DOT accused of convoluted planning

DOT accused of convoluted planning
Smoky Mountain News
February 20, 2008
By Becky Johnson • Staff Writer
http://smokymountainnews.com/issues/02_08/02_20_08/fr_dot_accused.html

Opponents to the Southern Loop again urged the N.C. Department of
Transportation to halt planning for the new highway last week during a
meeting of the Jackson County Transportation Task Force.

They asked the DOT to hold off until the task force finished its
long-rang transportation plan — a plan that could reveal new solutions
to traffic congestion other than the Southern Loop. The DOT is backing
the development of the long-range transportation plan. But meanwhile,
it has also launched a $2.2 million planning process for the Southern
Loop.

An independent traffic engineer, Walter Kulash, questioned the
seemingly diametrically opposed planning tracks. Opponents fear the
Southern Loop will become a fait accomplis if planning gets too far
along, and that alternative solutions proposed in the transportation
plan won't get an honest look.

"I'm curious why we are continuing with a process for a very specific
type of solution," said Kulash, who has been enlisted by the Smart
Roads Alliance in its quest for alternative solutions to the Southern
Loop. "Why are we embarking on a study confined to a multi-lane freeway
in a fairly narrow geographic corridor while we are going through a
comprehensive transportation plan?"

Sarah Smith, a DOT staffer assigned to the task force, replied that the
two planning tracks — the Southern Loop planning on one hand and the
comprehensive transportation plan on the other — are two different
processes.

That was Kulash's point: the two processes seemed divorced when they
shouldn't be.

Joel Setzer, head of the DOT for the region, replied that it was a safe
bet to continue with the Southern Loop planning rather than wait on the
outcome of the transportation plan. In all likelihood, the
transportation plan will call for something akin to the Southern Loop —
a new link between N.C. 107 and U.S. 23-74, Setzer said. It will be
good to have a jump start on the planning since it is going to take so
long, Setzer said.

"I think it is highly likely after you've done the analysis that some
kind of link will be shown to be needed," Setzer said. "It is somewhat
of a gamble to proceed with project development, but project
development will take years to complete. The concept of this link is
going to take a long time to develop."

By then, the comprehensive transportation plan will have caught up,
Setzer said.

Conrad Burrell, a Jackson County resident who is the regional
representative on the state DOT board, was at the meeting with Setzer
but did not speak.

Susan Leveille, a representative of the Smart Roads Alliance on the
task force, asked Setzer if the planning for the Southern Loop was
proceeding without input by the task force.

"Unless you have given any input I don't know about to the project
engineer, the planning is proceeding," Setzer replied. The planning is
largely being handled out of Raleigh, with the local DOT branch serving
in an advisory capacity only.

County Commissioner William Shelton, a member of the task force, said
county leaders want to see the comprehensive transportation plan done
first — before the Southern Loop planning.

"The way I heard it just now is there is a chance that these two things
will mesh, and a chance they may not mesh," Shelton said at the
meeting. "I think we need to do everything in our power to make sure
they do."

Shelton reminded the room of the county commissioners' resolution last
fall calling on the DOT to place a comprehensive transportation list at
the top of its to-do list, ahead of Southern Loop planning. County
leaders were specifically asked to weigh in on the DOT's list of
priorities. The county commissioners unanimously ranked the
comprehensive transportation plan above the Southern Loop, Shelton
said.

"When we suggested this comprehensive transportation plan be brought
forward as a top priority, our intention was that it would not be two
separate things," Shelton said.

Shelton said people need to know whether the comprehensive
transportation plan will mean anything.

"The public perception is that this is a done deal. I think they need
to be told in layman's language that it is or isn't and whether or not
this comprehensive study is going to have an impact on the Southern
Loop," Shelton said.

Not everyone on the task force saw a problem with Southern Loop
planning and a comprehensive transportation plan being developed
concurrently. Dr. Cecil Groves, president of Southwestern Community
College, said the two will in all likelihood mesh. Groves said it is
wise to get a jumpstart on Southern Loop planning. The planning will
take so long as it is, additional delays should be avoided.

"By then you really have a mess brewing on 107," Groves said.

Task force tangle

Setzer said he had hoped the comprehensive transportation plan would be
done by now, then there wouldn't be a timing problem that everyone
seems so concerned about. But, it's not too late for the task force to
influence the planning process for the Southern Loop, he said. The
comprehensive transportation plan will take a year to complete.
Planning for the Southern Loop will still be in the early stages by
then, Setzer said.

"If your work is able to proceed on schedule and be close to 2009, and
you progress in your work, those two processes will be meshed
together," Setzer told the task force.

Leveille seemed offended. She said the task force would be delighted to
proceed in its work if DOT would stop holding them up. The task force
has been stalled by a revolving door of DOT staffers assigned to
oversee the task force, she said. The current staffer makes number
four. In between changes of the guard, the task force was put on hold,
sometimes for as long as a year. Jay Coward, a member of the task
force, has accused the DOT of purposeful "evasion and delay" of the
task force.

