative impacts would be felt for at least a generation.

A final vote on the project will be taken by the Council on March 27. We encourage residents to tell the mayor and council to reaffirm their rejection of the DOT’s ill-advised plans for 15^th Street. And then attend the meeting on March 27 at 5:30 p.m. Don’t let the DOT dictate what happens to our roads.

Signed by: Polk Culpepper; John Conway, Conway Development Inc.; Tomp Litchfield, past-president, North Carolina Association of Realtors; Lori Champion-Melton and Wells Armstrong, co-owners, Tayloe’s Hospital Pharmacy; Beth Sloan and Mary Jo Browning, property owners, Speedway Station, 15th Street; Becky Taylor, executive director and owner, Sylvan Learning Center; representing themselves and other concerned citizens and businesses.