The Road Ahead: Updates to NCDOT’s Plans for the VinFast Facility

Ben Rappaport, Chatham News + Record

Original plans from the N.C. Dept. of Transportation for the VinFast’s facility in Moncure showed the roads leading to the new electric vehicle plant utilizing eminent domain to take 27 homes, five businesses and Merry Oaks Baptist Church.

NCDOT has made some adjustments to those plans in the wake of public comments.

VinFast, the Vietnamese electric car manufacturer, has promised to invest $4 billion and bring 7,500 jobs to Chatham County over the next decade in the second-largest economic development project in state history — surpassed only by Wolfspeed, which will build near Siler City. VinFast is planning a 1,765-acre facility in nearby Moncure at the Triangle Innovation Point (TIP) site.

NCDOT heard public comments from more than 250 Chatham residents during meetings in August. Many had concerns about the way the VinFast roadway plans would disrupt their personal property and impact community spaces, like Merry Oaks Baptist Church.

(See story, photos from Merry Oaks in last week’s edition of the News + Record.)

The News + Record provided questions to NCDOT regarding updates to these roadway plans since the original maps were shown to the public over the summer. Jamie Kritzer, assistant director of communications for NCDOT, said the department continues to address and will update the designs before finalizing them in Jan. 2023.

Kritzer said construction on the first phase of the roadway is planned for spring 2023. The second phase of construction cannot begin until VinFast meets its jobs target — 3,875 jobs — to the county, which would trigger the release of funding for further construction.

Site preparations on the VinFast site are now more than a third completed on its land at the TIP site. The plant is set to roll out EVs in the summer of 2024.

Areas on the original maps, like Merry Oaks, currently have orange and white flags, and orange and red spray paint placed outside along the sites of the future roadway. According to NCDOT officials, the flags and markings are for locating utilities — with orange paint being communications and red paint being power.

This indicates that plans for roadway construction are underway before final designs are shared. Here’s more from the News + Record’s conversation with Kritzer; responses have been slightly edited for clarity and brevity:

Members of Merry Oaks Baptist Church and nearby residents say there are alternatives to route roadways to the Moncure Megasite. Is this something you all have looked into? Why is it that this specific section of roadway near the church and these homes in Moncure/New Hill must be taken?

A new interchange is proposed at New Elam Church Road with U.S. 1 in addition to the proposed modifications to the existing Pea Ridge Road interchange with U.S. 1 at Exit 81. Two access points from U.S. 1 into the VinFast development are needed to adequately accommodate future traffic volumes.

In consideration of public comments and further evaluation of future traffic volumes, closure of the U.S. 1 interchange with Old U.S. 1 at Exit 84 is no longer proposed. It will be modified to reduce impacts to the area. However, direct access to the VinFast development is not provided by Exit 84. The road to the VinFast site from U.S. 1 would need to be grade-separated over the railroad tracks to improve traffic operations and safety. U.S. 1 and Old U.S. 1 in this location (Exit 84) are too close together to be able to provide a grade separation (bridge) over the railroad to go into the VinFast site.

The existing interchange at Exit 84 is insufficient to carry the traffic that is anticipated for the new VinFast development, and the location of that interchange prohibits bridging over the railroad to provide direct access into the VinFast site. Therefore, the interchanges proposed at realigned New Elam Church Road and realigned Pea Ridge Road are needed to adequately accommodate future traffic volumes.

Multiple concepts were considered for the transportation improvements needed for the VinFast site. Concepts that met the project requirements and design criteria were carried forward for additional consideration. They are documented in the environmental supporting documentation for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Public Notice for the project. After further refinement, one concept which included the alignments that minimized impacts as compared with the other concepts was carried forward for detailed study and its preliminary design was illustrated at the August 2022 public meetings.

None of the design concepts were able to avoid the relocation of Merry Oaks Baptist Church due to the location of the planned employment center (Triangle Innovation Point and the VinFast development), access needed from U.S. 1, future traffic volumes, and the location of Merry Oaks Baptist Church.

A link to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ public notice is included on the project webpage and is listed below. The comment period runs until Jan. 5, 2023 and can be made through https://publicinput.com/Chatham-TIP-Road-Improvements.

Note: The public notice from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also indicated VinFast is seeking authorization to permanently discharge, dredge or fill material into a total of 3,688 linear feet of stream channel, 22.789 acres of wetlands and one acre of open water impoundments associated with developing an electric vehicle manufacturing complex in Moncure. Streams and wetlands impacted are part of Shaddox Creek in the Haw River watershed.

What will further community engagement plans look like between NCDOT and the impacted residents?

Coordination is ongoing with residents and business owners to address calls, emails and meeting requests. Also, there is an active public notice from the U.S. Army Corps (as noted previously) to solicit input and comments. Individual meetings will be scheduled with property owners with parcels that involve a temporary or permanent right-of-way acquisition or easements.

Is Merry Oaks Baptist Church still set to be taken? If so, what is the timeline for that process, and what would it look like for those church members?

The property owned by Merry Oaks Baptist Church will be needed to build the roadway project. Currently, the right-of-way acquisition process is anticipated to begin in January 2023 and property owners impacted by Phase 1 will be contacted early next year.

A right-of-way process brochure is included on the project’s webpage, which summarizes the appraisal process, written offer to purchase, and other details: https://connect.ncdot.gov/business/ROW/ROWManualsandPublications/Right-of-Way-Brochure-Single%20Page%20layout.pdf.

The NCDOT-Division 8 Right of Way Office can be reached at 910-621-6100 if you have any questions concerning the right-of-way process or the details in the brochure.

 

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