The report revives an issue that town residents thought was dead last year, after the General Assembly decreed that DOT could not build the six-lane toll road along the so-called Red Route through Garner.

It marks an effort by DOT engineers to find their own narrow path between limits imposed by the legislature and by regulatory agencies that insist on alternatives to the wetlands route through southern Wake County. "We're just trying to provide a transportation connection across there," said Terry Gibson, the state highway administrator. "We really want to do it in compliance with state and federal laws."

Mayor Ronnie Williams said town residents shouldn't worry about DOT's renewed discussion of the reviled Red Route. "We just don't want this to alarm our public," Williams said. "It appears they're just trying to satisfy everything so they can move forward."

The wetlands option, known as the Orange Route, has been marked on planning maps since the 1990s as the expected path for TriEx, a toll-road extension of Raleigh's 540 Outer Loop.

But the Orange Route would trample acres of wetlands and streams that provide habitat for an endangered species, the dwarf wedge mussel. Regulatory agencies including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army Corps of Engineers did not rule on the Orange Route, but they directed DOT to compare it with other possible routes that would avoid the wetlands south of Garner.

Law meets alternative

Garner residents were alarmed in 2010 when DOT introduced the Red Route option. It would take TriEx through four town parks and 17 Garner neighborhoods, displacing more than 250 homes and businesses.

In response last spring, the General Assembly decreed that TriEx "shall not be located north of" the Orange Route. The new law effectively halted DOT study of the Red Route. But the Corps of Engineers warned that it might never grant approval for construction on the Orange Route unless DOT provided more information on harms and benefits of each option.

Gibson said DOT has not pursued further study of the Red Route. But last week it sent the Corps and other agencies a 328-page report, called an alternatives analysis, with environmental and other information compiled before the legislature stepped in last spring. The document includes responses to questions raised by regulators last year.

In an interview, Gibson declined to express a preference for either route, saying he would wait for the evaluation of the regulatory agencies. He would not discuss what might happen if regulators favor the Red Route. "We hope they'll come to a conclusion that is constructible and affordable that we can all agree on to be built," Gibson said.

But the new DOT analysis favors the Orange Route, despite its wetlands impact. It says the Red Route through Garner would be too close to Raleigh to draw enough cars from congested roads nearby, and it cites widespread harm to neighborhoods and businesses. "Its significant and disproportionate impacts on the human environment, its limited ability to meet the project's traffic needs ... suggest that the Red Corridor Alternative is not a reasonable project alternative and that it should therefore be eliminated from further consideration," the DOT report says.

A Corps of Engineers spokesman said the agency has not had a chance to evaluate the DOT report. Gibson hopes for a reply by mid-February. Sen. Richard Stevens of Cary, who championed the legislative action last year, could not be reached for comment.

Western Wake progress

TriEx is under construction now in western Wake. It will provide a new option for Research Triangle Park commuters when it opens for traffic later this year between RTP and Holly Springs. Mayor Williams said he hopes to see the next leg completed from Holly Springs to Interstate 40 near Garner, as long as the road doesn't hurt Garner. "We remain committed to making sure the rest of 540 gets built," Williams said. "We know there's been a preferred route for many years, and we think that's still where they should put their efforts."