NC DOT takes another look at Monroe Bypass environmental data after the 4th Circuit declines to reconsider case

On June 29, 2012 the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Department of Transportation’s petition to reconsider the court’s earlier ruling invalidating the DOT’s environmental study for the Monroe Bypass.  In the earlier opinion, decided May 3, 2012, the Fourth Circuit ruled that the DOT “failed to take the required ‘hard look’ at environmental consequences” of the construction of the Monroe Bypass.  As a result, the DOT’s engineers and consultants are “working hard to gather additional data required to address the concerns of the court, ” according to a July 19, 2012 press release.

Currently the project is on hold, and the DOT has not provided a time frame for resumption of work.  In the meantime, property owners in the path of the project are left wondering about the future of their land.

You can read more about the Monroe Bypass at the DOT/Turnpike Authority project website.