[Dryerase] AGR Highway widening

[Shawn G]

This piece is mostly a local concern, but someone may find it interesting

Asheville Global Report (www.agrnews.org)
Citizens voice concerns about widening I-240, I-26

By Melita Kyriakou

Asheville, North Carolina, June 12 (AGR)— Over 300 people filled AB Tech’s 
Laurel Auditorium to capacity on Wednesday, in a community forum held by the 
North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and the local 
Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) regarding the proposed widening of 
Interstate 240 to eight lanes from its current four in West Asheville.

Due to the amount of public outcry over the proposed widening and 
constituents’ anger at lack of citizen input, TAC, composed of elected 
officials from Buncombe County and the city of Fletcher who are responsible 
for local transportation decisions and work closely with the NCDOT, decided 
to hold a special final community input session before TAC’s final decision 
on the proposed I-26/240 widening scheduled for Thursday, June 20 during 
their regular monthly meeting.

The groups and individuals attending the input session spanned the local 
social spectrum and represented a broad range of local interests. Ron 
Inkspan, a member of the I-26 Connector Awareness Group, which has 
successfully brought the project into the public eye over the past few 
years, questioned the accuracy of NCDOT predictions for the necessity of 
eight lanes on 240. He called for updated traffic flow models and a new 
evaluation of safety issues, stating this is “a milestone project whose 
effects will be with us for decades to come.” He also was skeptical of the 
projections used by NCDOT to assess the need for eight lanes, which are 
based on peak hour projections for 2025, arguing that the interstate should 
not just be thought of as a way to move vehicles, and that it should be 
based on the minimum profile of cars, because “if we put all of our eggs 
into widening the highway, we lose alternative transit.” He concluded his 
commentary by stating the highway should not be built “at the expense of our 
air, community, or sustainability.”

Air quality was a concern voiced by many. A Medical Evidence Summary 
presented by a member of the American Lung Association and the Buncombe 
County Medical Society demonstrated the poor state of Western North 
Carolina’s air quality and the disproportionate percentage of childhood 
asthma cases in this region. According to the Summary, Asheville is in the 
middle of a “stagnation zone” where ozone and carbon monoxide emissions from 
cars and power plants stew in our mountain valley contributing to 
environmental and health hazards. One of the leading causes of air pollution 
is car exhaust, which would only increase with the eight-lane proposal. The 
medical spokesperson also criticized NCDOT for fighting for their ability to 
make “big roads,” in effect, for acting the part of the powerful bully who 
only wants “to do things their way.”

This sentiment was echoed by Gloria, a member of previous community planning 
committees who stated “we need roads for Asheville, not Atlanta,” and that 
if you “go to Atlanta, you will see the road to hell is paved.”

The “Haywood Renaissance would be killed by this” proposed eight lane 
project, stated a local merchant who was angered by “so much erroneous proof 
of the need for eight lanes.”

The debate of whether eight lanes would hamper or help the local economy was 
heated. Many concerned citizens stated their belief that eight lanes through 
Asheville would ruin what so many people come here to enjoy: a small 
picturesque city surrounded by greenery. “Overkill” was a word repeatedly 
mentioned by critics of the proposed plan.

Yet not all present at the meeting were critical of the plan. Jerry Behan, 
coordinator of Buncombe’s Emergency Services, stated that “malfunction 
junction” (as the I-40/240/I-26 interchange has come to be known) has been 
“studied [and] planned to death.” His sentiments were echoed by local fire 
chief Steve Elliot who expressed his disinterest in the actual number of 
lanes added to the interstates but wished the project to get under way as 
soon as possible to prevent further problems for emergency vehicles becoming 
stuck in traffic. In fact, most people in favor of NCDOT’s proposal were not 
enthusiastic for eight lanes per se, but were for the expedition of the 
project.

A spokesperson for the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce was one of a very 
few who explicitly supported eight lanes because it would stimulate economic 
activity in the area. This is despite the projection that by 2025, 70 
percent of the vehicles using the Smokey Park Bridge, which is where 240 
crosses the French Broad River, will be transport trucks. Yet Mr. Letovsky 
from the Chamber of Commerce stated that with only six lanes crossing the 
French Broad, approximately 30 to 40,000 vehicles would need to be diverted 
onto other streets to keep traffic from a standstill. He did not state from 
where this fact was gleaned.

The Asheville Board of Realtors expressed their support of the eight-lane 
proposal for purposes of a speedy resolution of the project. The concern 
with the time frame of the project is due to the fact that four of the five 
alternatives proposed by NCDOT involve eight lanes while the fifth involves 
no additional lanes. In effect, while community input into the years-long 
process of designing this huge infrastructure development has repeatedly 
stressed the need for alternatives involving fewer lanes, NCDOT has 
essentially ignored them and now, with no established six-lane proposal, the 
development of a new plan would drag out the process even more. In league 
with the board of realtors, the Asheville Small Business Association called 
for even more than the proposed eight lanes.

While these supporters of NCDOT’s proposal of eight lanes were the minority, 
they wield a tremendous amount of authority and clout in Asheville. With 
humor, righteousness, distress, foresight, and rationality, the vast 
majority of constituents at the community input session stressed their 
belief that eight lanes would destroy West Asheville, not revitalize it. 
Opponents of the eight lane proposal echoed the US Department of Energy’s 
conclusion that because more lanes means more cars, “this ‘solution’...is 
short lived.” Sustainable growth, alternative modes of transportation, 
quality and protection of the environment and residents’ health, affordable 
housing, and safety were issues touched upon by many opponents of NCDOT’s 
plan of eight lanes for I-240. This is why this issue goes far beyond four, 
six, or eight lanes. It is about sustaining and fostering what makes 
Asheville what it is: a beautiful place to visit and live.

While NCDOT plans for increased sprawl, commuting by single-occupancy 
vehicles, and no increase in the use of public transport, others have a 
vision of Asheville as a more livable community with better public 
transportation, bike lanes, and no sprawling box-store developments. Instead 
of eight lanes, some opponents voiced their support of a proposed outer loop 
that would divert traffic from the Smokey Park Bridge and be a safer route 
for the potential transport of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain.

While lanes are an issue, the need for improved interstate signage; 
coordinated traffic lights on surface streets off of the interstates; 
intelligently constructed interchanges; and better exit and entrance ramps 
and lanes are perhaps bigger necessities than more pavement. One speaker, in 
reference to NCDOT, stated that “to someone with a hammer, everything looks 
like a nail.” The opinions and sentiments expressed by the concerned 
citizens of Asheville in opposition to NCDOT’s eight-lane proposal prove 
that they are using every tool at their disposal to assess the traffic 
situation in context and deal with it in the most sustainable, healthy, and 
livable way possible to make Asheville one of the most wonderful small 
cities in America and not just another potential sprawling metropolis.

More information on the I-26 Connector Awareness Group can be found on their 
website: www.i26group.org.



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