Northern Beltway is long way off

Eastern leg is at bottom of DOT's 10-year list of projects

(By Wesley Young, Winston-Salem Journal) - Dead last.

That's where the eastern leg of Winston-Salem's proposed Northern Beltway ranks on the N.C. Department of Transportation's draft list of urban-loop construction projects.

Even the western leg of the beltway -- one that local officials no longer see as the top priority -- ranks higher than the eastern leg but is still not among the projects that state highway officials plan to recommend building over the next 10 years.

"We have to look at the state as a whole," said Greer Beaty, the director of communications for the state transportation department. "We developed the process with input from areas all across the state. No community was singled out. We have to look at a formula that is fair to everybody."

The draft list will undergo a year of public comment and

review, Beaty said. The priority list won't be adopted until summer 2011, and changes are still possible.

"This is the starting point," Beaty said.