A River Runs Through Raleigh (Again)

"Less than two weeks after workers began clawing away at it, the Milburnie Dam is gone, and the Neuse River is flowing freely through Raleigh for the first time in centuries," reports Richard Stradling.

The dam was built in 1900 for electric power, "creating what was essentially a narrow six-mile-long lake on the east side of Raleigh."

Raleigh-based company Restoration Systems is spending millions to remove the dam and restore the river to its natural state, but the freedom of the Neuse River comes at a cost. "The company will make that back by selling mitigation credits to governments or developers who are required to compensate for destroying streams and wetlands elsewhere," according to Stradling.

"Its largest customer… will likely be the N.C. Department of Transportation, which will in essence pay to restore six miles of the Neuse River to partially make up for the streams and other habitat it will destroy in building N.C. 540 across southern Wake County in the coming years," according to Stradling.