‘Alternatives to Southern Loop’ to be topic of tonight’s meeting

'Alternatives to Southern Loop' to be topic of tonight's meeting
The Sylva Herald
January 10, 2008

Smart Roads Alliance will hold an open meeting on alternatives to the
Southern Loop from 6:30 until 9 p.m. tonight (Thursday), in Courtroom 1
at the Justice Center.

Smart Roads is a grassroots organization that advocates for a more
flexible approach to solving traffic congestion on N.C. 107 than is
being proposed by North Carolina's Department of Transportation.

According to publicist Roger Turner, NCDOT officials have indicated
that the only solution for relieving traffic congestion on the busy
road is by building a $400 million "multi-lane freeway" around Sylva.
However, DOT Division Engineer Joel Setzer has indicated to The Sylva
Herald that only the U.S. 74/N.C. 107 connector is being studied at
this time and that he envisions a two-lane road on a four-lane right of
way that would have full access control.

Event organizers believe such roads reinforce "the longstanding
conventional approach to traffic congestion – adding more capacity –
has not only failed to stem traffic congestion, but has actually
accelerated the rate of growth in congestion, while degrading the
travel experience and quality of communities," Turner said.

The evening's featured speaker will be Walter Kulash, an independent
traffic engineer formerly with the Orlando-based community-planning
firm of Glatting Jackson, Inc. Kulash combines 40 years of licensed
professional engineering experience with an academic background in
engineering at N.C. State and Northwestern.

He has worked on traffic and transit planning projects throughout the
United States and Canada and has specialized since the early 1990s in
the "rapidly emerging field of livable traffic design." He has been a
consultant to the Smart Roads group since 2003.

"There is strong community support for the preservation of our rural
landscape," said Susan Leveille, Smart Roads representative to the
Jackson County Transportation Task Force. "The Southern Loop will only
accelerate the loss of that landscape. It would be like extending the
Jackson County Airport runway for another 14 miles, causing more
mountain ridge/top instability and erosion."

Smart Roads is the only community-based organization on the county's
Transportation Task Force, where its representatives advocate for the
county to develop a more comprehensive transportation system, better
community planning to reduce dependence on cars, and using an
independent traffic consultant for a corridor study of N.C.107.

According to Harold Messer of Locust Creek, a Smart Roads member, "the
meeting will open the public's eyes to other ideas for fixing 107."

"You don't need to build loops or add another four lanes or eliminate a
lot of businesses. I suspect a DOT study will only reinforce the
Southern Loop," Messer said. "The county should use an impartial
traffic consultant."

The event will also be a fund-raiser and membership drive for Smart
Roads.

"We believe this will rekindle public interest in a planning process
that has largely ignored the public since 2003," said Smart Roads
member Jeanette Evans.