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Southern Loop: County leaders to weigh in on controversial project

Jackson County commissioners have been asked to select their top six road priorities for consideration by the state Department of Transportation, a decision that could help decide whether a controversial bypass around Sylva is ever built.

Division 14, a 10-county region of the transportation department, plans to use the information to help it decide which projects should be included a bigger to-do list: A top 25 for the entire division. These projects, in turn, eventually must vie for funding statewide.

The list compiled by the county’s board of commissioner is likely to figure heavily in whether the Southern Loop moves forward. The Southern Loop would be a new major highway that would bisect Jackson County, with the intention of diverting traffic from N.C. 107.

Opponents to the Southern Loop have questioned the need and scope of the project, and whether the transportation department has “fast-tracked” the new highway over public wishes to the contrary.

Funding already has been secured for an environmental study, Julia Merchant, transportation department spokeswoman, confirmed today (Friday).

“(But) the environmental planning has been placed on hold as the department waits to see the outcomes of the feasibility study to improve N.C. 107 and receive the county's list of transportation priorities to determine how the county would like to move forward,” Merchant wrote in an email to The Smoky Mountain News.

Asked how important commissioners’ decision would figure, she replied:

“In terms of the state DOT’s ranking system, the priorities set by a county or region certainly send a message and may give a project more points. However, each project is weighed and ranked on the value it would add to the transportation system, and the priorities set locally and regionally are just one factor in that decision process. Basically, there’s no rule saying the state will automatically pick up a region’s top priorities. That said, local and regional input is still very important to the state’s prioritization process, and that’s why we have numerous channels for gathering such input.

“Conversely, a project could theoretically end up on our Work Program even if a local or regional authority does not include a project on its list of priorities. However, it would be very unusual that a project would meet criteria to qualify as a priority on DOT’s list if it wasn’t also supported locally and regionally.”

For more on this issue, read next Wednesday’s print and online edition of The Smoky Mountain News.

Proposed road calls for bridge over N.C. 107 in Jackson

A new road that would traverse the campus of Southwestern Community College and provide a new link between two of Jackson County’s major roads is in the final planning stages.

The proposed two-lane road is designed to alleviate congestion and improve traffic flow at the intersection of N.C. 107 and N.C. 116 and help transit to and from SCC, according to N.C. Department of Transportation project engineer Steve Williams. The congested intersection is flanked by an Ingles grocery store and a Lowe’s home improvement store.

According to NCDOT projections, daily traffic on N.C. 116 is expected to increase from 10,200 vehicles per day in 2008 to 19,100 vehicles per day by 2035, and traffic on N.C. 107 is expected to increase from 23,300 vehicles per day in 2008 to 51,100 vehicles per day by 2035.

Engineers have developed two options for the new road. Both follow the same route and include plans for a bridge over N.C. 107, but they differ in the style of intersection.

SCC President Cecil Groves said the new road was crucial for the college’s expansion.

“The road is essential to the future development of the college, particularly with regard to our ability to handle traffic patterns and expand the number of students,” Groves said.

Groves said the new road would give SCC an exit out of the back of the campus that would greatly enhance its ability to complete construction projects related to its expansion. It would also make the N.C. 116 entrance safer for faculty, students, and staff.

The 0.7-mile connector road would run along the edge of the SCC campus and connect N.C. 107 at Evans Road to N.C. 116 at Bonnie Lane.

The NCDOT will hold an information session to share designs for the new road from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 20, at the Balsam Center on the SCC campus.

The meeting will provide an informal venue for dialogue about the proposed road’s effect on the community.

According to Williams, the two scenarios mainly affect the intersection with N.C. 107.

The major components of the plan involve the construction of a roundabout on N.C. 116 –– close to the site of the Jackson County Schools bus garage –– that would serve in lieu of a stoplight at the intersection.

The new road would then cross a U.S. Forest Service property, traverse the SCC campus, and eventually intersect with N.C. 107 just over the hill from Smoky Mountain High School — after crossing 107 with an overhead bridge.

In one set of plans, the new road would have a second roundabout that would provide access to N.C. 107, while the other option traffic would access N.C. 107 directly from Evans Rd.

