Pender Co. association behind private toll announces blockade along unpaved road

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — A controversial toll road, but not the kind you normally think of. Road woes continue for a private road in Pender County.

One neighborhood of more than 70 homeowners saw hundreds of thousands of cars hit their private road last year. This all according to the road maintenance association that is struggling to keep the road safe now.

More than three years and more and more traffic hitting the pavement and  the dirt along Cedar Avenue outside Surf City.

“It will continue to increase there’s no reason for it not too,” says Jeff Conerly with the Cedar Landing-Creek Estates road maintenance association.

The toll roads of last summer proved to only help the association break even. Conerly said he doubts the neighborhood association has the man power anyways to maintain it. He said logistically it may be a struggle to revive the toll for summer 2019.

“It paid for itself but we didn’t make a lot of money out of it,” Conerly said.

Now since Florence, they’re having to add a new bump in the road. This time, it’s a matter of safety according to Conerly.

“We’re going to block it.”

A shoulder gave out along the unpaved portion, it’s narrowed the road. With little funds, there’s little option they have to address the problem.

“We can cut it down to one lane which reduces the risk of someone going over the edge,” Conerly said.

This blockade is coming in mid April. Conerly said it is in preparation of summer traffic. Last year the private road saw 180,000 vehicles according to Conerly. With new technology this year, he’s already seen a spike with no relief in sight.

“We have one of the committee members on the board that had the same reaction when I put them on the table before the board at our last meeting a week or two ago,” Conerly said. “He didn’t believe them either. It’s mind-boggling.”

The state will not take the road. Local DOT officials tell us the developer never built it meeting minimum standards. Conerly says more than a third of neighbors along the road refuse to pay fees to upkeep. He adds that, over the winter, they hired an attorney. Through the consultations, they discovered that the neighborhood could not routinely hold a toll road at the front of the neighborhood.

“This is situation created by statutes, by our legislature and therefore short of a miracle here that’s the only way we’re going to get a solution for the problem,” Conerly said.