To city folks-

As you make a plan for Merrimon Ave. please remember we the people (who vote) work her, ride here, walk her shop, raise kids etc…
Asheville is a great place to live – make better  not faster.

Caroline Allured

The post Caroline: Asheville is a great place to live – make better not faster appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

I’m writing to make an official comment on the proposed changes on Merrimon Ave in Asheville. I work several times a week in the North Asheville Rec Center, a block away from Merrimon on East Larchmont Road. I feel that these changes would negatively impact my life and the others who use the North Asheville Rec Center.

We have two teen groups that meet here every week. The kids walk on Merrimon to get lunch. It’s already hard to cross. This will make it much worse.  We have several volunteers who ride their bikes to our space. A 2′ wide bike lane is a joke!

These changes are not designed for people, only for cars. I think they will not only endanger pedestrians and cyclists but also hurt local businesses. It will be harder to pull in and out of parking lots at places like Luellas, Yolo, and Jus Running. This is not a highway, this is a city street. Future plans should be slowing down the traffic, making it better for walkers and bikes, not speeding it up.

Please scrap this plan and come up with something that is appropriate for humans.

Jennifer Murphy
Asheville 28806

The post Jennifer: We have two teen groups that meet here every week. The kids walk on Merrimon to get lunch. It’s already hard to cross appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

Dear official,

It is very important to keep the historic streets the way they are. The old trees and local environment have taken decades to establish. This is irreplaceable. Wider faster roads kill the life of a neighborhood area. We saw this happen to Caldwell St. in Brevard, nc. Thankfully they saved the the old trees although the beauty of the street is all but gone.

It’s easy to see how traffic data suggest that these projects are needed. It’s also easy to see HNTB needs jobs to stay in business, as we all do. Big business needs to start appreciating the small towns they impact. We are more than dollars and a project. We live here. Please consider beauty and history of this old throughway.

Faster traffic means less stops to local businesses funneling it to larger box stores outside of city limits where taxes are lost. I’ve seen study’s. My step father is an architect and a planner. New urban studies show that wider faster sprawl diminishes returns for the city. Diluting neighborhood culture. Cutting people off from their once walkable neighborhoods.

Please reconsider project. There are other solutions for Merrimon that benefit the community as a whole.

Thank you for your time,

Nicholas H

The post Nicholas: Please reconsider project. There are other solutions for Merrimon that benefit the community as a whole appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

Dear Ms. Kim Bereis, Mr. Cole Hood, & Mr. Mike Clark,

The post Bridget: Last summer my children were almost hit by a car turning from Weaver onto Merrimon (heading north) appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

Dear Mr. Clark,

The post Bill: I’m writing in strong opposition to the NCDOT Merrimon Ave. widening plan as it currently exists appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

I am opposed to the initial designs that you presented on January 8th for the Merrimon project. I would like you to have more public comment time and meet with neighbors and the City of Asheville in order to design a “complete street.” I want you to build a design whose main goal is connecting neighborhood residents to the businesses on the corridor – a design that treats walking and biking as equally valuable, perhaps more valuable, compared to car trips.

My wife and I regularly bike with our children and several months ago my wife arrived home in tears with my daughter in tow. She had been biking near downtown on South Charlotte Street (also an NCDOT road) and, even though she was safely in her lane traveling downhill at a reasonable speed, the only other vehicle on the road (car) pulled close alongside her and the driver yelled, “Get off the road you f—–ng b–ch.”

Have you ever tried to explain to an innocent 5 year old girl what a “f—–g b–ch” is? South Charlotte St is a 5 lane road much like your initial Merrimon design, and much like your initial Merrimon design, families have no choice but to use it when going between certain destinations, like the baseball stadium or White Labs or the South Slope. Posted speed is 45mph! When a road is only designed for cars, I think it makes our drivers, myself included, behave poorly towards other road users like walkers and bikers. Based on our experiences, the 2 foot bike lane you have drawn up for North Merrimon is a non-starter and you are asking us to put our lives at risk in order to attempt to use a bike lane that is too narrow and offers no protection from high speed cars.

We desperately want to safely bike to the Brew and View in North Asheville at 675 Merrimon Ave, from the area of Coleman and WT Weaver. We also want to extend our current family biking adventures to include Luella’s (501 Merrimon Ave) after visiting the Asheville Botanic Garden near UNCA. We need some type of continuous Greenway connection across Merrimon at WT Weaver. That intersection is unsafe both now and in your design, because your are not accounting for families like ours that are trying to walk and bike more. When we cross the street we look like this: 1 adult on a big heavy bike with two kids; a second adult on their own bike, with the adults taking time to dismount and walk. Dismounting is inconvenient (but the only safe-ish way we can see to get across) and the light frequently sends turning cars right into our group as we try to get across before the walk signal expires. We would also like to be able to ride our bikes easily to the Toy Box at 793 Merrimon after going to the WT Weaver park – we’ve never been able to do this because of obvious safety problems for bicycle riders along this corridor.

Please change course and listen what the City of Asheville and groups like Asheville on Bikes are saying about this corridor. Asheville on Bikes has published their comment and
https://ashevilleonbikes.com/asheville-on-bikes-official-merrimon-widening-comment-u-5781-u-5 782. I agree with everything they are saying. There is significant latent demand in North Asheville for walking and cycling. This road is a key link to help North Asheville residents become more active and safely reach the businesses along their neighborhood corridor.

Sincerely,
Clark Mackey

The post Clark: Driver yelled, “Get off the road you f—ing b–ch” appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

I am writing as a longtime North Asheville resident and homeowner, and for years have frequented the locations along Merrimon Avenue on a daily basis.

The current proposal to widen Merrimon appears to make it easier for cars to travel faster along this road, while impeding ability to safely access businesses along this corridor. To increase speeds along this road makes no sense to me. People who travel the road and frequent its businesses value a lower speed limit so that they can access businesses safely. I know of no one who wants Merrimon Avenue to have any more lanes than it has, nor do they want cars using this road to travel faster.

Broadway is an underutilized 4-lane road that is capable of handing traffic traveling at a faster rate of speed. I-26 was built in order to accommodate traffic going to Weaverville.

Merrimon Avenue is a business corridor surrounded by apartments and neighborhoods full of residents who use those businesses. Residents living along or near Merrimon Ave deserve safe access to its businesses by any means they choose, whether it be car, bike, or on foot. Traffic along Merrimon Avenue can be minimized through a Complete Streets approach, as outlined in https://smartgrowthamerica.org/program/national-complete-streets-coalition/.

The current plan is discriminatory in that it reduces safety for pedestrians and bicyclists. Everyone should have equal, unimpeded access to businesses. That right should not be limited to those who own autos. The government is responsible for the overall safety of all citizens, not just a few. The health and wellbeing of the public is served when people are able to access the outdoors. A road should not restrict a natural means of accessing resources, or shared, community spaces such as parks and greenways.

Any changes to Merrimon Avenue should rightfully be reviewed by those who will be impacted by those changes, i.e. the community at large. I encourage you to engage with neighborhood groups, the City of Asheville, and the public at large before committing to making any changes to Merrimon Avenue, in order to ensure that the interests of everyone are served by the outcome.

All the best,
Amy Kemp

The post Amy: To increase speeds along this road makes no sense to me appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.