The new road would be built with a sidewalk and bike lane to accommodate pedestrian traffic and cyclists.

In order to move forward with the new road, NCDOT will need to purchase additional right of ways from landowners and undergo the necessary environmental assessments for the road project.

Landowner dismayed N.C. 107 bridge widening will claim archaeology site

A Cherokee archaeological site spanning from at least 6,000 years ago to the 18th century stands in the way of bridge widening project over the Tuckasegee River in Jackson County.

Plans call for widening the N.C. 107 bridge over the river from its existing width of just 20 feet to 50 feet at a cost of $4.2 million. The new bridge will be three lanes with shoulders and a sidewalk.

Landowners and the N.C. Department of Transportation are at odds over the project. The archaeological site is on land owned by the Moses family for 120 years. The family has taken pride in the site and hosted university sponsored archaeological digs on its property through the years.

While a wider bridge has been in the making for more than a decade, plans initially called for building a new bridge in the same place, leaving the archaeological site untouched. Plans were altered in 2007, calling not only for a much larger footprint but also shifting the bridge over to sit on top of the site.

The DOT failed to notify the landowners of the change until now, according to Cherrie Moses of Tuckasegee.

The family got a phone call a few weeks ago from DOT to discuss purchasing their property for the widening.

“We were in total shock,” said Moses, 52, a retired school teacher. “This is the first time we are hearing about this, and it is already a done deal. It was like all you need to do is sign on the dotted line, and the bulldozers are ready.”

Since 1997, Moses said she was told the site would be protected.

“The plans that my family had been given stated that the bridge was going back basically where it is, that the site would not be compromised,” Moses said.

Pam Williams, a bridge project planning engineer, said the Moses family was made aware of the new plan, but they must not have fully understood.

The DOT was well aware of the archaeological site in the path of the bridge widening. It plans to excavate the site first and document all the artifacts that are found, said Matt Wilkerson, a DOT archaeologist.

Wilkerson said one of the most intriguing aspects of the site is relatively recent Cherokee occupation dating to the 1700s. One house site was excavated in an archaeology dig by a university team a few decades ago, and Wilkerson thinks there may be more.

The site won’t be destroyed by the bridge, Wilkerson said. If anything, the bridge project will allow the secrets of the site to be uncovered with an archaeological dig.

In crafting an excavation plan, DOT consulted with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the state historic preservation office. Both signed off on the project with the caveat that the artifacts be saved in advance of the bulldozers.

Moses doesn’t understand why they included everyone except the landowners.

“That is not right. We would have liked to been in on the meeting and voiced our concerns,” said Moses, who also happens to be the chair of the Jackson County Historic Preservation Commission.

The site is on its way to being listed on the National Historic Register after being recommended by the DOT archaeologist.

Federal law requires a formal public process when impacting sites that are eligible for the National Register, but no one ever sought out participation by the Moses family.

 

Chain of events

The bridge was targeted for replacement more than a decade ago due to its age and narrow width. It is technically deemed “structurally deficient” and “functionally obsolete.” It is still safe, Williams said, but won’t stay that way forever, and maintenance costs will increase.

The existing bridge has 10-foot lanes and no shoulders.

“We have had several side swipes over the past few years,” Williams said.

The new bridge will have three 12-foot lanes, 4-foot shoulders that will double as bike lanes and a sidewalk on one side.

It will also have a left-turn lane for Shook Cove Road, which sits 100 feet from the bridge. The turn lane will be 200 feet long in all. Some left-turn lanes may only be 50 feet — just long enough for a couple of cars to queue up while waiting to make a left. Why is Shook Cove’s turn lane so long?

“There are a lot of variables actually to determine how much traffic would back up on the main line,” Williams said.

Williams cited an increase in development up Shook Cove as justifying the turn lane. Traffic counts in 2005 showed 4,700 cars a day passing over the bridge, with 200 vehicles making a left onto Shook Cove.

Moses questioned why the new bridge has to be so wide.

“This is a massive bridge. It is not even going to fit in,” Moses said.

Moses believes the bridge was planned with the expectation that new developments would add to traffic in the future. But the once zealous plans of developers are drastically scaled back these days, Moses said.

