May 17, 2022
70 Court Plaza 
Asheville, NC 28801 

Dear Asheville City Council, 

On behalf of Asheville on Bikes’ Board of Directors and its members (over 800 strong), I’m writing to encourage you to vote in support of the Merrimon Ave road reconfiguration.

NCDOT, Division 13, City of Asheville staff, members of the Multimodal Transportation Commission have all worked in good faith to produce a public input process that clearly defines the benefits and tradeoffs of a 4 to 3 conversion on Merrimon. The final voice for a more complete Merrimon rests with you on May 24th. This is your opportunity to lead and advance safety and dignity of our public rights of way for all people traveling by a variety of modes.

For those of you concerned about the political repercussions of supporting a safer street configuration, I direct you to the outcome of the public process where 59% of more than 4,000 respondents supported a 4 to 3 conversion on Merrimon Ave. This 59% is a historic result in support of this conversion.  

More importantly, please take a moment and listen to this public comment from Gaia to the Multimodal Transportation Commission made on 3/24/2021. Gaia’s courageous statement helped catalyze the support that  brought this vote to you. Gaia was struck by a motorist while crossing legally on Merrimon Ave and, as a result of that collision, has suffered dearly. I invite each of you to draw upon Gaia’s courage and examine the opportunity before you. Your vote either advances safety and dignity or re-commits our community to the existing conditions of carnage.

Each vote in support of the Merrimon road reconfiguration is a vote to affirm our collective commitment to public safety on our rights of way. Help lead our City in a direction where these articles become untrue: 

1. Asheville continues to lead in North Carolina in pedestrian and bicyclist collisions
2. Asheville Citizen Times, A troubling trend: Asheville ranks first in the state for pedestrian deaths per capita). 

According to NCDOT and the City of Asheville, the Merrimon data shows that:

• “ …there is approximately a 150% higher rate of crashes on Merrimon compared to other similar roadways across the State (for every 10 crashes on other similar roads, Merrimon gets 15) (City of Asheville Merrimon Ave Story Map, Crashes)
• Approximately 23% of crashes on Merrimon involve an injury and property damage estimates total more than $7 million.
• Merrimon experiences about 13 crashes every month. The chart below summarizes the corridor’s crash statistics.

(City of Asheville / NCDOT Merrimon Story Map, Crashes)

If the current design results in nearly one crash every other day and produces nearly three injuries / month, how can we allow those conditions to continue for the next 10 to 15 years?  

Advancing public safety means designing for people moving by a variety of modes and prioritizing for our most vulnerable road users. 8.3% of City residents do not own a car; the City has the obligation to provide safe and accessible infrastructure for these residents as well as motorists.  

NCDOT and City of Asheville’s analysis states, 

“a potential 29% crash reduction factor, which, if realized, could lead to approximately 50 fewer crashes and 10 fewer injuries on Merrimon every year. If applied evenly across the board, these crash reductions could reduce property damage by about $300,000 every year.” 

Considering the existing conditions and the potential return on the investment resulting from a road reconfiguration, the Merrimon Ave re-stripping is a low cost, low hanging fruit, high yield investment in public safety. The current configuration isn’t working for anyone so it’s time to apply a new approach and a more complete design. The Merrimon road reconfiguration is an initial intervention which elevates safety and dignity on our streets. 

NCDOT and the MPO are currently studying whether to make similar improvements to Biltmore Ave, McDowell St, Tunnel Rd, and Asheland Ave.  Decisions on those recommendations should be coming to you within a year. These future opportunities to improve safety on our streets will be in jeopardy should you hesitate now to make this commitment on Merrimon Ave.  

There are lessons to be learned from the Charlotte Street road diet that apply to your vote. The Charlotte Street project was kicked around for 20 years before a road diet treatment was finally approved by council over the concerns and objections of some residents who loudly objected. Like Merrimon, sidewalk improvements were outside the scope of the project but the road diet and new bike lanes have increased pedestrian use.  As a result of the success and the calmer conditions, the City of Asheville and  NCDOT are expanding sidewalks on Charlotte Street to I-240. When the City leads, NCDOT follows. We need your leadership now. 

