The Sylva Herald
January 17, 2008
By Stephanie Salmons
An event last Thursday (Jan. 10) hosted by the Smart Roads Coalition
sought to inform local citizens of alternatives to the proposed
Southern Loop.
Initial plans indicated 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, but right-of-way acquisition funding in
the Department of Transportation's Transportation Improvement Plan is
only for the 107-23/74 connector.
Independent traffic engineer Walter Kulash of Orlando-based Glatting
Jackson Inc. was on hand to discuss one possible alternative – a
network of smaller connecting roads that's based on a similar plan
proposed in 2003 by Sylva Planning Director Jim Aust.
While Kulash's talk was short on specifics, the map Aust drew four
years ago included construction of 6.5 miles of new two-lane roads and
improving 3.8 miles of existing roads.
By building a 1-mile connector to join the relocated Hospital Road with
Cope Creek Road, travelers from the Moody Bottom area could avoid the
Business 23/107 intersection, Aust said at that time. Another connector
could give Dillardtown residents access to the same new road, he said.
Constructing another mile or so of new road from Cope Creek to Haskett
Road could provide travelers with an alternate route to Fairview
Elementary and Smoky Mountain High schools. Also included is a
connector from Claude Cook Road, off of East Cope Creek, to Songbird
Lane in the area of Fairview Road.
Among other features of Aust's plan are a new road to connect Griffin
Road to Buchanan Loop, to provide a back entrance to Wal-Mart and a
connection from Cherry Street to Walter Ashe Road to allow Rhodes Cove
travelers to enter the highway at a controlled intersection.
Another road shown as a connector on a more recent Aust map runs from
Blanton Branch Road, one terminus for the proposed Southern Loop, to
Cane Creek Road. That route already exists though a portion of it is
unpaved and very difficult for most vehicles to travel.
The updated map from Aust shows numerous other proposed connectors.
Included are roads from Locust Creek to East Cope Creek, Claude Cook
Road to the new Blanton Branch-Cane Creek connector, Cope Creek to
Lovesfield near Wal-Mart, and North River Road to the back of Wal-Mart.
Kulash said that upgrading existing roads and building a series of
two-lane connector roads is a more demanding and sophisticated solution
than the Southern Loop.
According to Kulash, the roads are now laid out in what is referred to
as a conventional pattern of design, which means that land uses are
separated and the roads are not connected. This is compared to a
traditional pattern of design, much like downtown Sylva, where
everything is connected.
With the conventional design, a majority of travel has to be conducted
on the main highway, much like having to drive on 107 to get to
Wal-Mart or to any educational institution, Kulash said. This increases
the number of turning movements, which impedes traffic.
"Every trip is hostage to this highway," Kulash said. "It never was the
mission of the N.C. Department of Transportation to carry every last
trip for every development on the state highway system," he said.
He said the highway should be used for important regional trips,
long-distance commuting or tourism while "proverbial trips to Wal-Mart
for a loaf of bread should not be held hostage to that highway."
Kulash said the proposed network provides other routes to various
destinations, such as Western Carolina University, SMHS, Southwestern
Community College and Harris Regional Hospital without having to access
parts of N.C. 107.
Kulash said in comparison to the networking alternative, a bypass is
not as advantageous as one might believe.
According to Kulash, the proposed Southern Loop would offer more
benefits to people coming from outside of the area than to those
already here.
Kulash said a bypass will also create a "hot spot" because there will
only be one interchange on 107.
"All traffic using (the Southern Loop) for our educational institutions
would get funneled through this (interchange) so (vehicles) either go
north to get to SCC and the high school or south to get to WCU. We're
back to keeping people hostage to 107. It's not the same distance it
was before, but we still have that 'hot spot,' " he said.
According to Kulash, the bypass would not be used locally for commerce,
but more by individuals coming from outside the area.
However, he said with the network alternative, there would be a myriad
of ways to get from within the area to various destinations.
According to Kulash, a connecting series of roads will bring down the
volume of cars on 107 nearly as much as a four-lane bypass would, "but
we're doing it in an entirely different way and we're gaining a lot of
street frontage in the meantime."
Kulash contends that NCDOT officials need to look at other alternatives.
"Right now, we're looking at something that's way at the bottom of the
cost and benefits scale, which is to do nothing. Then we're looking at
something that's a very expensive, high-benefit solution of a four-lane
freeway," Kulash said. "We maintain that there is probably a whole
spectrum of alternatives in between. There's always an alternative that
captures a lot of the (benefits) at a (smaller) cost. That's what we're
interested in finding here. We think it's the network."
