Washington’s City Council, during its meeting Monday, unanimously rejected the 15^th Street as currently proposed by the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

The council’s decision was met by applause by some audience members, some of which spoke against the project during a meeting last week.

“We sat here last Thursday night and heard some 25 people address this council saying, ‘We’re opposed to this project.’ I have had any number of phone calls and personal contacts over the last two or three weeks about this project, and I have not had a single positive remark. … Based on the comments we heard, I’d like to make a motion that this council go on record as opposing the project in its present form and instruct the manager to convey that opposition to DOT,” Councilman Doug Mercer said.

Mayor pro tempore Virginia Finnerty immediately second the motion. “I agree. We heard the public comment last week,” said Councilman Larry Beeman.

City Manager Bobby Roberson said he would notify DOT about the vote. “From my perspective, I’m going to draft a letter and send it directly to NDCOT and tell them we’re not interested in improvements on 15^th Street. …Trust me, they’re not going to move up — I understand the public comment — when I send that letter, they will move on to another project. They will not be negotiating back and forth once I send that letter,” Roberson said. “I just want to be sure that’s exactly what the council wants. I’ll do what the council directs me to do, but I just want to be sure that’s what you folks want. “

Finnerty said she did not have enough detailed information about the motivation behind the proposed project to support it, saying she has not seen data concerning traffic-related accidents along the proposed project corridor. Council member William Pitt, who is a volunteer with Washington Fire-Rescue-EMS and has responded to traffic accidents in that corridor, said, “That data was provided. The data, to the best of my recollection, that I remember, was 378 traffic crashes on West 15^th Street last year. These crashes were mostly rear-end and sideswipe crashes.” Pitt said 15^th Street is a “deadly street” that needs addressing, “but there must be a better way in order to make this more palatable for our citizens and safer for our drivers.”

In August, the North Carolina Department of Transportation conducted an informational meeting about the project, which called for converting the existing multi-lane road into a four-lane, raised-median divided road. The project was designed to improve overall traffic flow and traffic safety. The project also included median breaks for left turns as traffic volumes warrant. U-turn locations will be provided at several locations.

Some residents and business owners along the project corridor opposed raised medians and other elements of the proposed project. In October, City Manager Bobby Roberson said residents’ concerns have caught the attention of DOT. “They have modified two major components. The first one is the separated median that was in front of the Rich Co. real estate and 15^th (Street) and (U.S.) 17 (business) has been removed. … There’s one thing that was pulled out on 12^th (Street) where it intersects with (U.S.) 264. They had reduced one of the lanes down, and they’ve actually added that back,” Roberson said. “So, they are listening to the public comments about what we need to do on 15^th Street.”

Despite DOT’s modifications to the project, those residents and business owners remained unhappy with the project.

DOT spokesmen have said the project’s goal was to reduce the number of vehicles crashes on 15^th Street. Crashes on the western section of the project corridor occur about three times more frequently than crashes on similar roads in other areas of the state, according to DOT figures.