While the road diet is often framed as controversial, the public support is strong and well informed; citizens desire safer streets and more mobility options. Charlotte Street, Wilma Dykeman Greenway, Coxe Avenue all endured moments – often months or years of moments – of controversy before being supported by City Council. Each one of those projects has been a success, and Merrimon will be too.  On behalf of Asheville on Bikes, I urge you to vote in favor of safer streets and approve the Merrimon Ave road reconfiguration. 

Respectfully, 

Mike Sule

Executive Director, Asheville on Bikes 

enc: AoB Research Addendum For City Council

The post AoB Open Letter Urging City Council To Vote In Favor of 4-3 Conversion For Merrimon appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.

AoB has advocated for these types of changes for years and we have provided direct feedback for each of these plans, which you may remember from our past calls to action. Each of these corridor studies is built on sound engineering, rounds of public feedback, hard lessons from our current roads, and advocacy for designs more in line with Vision Zero, Complete Streets, National Association of Transportation Officials  (NACTO) guidelines. 

As part of our advocacy, we wrote to City Council in support of these corridor studies. You can read our letter here.

Now is the time for the City Council to vote and adopt the corridor studies, which call for bike lanes, increased pedestrian features, safer intersections, and other changes that revolve around making these roads better for all users. 

In November, instead of bringing up these proposals for a vote, the City council delayed until the December meeting. With Asheville still ranked as one of the most dangerous cities to bike or walk in NC, we cannot afford to delay approving the plans contained in these corridor studies. You may remember the long running effort to “study” Charlotte Street, when, even twenty years ago, evidence was clear that a different traffic pattern on Charlotte Street would be safer for everyone. We don’t want that to happen here, where further delays are akin to voting in favor of injury, death, and roads clogged with cars.

Email Asheville City Council and let them know that you support the adoption of the Hendersonville Road, Tunnel Road, and Biltmore Avenue/McDowell Street corridor studies.  Each study is a critical step in advancing Asheville’s active transportation network.

Taken together, these three plans point to a rejuvenated Tunnel Road that is bikeable and walkable; separated bike lanes for Biltmore/McDowell suitable for ebikes and scooters; and a multi-use path for Hendersonville Road. The proposals:

• Include National Association of Transportation Official (NACTO) treatments and design standards which the City’s Multi-Modal Transportation Commission endorsed in 2017.
• Embrace the change in land use from strictly commercial to dense mixed use redevelopment in response to our affordable housing crisis. 
• Serve to strengthen the integrity of Asheville transit system as pedestrian and bicycle facilities connect to transit hubs which increases mobility while it decreases cost of living.
• Include meaningful north – south connections for people traveling without a car

We need you to contact the city council and share that you support Asheville on Bikes’ position, as listed below, to adopt the corridor studies.

AoB’s Suggested Letter. You can copy and paste: 

Dear City Council,

Continued and robust investment in active transportation facilities is an important issue to me. It’s alarming that our city continues to rank as North Carolina’s worst city for pedestrian and bicyclist crashes. While many interventions are required to improve conditions in our rights of way, your vote to approve the  Hendersonville Road, Tunnel Road and the Biltmore Avenue/McDowell Street studies is the next action to take. Please do not delay this vote any further and vote to adopt these studies. 

I support Asheville on Bikes’ position on this matter.

Respectfully, 

(Your Name) 

Or draft your own letter of  support. Either way, AoB asks that you cc us on your letter to council using  ashevilleonbikes@gmail.com so that we can track support. 

City Council Members Email:

Mayor Esther Manheimer – esthermanheimer@avlcouncil.com

Vice Mayor Sheneika Smith – sheneikasmith@avlcouncil.com

Sandra Kilgore – sandrakilgore@avlcouncil.com

Antanette Mosley – antanettemosley@avlcouncil.com

Kim Roney – kimroney@avlcouncil.com

Sage Turner – sageturner@avlcouncil.com

Gwen Wisler – gwenwisler@avlcouncil.com

To share a message with all City Council members using one email that goes to each, send your email to: AshevilleNCCouncil@ashevillenc.gov.

Thank you! Please cc: ashevilleonbikes@gmail.com on your emails to council.

Read AoB’s letter to City Council, Nov 17, 2021, urging Council to adopt the findings from these corridor studies.

The post Call To Action: Ask Council to Vote Yes on Corridor Studies appeared first on Asheville On Bikes.