During the question-and-answer segment following Kulash's presentation,
one audience member asked about the cost of building a four-lane
highway.
According to Kulash, it's "not that unusual" for a properly mitigated
road to cost between $40 and $50 million per mile to construct.
DOT Division 14 engineer Joel Setzer, who attended the session but did
not participate, told The Herald Monday that Kulash gave a lot of good
information that "seemed to be founded in good engineering thought."
"The specifics of it need to be looked at more, but there was a lot of
good thought and a lot of good ideas in his presentation," Setzer said.
Kulash did not go into specifics with regard to his connection routes,
but the one shown by Kulash through the Cane Creek area is doing the
same thing DOT has proposed, which is to get traffic "more toward its
destination without the congestion."
During a May 2007 conversation, Setzer told The Herald that he
envisions the portion of the Southern Loop that would connect U.S.
23/74 with N.C. 107 as a two-lane road that would perhaps be
constructed on a four-lane right of way. In his mind, that new road
would have full access control with no driveways, he said. According to
Setzer, such total access control would not invite development except
at the interchange where the new road joins N.C. 107, and a road like
that could move a lot of traffic safely and quickly.
The similarity Setzer saw between Kulash's idea and DOT plans is that
while the Blantons Branch area still seems the most likely starting
point from U.S. 74 for that portion of the Southern Loop, he said in
May that planners might now look at merging with N.C. 107 closer to
Cullowhee, possibly through Cane Creek.
With regard to the plan Kulash described last week, Setzer said there
would need to be more discussion about what kind of connector roads
would be built; Kulash said Thursday night that he envisions roads with
a 45 mph speed limit.
"We need to look at any alternatives we can offer people to relieve
congestion," Setzer said.
Avram Friedman, head of the Canary Coalition, and local architect Odell
Thompson, spoke about other possibilities to relieve traffic in the
area.
"I'm fond of saying the DOT is the 'Department of Transportation,' not
the 'Department of Roads,' " Friedman said. "There's more than one way
to move around from one place to the next. You can walk, you can take a
bicycle – in some places you can take buses or trolleys and trains.
Shouldn't we be considering this public transportation option as an
option for us as well?"
Friedman said that one option he'd thought of is a light rail system
that would connect the state's entire university system and allow small
communities to "plug in" to it.
According to Friedman and Thompson, light rails, or monorails, can use
existing corridors.
"The important thing here is that we have multiple forms of
transportation that are interconnecting," Thompson said. He said that
any community can make use of mass transit systems.
Thompson said that as it gets more expensive to own and operate
individual vehicles, then mass transit is an alternative that needs to
be considered.
Setzer said that currently in North Carolina, light rail is only
available in Charlotte, so the idea of getting a light rail installed
in rural areas compared to some of the larger urban areas is "thinking
out of the box."
However, he said that if individuals decide to pursue this option,
"that's fine," but that he added that the same thing could be
accomplished with a bus system.
Smart Roads members Bob Warshaw and Jay Coward gave the closing
remarks. Both warned individuals who are against the Southern Loop to
be vigilant because, in their words, the NCDOT is not going to let the
matter rest.
Warshaw called for citizens to press the issue with their elected
representatives or "we will find a new slate of candidates and let this
issue be a referendum on whether these people should stay in office."
Warshaw mentioned the level of "game-playing" that goes on in
Washington D.C., and told the audience it's happening here as well.
"They (Washington politicians) are amateurs as opposed to what we have
right here in Sylva," he said.
Setzer said Monday that he was surprised that this statement was met
with applause.
Setzer said he had faith in local leaders and Warshaw's comments were a
"mischaracterization."
Coward warned those present not to believe the NCDOT until "such a time
that we have documents to prove what they're saying and they're held
accountable."
Setzer said that while the DOT was not given the opportunity to speak
or answer questions Thursday, he felt the presentations made by Kulash
and Friedman were beneficial in helping find a solution to the traffic
problem on 107.
However, he said that statements made by Warshaw and Coward were
counterproductive to the effort.
"I felt like both Warshaw's and Coward's comments were polarizing and
did not help Smart Roads, NCDOT or local governments," Setzer said
Monday. "I thought their statements drove a wedge in relationships
because it's hard to work together with someone who's attacking you.
We're going to strive to come together to seek a solution for the
traffic problem, but it makes it much more difficult when you're being
attacked."
