Neighbours' drastic action to stop cars using street as shortcut
A neighbourhood frustrated with the high amount of traffic flowing through their streets has come together to take matters into their own hands.
Thousands of shrewd tourists heading to the local beach in North Carolina’s Topsail Island realised they could save a bit of time if they ventured through the once quiet neighbourhood of Cedar Landing on their way to the next highway.
But the 225 residents who live in the coastal neighbourhood decided to put a stop to it and introduce a $5 toll charge for anyone who wanted to use the privately maintained road.
John Conerly who works with the neighbourhood road maintenance organisation said “if you wanna use this road, you can pay $5 or turn around and go the other way”.
Cedar Avenue is one of the only routes to Surf City that bypasses a major highway, making it a popular shortcut for beachgoers.
“We are going to have security all weekend and three checkpoints,” Mr Conerly added.
“Last Memorial Day weekend, there were 4,100 cars through here so with that, property owners called an emergency meeting.”
While a sign on the road suggests it is private, the road is actually maintained by a neighbourhood road maintenance organisation – meaning their $5 road toll is perfectly legal.
“There are no laws that we know of that prohibit an owner of private property from charging for the use of that property,” Pender County Sheriff’s Office Captain James Rowell told WECT News.
The sheriff’s office said it will respond if there is any unrest but said police would not be providing any extra security.
