Editorial: Compromise is needed on local traffic issues (Sylva Herald 12/20/07)

The Sylva Herald Editorial 12/20/07
	Compromise is needed on local traffic issue The debate about what to do about traffic problems on N.C. 107 has gone on far too long. If we’re not careful, we’ll end up like the situation in Buncombe County where disagreement about how many lanes the I-26 connector should have and what type bridge should be built over the French Broad River have pushed construction back years while traffic bottlenecks worsen. The time has come for compromise from all interested parties, including county and town governments, the N.C. Department of Transportation and the Smart Roads Coalition. For starters, DOT should remove the segment of the proposed Southern Loop from N.C. 107 to U.S. 23/441 from any future planning. At the same time, Southern Loop opponents, including the Smart Roads group, should accept that the segment of the proposed highway from 107 to U.S. 23/74 is a viable option that must be considered. The 107-441 segment is not needed since roads such as N.C. 116, North and South River roads and Old Settlement Road provide alternative routes. No such alternate route exists for traffic going from 107 to 23/74. Building only the one segment addresses the Smart Roads argument that the road would hurt downtown Sylva. A plan by DOT Division Engineer Joel Setzer for the new highway to have full access control takes care of the concern that the road would lead to sprawl. We’re not endorsing the connector road yet. Before making a decision, we want to see projected traffic counts to decide if the improvement to traffic congestion on 107 would be worth the millions of dollars needed to build the route. At the same time, we are strong in our belief that the road deserves to be on the table as the discussion moves forward. Also deserving of a fair hearing is a proposal by Sylva Planning Director Jim Aust to build a series of two-lane roads to connect with existing roads as a way of moving some local traffic off 107. We’re concerned that proposal could lead to increased traffic congestion near Smoky Mountain High and Fairview Elementary schools as part of a new network that would run from Hospital Road to Fairview Road. However, that shouldn’t be a deal breaker. One thing we don’t favor is a roundabout at the intersection of N.C. 107 and U.S. 23 Business. It doesn’t appear that even a two-lane roundabout would be enough to handle traffic at that busy intersection and could make a bad situation even worse. A better plan would be to build another lane entering town from 107. County commissioners have shown the willingness to take the lead on other tough issues. Working together with officials from Sylva, Dillsboro, Webster and Forest Hills, as well as the DOT and Smart Roads, we believe commissioners could put us on a course to an acceptable solution. If everyone enters the discussion with an open mind, individuals may not get exactly what they want but we think a workable plan could be agreed upon by 90 percent of county residents. N.C. 107 has been a festering wound for too long, and a Band-Aid approach won’t work. We need bold steps to provide traffic relief for years to come.

Letter to the Editor (Sylva Herald 12/20/07)

Southern Loop should not be built

To the Editor:

I saw the notice of the public information meeting on Jan. 10. Sadly, I will be unable to attend but am sending my views to all parties.

I am against the construction of the Southern Loop as planned by the N.C. Department of Transportation. As a property owner in Webster I will be directly affected by construction of the loop as planned. I joined the previous effort of the Smart Roads group to stop construction of the loop and was hopeful that Jackson County officials would pursue other alternatives to deal with the traffic problems on N.C. 107. No other alternatives have been pursued that I can detect. If the changes discussed to make 107 more pedestrian and bike friendly, slow down traffic but keep it moving through traffic circles or lights that are actually timed, and extend or widen present alternate routes had occurred, we might not be revisiting the Southern Loop construction.

A sidewalk was recently built to connect the Webster sidewalk to the corner of 107 at Ingle’s. It is getting use already, and I plan to use it myself. The traffic circle at the entrance to Western Carolina University works beautifully to keep long lines of traffic moving in and out of campus smoothly at peak hours. There is a growing national movement to build streets that allow pedestrians, bicycles, public transit, and cars to safely share roads. More information on such trends is available online at www.completestreets.org.

As gas prices rise, having this type of access to roads makes communities safer and more desirable as places to live for citizens of all ages.

The Southern Loop caters to big money, big trucks, and ever more cars. I also note it seems to intersect NC 107 where there have been rumors for years of some type of big box store – Super Wal-Mart? Super Ingle’s? Home Depot? A strip mall with Applebee’s or other businesses catering more to WCU students? Who stands to gain the most financially from the construction of this road? Certainly not any of the property owners listed in (the advertisement) in last week’s paper.

NCDOT seems determined to destroy our property, property values, and the rural landscape here. I ask that NCDOT pursue reasonable alternatives to another four-lane. I ask that they respond to citizens rather than ignore us.

Phyllis Jarvinen
Webster

Downtown Sylva group joins opposition to Southern Loop

Downtown Sylva group joins opposition to Southern Loop

The Sylva Herald

December 20, 2007

By Stephanie Salmons and Carey Phillips

The Downtown Sylva Association went on record in opposing the proposed Southern Loop and supporting an alternative supported by the Smart Roads Coalition. That action came during the group’s Dec. 12 meeting.

Smart Roads members Roger Turner and Harold Messer, along with Susan Leveille, the group’s representative on the Jackson County Transportation Task Force – all of whom are against the proposed road – spoke to the DSA board asking the organization to oppose the road based on the effect it could have on downtown.

Initial plans indicate the Southern Loop would run from U.S. 23/441 south of Dillsboro, cross N.C. 107 near Locust Creek and intersect with U.S. 23/74 near Blanton Branch.

The Smart Roads Coalition contends that such a bypass would be detrimental to downtown Sylva.

“You’re surrounded by black top,” Messer said. “What’s going to bring people into Sylva, Dillsboro and Webster when they can drive on around you and go to Asheville, Atlanta or anywhere?”