 

How it will be built

Under the original plan, a temporary river crossing would be built on the Moses property to accommodate traffic while the existing bridge was demolished and built back in the same place. To protect artifacts, heavy black fabric would be laid down and fill dirt placed on top. It would all be hauled away when the project was done. That method is no longer considered sensitive enough, however, Williams said.

Instead, DOT will use the “staged construction” method. Traffic will continue to flow on the existing bridge while the new bridge is built alongside it. Then traffic will shift to the new bridge while the old one is torn down and the other half of the new bridge built in its place.

Williams said there were two attempts to share the new plan with the public. One was a newsletter sent to property owners in December 2007. While the newsletter announces that the bridge will use a “staged construction method,” it fails to explain that such a method necessitates a larger bridge footprint.

“Reading the literature and having someone sit down with you and explain the plans are two different things,” Williams said.

The other outreach by the DOT was a public meeting in early 2008 on upgrades to N.C. 107, specifically lane widening and the new shoulders through the Tuckasegee community. Williams went to the meeting with the bridge plans in hand expecting residents would ask about it as part of the larger N.C. 107 upgrades.

Williams also said she twice mentioned “data recovery” to Moses in emails. But just as the term “staged construction” means little to the lay person, Moses did not realize that references to “data recovery” translated to “archaeological dig,” meaning the bridge’s footprint would consume the site and require an excavation in advance of construction.

But, by the same token, the DOT didn’t know exactly where the new footprint would be until now.

“We can’t sit down and tell them how much land we are taking until we get the design plans done,” Williams said. And at that point, property owners are contacted about buying right of way.

 

More information:

Construction of a wider bridge over the Tuckasegee on N.C. 107 could start by spring of 2011. The project would take 18 months. Two lanes of traffic — one in each direction — would remain open throughout.

Task force wants final crack at honing road list

Dueling solutions for relieving traffic on N.C. 107 in Sylva are poised to make the final cut in the long-awaited Jackson County Transportation Plan.

Both a bypass around the commercial thoroughfare and redesign of the road itself could ultimately be pursued, working in tandem to solve congestion rather than being an either-or proposition.

The task force charged with creating a long-range transportation plan for the county still faces a looming question, however: which one will appear on top of their list? Task force members are split over that question.

Dean Coward, an accountant in Sylva who is on the task force, believes the bypass is the answer, creating a new connector from U.S. 23-74 into the Cullowhee area that would avoid the bottleneck along the commercial stretch of N.C. 107.

“I hate to see that torn up,” Coward said of the countryside that would be impacted. “But the honest truth is that it is the only thing that will give real relief.”

Coward’s wife, who works at Western Carolina University, leaves for work at 7 a.m. to avoid traffic on N.C. 107, even though it puts her at work far earlier than she needs to be there.

But others on the task force would rather see trouble spots on N.C. 107 fixed first, including Alan Grant, who works at Southwestern Community College. Grant has sat through up to four light cycles at the intersection of N.C. 107 and U.S. Business 23 on Friday afternoon.

“I think almost everyone in Jackson County would think that is a major problem,” Grant said.

As for the bypass: “I am not against it, I just don’t think it is a panacea,” Grant said.

Still others on the task force don’t think a bypass belongs on the final list at all.

“In my view, once they fix the light timing on N.C. 107, I don’t think we really have a traffic problem,” said Don Selzer, another task force member. “There are certain times of day when things back up a little bit, but I don’t think it is a big deal.”

 

Loose ends

While reconciling the divergent views seems unlikely, task force members say they should attempt to rank the projects by priority and then vote on a final plan. It is unclear whether they will have that chance, however.

The coordinator of the task force, Ryan Sherby of the Southwestern Commission, said the task force has completed its charge of creating a master transportation plan.

At the last task force meeting, members assigned scores of 1 through 5 to a laundry list of road projects that were developed by the task force over the past years. Sherby tallied the scores and said the list now suffices as a transportation plan for the county.

Task force members feel otherwise, however. Those on both sides of the most contentious road project — a new bypass around N.C. 107 — want the opportunity to prioritize the list and to take a formal vote on it.

