Read our comment here!

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The Hendersonville Road Corridor Study will examine this roadway and propose strategies relating to congestion, pedestrian and cyclist safety, and connectivity along and across the road. To accomplish this, the project team will be collaborating closely with the City of Asheville, the French Broad River MPO, Buncombe County, NCDOT, as well as representatives of the communities and institutions along Hendersonville Road. In order to make this plan the biggest success it can be, we will call on the community, the residents, students, and workers who live near or travel on Hendersonville Road every day to participate in the planning process.

The mention of “congestion” before “pedestrian and cyclist safety” catches our eye. When NCDOT  hears congestion, the solution has historically been a road widening as opposed to multi-modal investments. Asheville continues to rank as one of the most dangerous cities in North Carolina for pedestrians and cyclists.  If you value roads that prioritize the safe movement of all people moving by a variety of modes, you should respond.

Example of current biking and walking conditions on this corridor

Before reading further, consider this map made from NCDOT data that shows the study corridor, overlaid with bicycle and pedestrian crashes, along with fatal crashes of all types. People are biking and walking on this corridor, particularly in the Gerber Village area.

Other projects and key connectors in this area

NCDOT has previously published an extensive redesign of Sweeten Creek Road, project U-2801A, which parallels this section of Hendersonville Road. You can read our 2018 public comment on that not-yet-built project here. The Sweeten Creek Road corridor includes a multi-use path, separated from traffic, alongside Sweeten Creek Road, planned to run from the Blue Ridge Parkway to the intersection of Sweeten Creek Road and Hendersonville Road. Rather than supplanting the need for a more bikable, walkable Hendersonville Road, those changes will result in more people riding bikes and trying to connect over to and across the corridor being studied in this survey.

Additionally, several local road bike rides make use of this area, even though the area is ill-suited to the needs of most bicycle riders. You can easily see the bicycle use on Strava’s Global Heatmap. This portion of Hendersonville Road is part of the larger problem in south Asheville where we are missing safe north-south routes as well as safe east-west connections across this part of the City. At least four connections that are used by cyclists stand out today: the Blue Ridge Parkway, Mills Gap Road, Glen Bridge Road, and Christ School Road.

AoB Guidance for completing this survey

Go here to take the survey, “Hendersonville Road Corridor Study: Survey 1,” after considering:

Question 2 & 6: Identify yourself as a bicyclist. 

Question 8: Note that retail shops aren’t included as an option. Gas stations are but what about retail? Or offices?

Question 9: Select “providing for all modes of transportation” as the highest priority. 

Question 10: Identify “Hard to get around on foot and bike” as the biggest transportation concern. 

Question 11: Rank active transportation (bike, pedestrian, transit, greenway and trails as the as the most important considerations. 

Question 13: Identify all types of mixed use development as a priority. 

Question 15: State your dissatisfaction with existing active transportation facilities. 

Question 15 continued: State your satisfaction with motorist facilities. 

Additional comments. Respond to the need for NCDOT to design Hendersonville Rd in accordance with its Complete Street and Vision Zero policies. It’s always constructive to reference NACTO design standards.

Here’s the link again, to take the survey: Hendersonville Road Corridor Study

The post Action Item: Respond to Hendersonville Road Corridor Study appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

What is happening?
The French Broad MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) will vote on Thursday, May 24th about the option to cascade funding from the Statewide Mobility into the Regional Tier for Section A of the I-26 project. Section A is the portion of I-26 and I-240 redesign west of the French Broad River. Here are the Section A maps in two links to pdfs. Link to I-26 Section A Map 1 and Link to I-26 Section A Map 2

What is cascading? Cascading is a funding mechanism that enables a transportation project to move forward by shifting the funding source from a statewide pot of money to another more local, or regional, pot of money. A vote must be held by the regional planning authority, here the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization (FBRMPO), for a state level project to be cascaded down, in part because that project will then compete with other planned work set forth by the MPO.

What is the backstory?
Asheville City Council is currently opposed to cascading funding for section A because designs for the remaining sections are still being negotiated between NCDOT and City of Asheville. The City of Asheville continues to support robust bike / ped facilities and a reduction in travel lanes along Patton Ave while the NCDOT remains uncommitted to these outcomes. A critical immediate step in advancing active transportation is for the city to vote no on the cascading option.

Why else is the City opposed to cascading this project? If the FBRMPO were to cascade the funding for this project, it means the project will compete for funding priority at the regional level. Given the costs associated with Section A of the I-26 connector, it is likely to have negative consequence for many other good but smaller projects already planned in the Western North Carolina region.

Lastly, the entire I-26 connector project is a $600-$800 million project that is justified because it has statewide benefits; it is split into sections arbitrarily as part of the normal planning process for a large project. Are we now to burden local regional governments because one of the arbitrary sections in the overall project scored poorly in a state traffic formula*, when, if it were sectioned differently, the project would have easily scored highly as an appropriate use of state funds?

Please contact Mayor Esther Manheimer and city council members and let them know you support the City’s decision to oppose cascading funds for section A of the I-26 widening project.

Need a refresher about the I-26 project? Watch the NCDOT visualization that covers the entire project area in all its sections. Only section A is potentially affected by this vote.

People who you should email in support of the City’s position, which is to oppose the cascading of Section A of the I-26 project:

• Esther Manheimer, esthermanheimer@avlcouncil.com
• Gwen Wisler, gwenwisler@avlcouncil.com
• Julie Mayfield, juliemayfield@avlcouncil.com
• Brian Haynes, brianhaynes@avlcouncil.com
• Keith Young, keithyoung@avlcouncil.com
• Vijay Kapoor, vijaykapoor@avlcouncil.com
• Sheneika Smith, sheneikasmith@avlcouncil.com

When you send an email, please cc: info@ashevilleonbikes.com

*In order to qualify for 100% state level funding, a project must provide a strong statewide benefit using a specific state formula that measures, among other things, congestion. By splitting the project into arbitrary sections and then applying the formula to each section, we are being told that Section A, by itself, is not congested enough right now to be a good use of state funds and thus (if cascaded) it should jockey for priority within the region. Among the problems with that logic: NCDOT has, for over a decade, defended the need for an 8 lane interstate along this section because of congestion and capacity needs. Which is it?

The post Action Alert: We Support a No Vote at the MPO for Cascading the I-26 Section A Project appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.