Messer said the thing that troubles him about the merchants and the economy in Sylva is that “it’s a known fact that people will drive around rather than come into the town.”

Turner said even if people still drive into Sylva, “you still have that terrible intersection.” Turner was referring to the intersection located where N.C. 107 and U.S. 23 Business meet.

“This thing is a glorified nightmare of all the problems it’s going to create trying to save 15 seconds at a red light at Bogart’s,” Messer said.

According to Messer, a two-lane roundabout would help relieve traffic at that intersection.

“They say the roundabout will not work and we cannot afford to disturb the businesses that are there,” Messer said. “The Southern Loop affects 43 business, numerous homes and it doesn’t impact that intersection.

Turner pointed out that roundabouts in Waynesville and Cullowhee work well.

Smart Roads supports a plan developed by Sylva Planning Director Jim Aust that would include a series of two-lane roads connecting with existing roads.

“Aust told me he fixed the roads in his plan where they would have the lowest impact on homes and property,” Messer said. “The DOT doesn’t care about our heritage; they’re interested in building roads.”

Turner encouraged DSA board members to address their concerns to Sylva’s town board and ask Sylva board members to re-examine the issue.

DOT 14th Division Engineer Joel Setzer told the Herald last Thursday that plans are in the works for a feasibility study on N.C. 107.

“People want to know what it would take to fix 107,” Setzer said. “We want people to know what fixing 107 would mean, and right now I don’t know.”

The section of the Southern Loop from 107 to 23/74 is on the current DOT Transportation Improvement Plan with right of way acquisition to start in 2013.

Setzer said he and 14th Division DOT board member Conrad Burrell had always considered that segment of the road the most important. Setzer said he envisions a two-lane road on a four-lane right-of-way with full access control with no driveways.

“The Jackson County Smart Roads group says there would be sprawl,” Setzer said. “When I met with them I told them there would be full access control.”

Unlike the Smart Roads Coalition, Setzer is not sold on the plan proposed by Aust.

“That wouldn’t do anything for the (107-Business 23) intersection,” he said. “It also would dump quite a bit of traffic on Fairview Road in an area that is already congested.”

Setzer said a roundabout at the intersection, which he said is one of the busiest west of Asheville, would not work.

“The biggest problem is the crossover traffic coming down the hill (on Asheville Highway) and traffic trying to get into town (from 107),” he said. “If you didn’t have that, a roundabout might work.”

Setzer said Reuben Moore, DOT division operations engineer, had looked at the intersection and determined that the only option would be a “flyover bridge” carrying traffic from Asheville Highway onto 107.

“That would cause the road to be shut down for about a year,” Setzer said. “I don’t think that would work well.”

The latest available DOT traffic count at the intersection is from 2005 and shows an average of 40,000 vehicles a day. That compares to 4,000 for the roundabout at the main entrance to Western Carolina University and 11,000 for the roundabout at Ratcliffe Cove Road and Business 23 in Waynesville.

Ron Watson, Setzer’s predecessor as division engineer, told the Herald in 2003 that DOT guidelines showed a two-lane roundabout could handle 25,000-30,000 vehicles per day.

Moore said last Thursday that DOT was now “more sophisticated” in how it determines the traffic a roundabout can handle, and considers the count on a case-by-case basis depending on how much traffic uses each round entering an intersection. He said a roundabout has not been totally ruled out.

Moore said since there are two left turns, those vehicles would have to travel three-fourths of the way around the circle, which would reduce the capacity of a roundabout at that location. He said at best the traffic count would likely be at or near the upper limit for what a two-lane roundabout could handle.

Moore said the only two-lane roundabout he is aware of in North Carolina is near Salem College in Winston-Salem. Even it does not have two lanes all the way through the roundabout, he said.

When asked about the possibility of adding another lane coming into town from 107 to relieve congestion, Setzer said that might work now, but it would not be able to handle the projected increase in traffic.

DOT's Conrad Burrell and Joel Setzer ignore public; moving forward with plan to build Southern Loop against public outcry and towns' wishes

Burrell, Setzer plug plan for Southern Loop
Smoky Mountain News
November 28, 2007
By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Members of Jackson County Smart Roads Alliance are sifting through
paperwork at the North Carolina Department of Transportation Division
14 office in Webster to find out how the Southern Loop road project
suddenly appeared on the state priority list.

The group filed a public records request earlier this month to see all
the documentation involving the Southern Loop, a four-lane bypass that
would run through Jackson County from U.S. 441 to U.S. 23-74 near
Scotts Creek.

But members are going to have trouble finding the sheet of paper that
many consider the smoking gun.

"There is nothing in here about how the project got on the TIP
(Transportation Improvement Program) list," Joel Setzer, division 14
chief engineer, said about the project's documentation. "I know how it
got on the TIP — at the request of me and Conrad Burrell, Division 14
representative on the state Board of Transportation."

Both men requested that the project be included in the TIP so that
funding could be allocated to begin planning stages, said Setzer.

"Time was passing without any plan to address growth in Jackson
County," he said.

Since the road's proposal, Smart Road members have been questioning why
the project was even proposed.

The Southern Loop has received much opposition by Jackson County
residents and county commissioners have gone on the record saying a
comprehensive transportation plan should be done that outlines
alternatives to the road.

Even though the Smart Roads group now knows who requested the project
be included on the TIP, it still wants more questions answered.

"The question still to be answered is why should it be built," said DJ
Gerkin, an attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center in
Asheville that is aiding the Smart Roads group.

"Either DOT decided its own reason, or were they persuaded by someone,"
he said.

"There are road projects all over Western North Carolina that are not
being funded. If DOT puts this on their own agenda, that also tells us
something," said Gerkin.