“With the limited financing from the state, we need to be absolutely sure that number one, two and three on the list are the real priorities,” Grant said. “It is the difference between reality and a wish list.”

Task force members didn’t realize walking into the last meeting that they would be asked to score the projects. The format for the meeting wasn’t revealed until its outset, allowing task force members little time to contemplate their answer, they said.

“It has got to be prioritized, but I don’t think going around the table and loosely getting people to throw out a score is the way to do it,” Coward said.

Grant says he would like to reconsider his score for a couple of the projects, describing the initial scoring process as merely “suggestive.”

Susan Levielle, another task force member, said she felt so flustered when it was her turn to rank the bypass that she gave it a high score even though she is adamantly opposed to it.

Task force members have yet to see a final tally of how each road project scored. Sherby compiled a spreadsheet of the rankings that shows the cumulative scores for each project, but has not disseminated it to the task force members — another reason they see the need to meet again.

“If I have been involved and put the energy in this far, I need to see the final plan to express an opinion on it before it goes out the door,” said Grant. “It still needs some finishing up.”

 

Few happy with results

While some opponents to a N.C. 107 connector say the task force didn’t give them adequate time to discuss their concerns, those who are for the bypass feel like too much time was dedicated to it.

Dean Coward said representatives from Smart Roads, a citizens group opposed to the bypass, have dominated the task force meetings, and as a result, he isn’t overly pleased with how the process went.

“I don’t see we are accomplishing a whole lot. I think we are spinning our wheels,” Coward said. “I think our role needs to be a little clearer as to what we are to do and who’s responsible for what. We have just been floundering around.”

Coward thinks the scoring system undertaken at the last meeting was an attempt to keep naysayers from continuing to bog down the process, but perhaps overcompensated. A plan was rapidly shepherded to the finish line and the result isn’t a very useful list, Coward said. Coward would rather see the task force prioritize the projects and then vote on the list — even if it results in a split vote.

Coward admits a consensus will be difficult, however. But the lack of a bona fide ranking system doesn’t do justice to the most serious problem of all: N.C. 107.

“It is the one road that affects everybody in the county,” Coward said. “I think you got to deal with 107 separately and then you can get about the other things that need to happen.”

Coward called the bypass aruund 107 “the elephant in the room.”

Levielle agrees. She suggests taking 107 off the list completely and dealing with it as a separate issue, allowing the rest of the transportation plan to advance with the task force’s endorsement, unfettered by controversy.

The appearance of both projects in the county’s transportation plan pleases Joel Setzer, the head of the Department of Transportation for the region.

“I honestly believe that both are needed,” Setzer said.

That’s what Setzer has been saying for several years. The task force seems to concur, he said, and the recommendation is supported by the traffic models created over the course of the task force’s work. Those traffic models show that congestion management alone along N.C. 107 couldn’t handle all the traffic projected along the road by the year 2035, Setzer said.

“I think if the task force and the model had said the new connection isn’t needed, I would have had to say I was mistaken and am sorry for that,” Setzer said. “I am relieved somewhat that my opinions after we started doing some number generation seem to be validated. That is always reassuring.”

But the traffic models were based on only a partial set of plans, according to some task force members. A feasibility study by DOT to fix N.C. 107 is only in the preliminary stages, so traffic engineers providing data to the task force couldn’t accurately gauge how much traffic would be improved by a redesign when the redesign hasn’t been formulated yet.

Don Selzer, a task force member, gave low scores to both congestion management fix for N.C. 107 and the bypass. He was under the impression congestion management meant extensive widening of N.C. 107 with more lanes — and if that’s what it means he’s against it. If it simply means targeting problem intersections, he’s for it.

Dean Coward also had trouble scoring congestion management since he didn’t know exactly what it entailed.

“It seems to be a generic term for a problem,” Coward said.

DOT’s Joel Setzer agrees that it’s unclear what fixing N.C. 107 would entail, whether that would mean extra lanes, perhaps roundabouts, side roads to handle traffic or some other combination. A feasibility study for a redesign of N.C. 107 is currently in the works but is far from complete.

As for which to pursue first — a new connector or 107 redesign — Setzer leans toward the bypass. Once completed, it would give drivers a way around N.C. 107, which could be crucial during construction on the thoroughfare itself.