"To be held up for five years because the DOT couldn't join us, I trust
that won't happen again," Leveille said. "There are enough of us here
with good minds that we can move forward with something."

On the other hand, task force members did not take the initiative to
meet in the absence of a DOT staffer to oversee them. That's largely
due to a presumption that the DOT controlled the task force, down to
what could and couldn't be discussed at meetings, making the staffer in
charge feel like a handler rather than facilitator.

All in the wording

Kulash didn't dispute that N.C. 107 — the commercial drag and commuter
route in Jackson County — needs a new link. But not necessarily a
multi-lane freeway, he said. Kulash suggested broadening the scope of
the Southern Loop planning so the DOT wouldn't pigeonhole itself.

"I understand you have to get started on something now but can that
something have a broader scope?" Kulash asked.

Setzer said not to worry. The scope of the project hasn't been set yet,
he said.

Kulash questioned that assertion, however, pointing to a DOT memo
soliciting consulting firms to oversee the Southern Loop planning
process. The memo describes the job as "a multi-lane facility on new
location" with "controlled access."

"That knocks out anything other than multilane and any use of existing
roads," Kulash said. "If I was a consultant — and I am a consultant — I
would look at this and say 'You are asking me to design a multi-lane on
a new location.'"

Setzer said that wording was simply used to solicit consultants. Before
the consultants get started, they will get new marching orders. That
hasn't happened yet, he said.

In that case, Kulash asked Setzer to change the wording so as not to
bias the consultants. Better yet, Kulash asked if the task force could
participate in developing the wording to ensure that a "full and fair
range of alternatives" are studied by the consultants.

Setzer said it would.

"The DOT is not focused on just the alternatives that everyone says
they are," Setzer said. "There is nothing hard and fast and there is
nothing off the table."

Kulash was still skeptical, again pointing to the language in the memo
seeking consultants.

"I don't see a transparent process so that the task force members can
satisfy themselves that it is going forward with a sufficiently broad
scope," Kulash said.

A consulting firm for the Southern Loop has already been selected, KO
Associates out of Raleigh. The DOT has nearly finalized its contract
with KO, and the language is indeed less specific than the original
memo, according to Michael Penney, contract management engineer with
the DOT in Raleigh.

"The contract isn't written so specifically that it can't evolve. It
doesn't stipulate the type of facility," Penney said in a phone
interview.

The actual contract with KO describes the job this way: "The consultant
will perform project development associated with the proposed Southern
Loop around Sylva-Dillsboro from U.S. 23-74 to U.S. 441."

That leaves it open for the consultants to consider a boulevard-type
road, for example — although that's not the impression Penney said he
had of the project.

"If you are trying to move traffic from point A to point B most
expeditiously with the least amount of congestion then a boulevard
doesn't achieve that," Penney said. "It sort of depends on what is
driving the process."

Penney said his impression of the job was to design a new highway that
would move large volumes of traffic quickly. That concept was laid out
in the county's old comprehensive transportation plan developed in the
early 1990s, Penney said.

"Based on what we were provided, which was from a previous
comprehensive plan, that's what we were told," Penney said. "If they
change the comprehensive plan that would have to be taken into
consideration."

The real marching orders for the Southern Loop planning — the holy
grail of the planning process so to speak — will be the "purpose and
need" statement. That has yet to be developed, but once it is, it
becomes the litmus test by which everything else is judged. If an
alternative doesn't meet the "purpose and need," it won't be
considered.

If the "purpose and need" is broad — such as reducing traffic
congestion on N.C. 107 — it opens the door for all sorts of
alternatives to be considered. If the purpose and need statement is
narrow — such as build a new road around Sylva and Dillsboro — it will
confine the options that are considered.

Setzer said the "purpose and need" statement likely won't be drafted
until the fall.

What is the Southern Loop?

The Southern Loop is a proposed freeway that will bisect Jackson County
with an interchange over N.C. 107 somewhere between Cullowhee and
Sylva. It will tie into U.S. 23-74 somewhere north of Sylva and U.S.
441 somewhere south of Dillsboro.

What is a comprehensive transportation plan?

After five years of various hold-ups, the N.C. Department of
Transportation is finally embarking on a comprehensive transportation
plan for Jackson County.

In a nutshell, the plan will predict future traffic congestion and come
up with solutions.

"We'll have a number for future traffic, and we'll have the carrying
capacity for the roads. What roads in the future are going to go over
that capacity? That's where we have to come up with solutions — to
address those roads that are over capacity," explained Sarah Smith, a
DOT staffer in Raleigh assigned to the comprehensive transportation
plan.

Solutions could mean new roads or improving traffic flow of existing
roads. Solutions could mean the controversial Southern Loop freeway or
smarter intersection designs. The Jackson County Transportation Task
Force will serve as an advisory board during the process, but the plan
will ultimately be developed by DOT staff in Raleigh.

Residents have two chances to influence the transportation plan. The
first is by filling out a survey in March. The second is public
workshops in late-summer. Watch The Smoky Mountain News for how to
participate in both.