Proposal to raise height of Hwy 150 bridge could generate millions

More than 520 miles of shoreline are along Lake Norman, but Boots Beasley, a local cruise ship captain, said more than 100 miles of it isn't really explored.

He took a Channel 9 out on the water from Queen's Landing in the Lady of the Lake cruise ship. When he reached the bridge along Highway 150, he had to stop and turn the boat around.

"The clearance on the 150 bridge is approximately 20 feet and this boat is right at 60 feet tall and the Queen is 42 feet," Beasley said.

Raising the height of this bridge is a proposal Stan Thompson introduced. He's on the Transportation, Infrastructure, and Air Quality Committee with the Mooresville South Iredell Chamber of Commerce.

Thompson said NCDOT plans to widen Highway 150 in the next five years and he wants crews to reconstruct the bridge about 40 feet higher than it is right now so workboats, fire boats and cruise vessels can freely pass through.

"A lake that has cruise vessels plying on it is simply more important than a lake that doesn't," Thompson said.

Thompson wants to see a concept he calls "One lake, One day," 100-mile round-trip cruises that span Lake Norman from Exit 33 in Mooresville to Interstate 40 in Catawba. He said more access to the lake will generate millions in tax revenue by attracting more tourists and business and by increasing property values.

Beasley agrees.

"It was be a tremendous economic boom to the area," the captain said.

Thompson has already presented the plan to the Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization. It's now set to be discussed during a NCDOT public hearing about the Highway 150 widening project in october. The Mooresville South Iredell Developer's Council also supports the proposal and asked the NCDOT to get UNC Charlotte and Appalachian State to study the economic impact of the proposal.

To learn more about the proposal click here: https://www.facebook.com/onelakeoneday

WSOC