A message sent by opponents of the Russ Avenue widening project’s Walnut Street segment appears to have been received loud and clear by state transportation officials.

After holding two public hearings that drew large crowds of opposition, Waynesville Mayor Gavin Brown and the board of aldermen took an official stance on the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s unpopular proposal for Russ Avenue improvements.

Although work on the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s proposed improvements to Russ Avenue won’t begin until 2022, Waynesville residents have already been persistent and vociferous in their opposition to the Walnut Street segment of the project.

News of a historic portion of Walnut Street’s inclusion in the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s plan for the widening of Russ Avenue in Waynesville went over with property owners like a ton of the bricks in Charles McDarris’ 90-something year old retaining wall.

Although many property owners and residents have lauded what they call a “much needed” widening project on Waynesville’s most heavily travelled artery, they’ve universally decried the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s plans for Russ Avenue as detrimental to one of the town’s most aesthetically significant corridors.

Waynesville leaders are weighing whether to expand the commercial footprint of Russ Avenue, an issue that has pitted neighbors against each other along the recently widened Howell Mill Road.

Ingles Markets has gotten approval for a few minor changes to its site plan as it moves forward with a $7.5 million expansion project off Russ Avenue, which includes a Chick-fil-A, gas station, car wash, a parking lot makeover and additional retailers.

A grandiose plan to remake Waynesville’s Russ Avenue commercial corridor into a tree-lined boulevard has gotten a little less grandiose.

Love it or hate it, the concrete median down the middle of Russ Avenue in Waynesville on the approach to Ingles entrance road is here to stay.

Work continues on repairs to a massive sinkhole that collapsed suddenly near Ingles grocery store in Waynesville several weeks ago.