DOT must clarify Southern Loop alternatives

DOT must clarify Southern Loop alternatives
January 8, 2008
Smoky Mountain News
http://smokymountainnews.com/issues/01_08/01_30_08/op_edlet_dot.html

Editor's note: These comments were submitted to the N.C. Department of
Transportation by the Jackson County Smart Roads Alliance during the
DOT's annual public hearing on proposed road projects throughout the
region.

These comments are on behalf of the Jackson County Smart Roads
Alliance, a member of the Jackson County Transportation Task Force.

The Task Force was created by the Jackson County Board of Commissioners
in November 2003 to develop a comprehensive transportation plan and to
identify solutions for fixing N.C. 107. This included the use of access
management strategies for relieving traffic congestion.

At the time there were official resolutions in place from four
municipalities (Webster, Dillsboro, Sylva, and Forest Hills) opposed to
any further consideration or planning of the southern loop. Despite
this clear opposition, DOT proceeded with its planning for the Southern
Loop, which was placed on a "prioritized" list of projects in 2007 by
Conrad Burrell and Joel Setzer. According to Mr. Setzer, on Nov. 26,
2007, (during a recorded two-hour discussion at the DOT office in Sylva
with Setzer and Smart Roads), the decision to place the Southern Loop
on this list was based on "indirect public support," closed "breakfast
meetings" with local officials, and the lack of progress by the Jackson
County Task Force in developing a comprehensive plan.

In November 2007 Smart Roads invoked the North Carolina Public Records
Act to obtain all documentation from District 14 DOT pertaining to the
Southern Loop from the creation of the Task Force (2003) to November
2006. After reviewing this documentation we have concluded: nothing in
the documentation shows indirect public support or any record of
"official" meetings in support of the Southern Loop. Any reference to
the task force was in two short emails.

We now learn that DOT hired KO Associates in 2006 to do a $200,000
environmental impact assessment for the Southern Loop corridor, and yet
DOT continues to tell us there is no defined or established corridor.
Thus there has been a clear record of deception and secrecy by DOT over
the past four years regarding this project, including the willful
exclusion or non-consideration of viable alternatives, specifically any
consideration of a network system of roads either parallel (to) or
around 107 that would facilitate local traffic patterns.

The concept for a network system was first conceived by the Town of
Sylva Planning Department in 2003. The upgrading and expansion of
existing roads was clearly identified. However, without any known
analysis from DOT this expansion of existing roads was deemed
"infeasible."

We demand that DOT clearly identify alternatives to the Southern Loop
and enlarge the "scope of work" for its Federal Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) to include such alternatives, including direct and
indirect potential impacts to the human and natural environments. We
also demand a cost comparison for the construction and mitigation of a
multi-lane freeway versus the upgrading of existing roads around 107 or
an upgraded two-lane road nearer WCU, linking its campus and student
traffic eastbound to U.S. 23/74.

Respectfully submitted,

John Chinners

Jackson County Smart Roads Alliance