“It is going to be a nightmare when that thing is under construction,” Setzer said.

 

Cart before the horse?

While the task force has not been afforded the opportunity to vote on the transportation plan, a regional transportation board already signed off on the draft plan last week. At a quarterly meeting of the Regional Planning Organization, comprised of elected leaders from six counties, Sherby asked the board to conditionally approve the Jackson County Transportation Plan.

Sherby said he planned to present the plan to the Jackson County commissioners in December, as well as to all four municipalities in the county, and expected them all to approve it. He asked the regional transportation planning body to go ahead and approve the plan, assuming that the elected bodies follow suit.

“I thought we could pass a resolution of support contingent on the county and four municipalities, that if they pass it by default the RPO supports it,” Sherby told members at the meeting.

As a result, the regional transportation board unanimously endorsed the task force’s plan, even though the task force itself has yet to endorse it.

Smart Roads calls on county to step up in 107 planning

A member of the Jackson County Smart Roads group told county commissioners on Monday (Jan. 5) that there needs to be more planning when it comes to the proposed N.C. 107 connector, a.k.a. Southern Loop.

The proposed road would connect N.C. 107 with U.S. 23/74 to relieve congestion on N.C. 107.

The Smart Roads representative, Jeanette Evans, said it is up to the county to develop a vision for future growth and development, particularly along the county’s primary commercial artery. She suggested that now is a good time for the county to launch a plan for N.C. 107 since the N.C. Department of Transportation is footing the bill to come up with solutions to congestion, whether it’s building a by-pass or improving the existing roadway.

It may be a good idea to develop an individual plan for N.C. 107 similar to what has been done on the 441 corridor, Evans said.

Evans, who is the Smart Roads representative on the Jackson County Transportation Task Force, said whatever is done to N.C. 107 will have a permanent affect on the county. The transportation task force is just in the “modeling stage” of determining how growth will affect N.C 107.

The fear is that the Southern Loop would destroy mountain landscapes.

County Commissioner Joe Cowan said N.C. 107 has been discussed for 10 years and has been “talked to death.” Cowan said Smart Roads has not developed one plan that addresses traffic concerns on N.C. 107. He said Smart Roads is “stagnant.”

But Susan Leveille, who is also a member of Smart Roads, said it is not her organization’s fault that progress has been slow. She laid the blame on DOT.

Cowan said DOT is not going to “decimate” a scenic area but said a bypass needs to be built to provide motorists with some relief.

Evans said Smart Roads is in place to advocate the community’s input on the road.

County Commissioner Tom Massie said there is already a county land use plan in place that addresses protecting scenic and cultural resources. Massie noted that the land use plan should be used in planning for N.C. 107 since the plan was developed with input form the public.

Massie suggested that the county planner and DOT planner communicate more about the county’s land use plan.

DOT takes input on N.C. 107 project

Jackson County residents weighed in on proposed road improvements for N.C. 107 at a citizens informational workshop Feb. 25 at Western Carolina University’s Ramsey Center.

Competing road studies likely for N.C. 107

The next year could play out as a battle of the traffic studies between the Department of Transportation and opponents to a new four-lane divided highway through Jackson County.

An engineer’s take on N.C. 107

Walter Kulash, a private traffic engineer, has been advising the Jackson County Smart Roads Alliance on and off for four years on issues pertaining to the Southern Loop. Kulash specializes in “livable traffic” design and has worked as a consultant on projects all over the country. Kulash will be speaking at a presentation on Jan. 10 hosted by Smart Roads. We asked him for his take whether there’s a fix for N.C. 107 that doesn’t involve the Southern Loop.

Smart Roads Alliance seeks answers on Southern Loop

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

In their fight to stop progress to the proposed Southern Loop, members of the Jackson County Smart Roads Alliance filed a public records request last week with the North Carolina Department of Transportation to obtain all written material pertaining to the road.

Southern Loop opposition mounts

Jackson County residents opposed to the construction of the Southern Loop — a new major highway that would bisect Jackson County — are gearing up for a fight with the N.C. Department of Transportation to halt the slow but steady gears toward eventual construction.

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