SMART
ROADS
NOT NEW ROADS
|
www.smartroads.org
| SMART ROADS |
| Jackson
County Smart Roads Alliance is an alliance of
concerned citizens, municipalities, government
leaders and grassroots organizations in Jackson
County, North Carolina. Smart
Roads is a non-partisan, non-profit community
coalition. All donations are appreciated and are
tax-deductable.
|
IMPORTANT MEETINGS
Tuesday
January 15
Important
Official NCDOT
T.I.P. Meeting
in Murphy
2 - 4 PM
Link
Thursday
January 17
Jackson County Transportation Task Force Meeting
(Sylva, NC)
1 PM
Room A227 in the Jackson County Justice & Administration Building on Thursday January 17th at 1PM. Please call if you need directions. Zaneta Adme the new NCDOT engineer coordinating the plan and Sarah
Smith the NCDOT Mountains Planning Group Supervisor will be conducting
the meeting.
Ryan Sherby
RPO Planner
Southwest Commission - Region A
125 Bonnie Lane
Sylva, NC 28779
(828) 586-1962 x214
www.regiona.org
|
| JACKSON COUNTY
NEWS |
January 9, 2008
DOT road hearings have potential for controversy from Smoky Mountain News
January 2, 2008
Competing
road studies likely for N.C. 107 from Smoky Mountain News
November 28, 2007
DOT's Conrad
Burrell and Joel Setzer ignore public; move forward with plan to build
Southern Loop against public outcry and towns' wishes from Smoky Mountain News
November 8, 2007
Smart Roads Alliance asks DOT for all documents on Southern Loop from The Sylva Herald
November 7, 2007
Transportation Task Force Meeting Cancelled by DOT
November 7, 2007
Smart
Roads Alliance seeks answers on Southern Loop from Smoky Mountain News
November 1, 2007
DOT report details agency's inefficiencies, employee concerns from Associated Press
October 24, 2007
Macon County: New road to "Mayberry" fuels neighboring county's DOT controversy from Smoky Mountain News
October 11, 2007
Opinion: What is DOT trying to hide? from Asheville Citizen-Times
October 4, 2007
Task Force says N.C. 107 study should be ahead of Southern Loop from The Sylva Herald
October 3, 2007
Editorial: DOT needs to hit the brakes on Southern Loop from Smoky Mountain News
October 3, 2007
Southern
Loop opposition mounts from Smoky Mountain News
September 27,
2007
Opinion: Southern
Loop is back on table without local public input from The Sylva HeraldSeptember 26, 2007
Vote
on Southern Loop postponed from Smoky Mountain News
September 19,
2007
Southern
Loop on priority list, committee says it wasn't
them
from Smoky Mountain News
August 9, 2007
Transportation
task force regroups after inactive year from The Sylva Herald
May
3, 2007
TIP includes funding for
portion of Southern Loop from The Sylva Herald May 2, 2007
Editorial: Re-thinking transportation is a must from Smoky Mountain News
April 25,
2007
Southern
Loop: Leaders, citizens demand input as road plan
progresses from Smoky Mountain News
"Joel Setzer, the head
of the DOT for the 10 western counties, said the
construction of a new highway is the only
solution to traffic congestion on N.C. 107."
...
"Currently
no plans for examining traffic
solutions on N.C. 107, other
than the Southern Loop, are on the DOT’s
to-do list.
“There
is nothing planned for 107 other than
resurfacing,” Setzer
said."
|
| 2005 NEWS
ARTICLES |
December
12, 2005
Opinion: Jackson,
others need to learn to plan from Smoky Mountain News October 19, 2005
Transportation Task Force Meeting Cancelled by DOT
(Was supposed to be 3rd meeting. Last meeting August 2004 was ALSO cancelled. Task force was created in 2003) October
13, 2005
Sylva
leaders look toward expansion from The Sylva Herald
October
12, 2005
Sylva,
SCC first to offer growth plans to DOT from Smoky Mountain News
July
7, 2005
County,
town, school officials begin land use planning
process
from The Sylva Herald
June
30, 2005
Opinion: Questioning
WCU’s growth from The Sylva Herald
June
9, 2005
County
leaders OK drafting land-use plan from The Sylva Herald
"Completion of such a
plan is important because it could lead to DOT
efforts to alleviate congestion on N.C. 107, said
Commissioner Conrad Burrell, who is also the
Division 14 representative on the state
transportation board."
"[It] would allow
planning to begin for easing congestion through
various means, including the proposed Southern
Loop around Sylva, Burrell said."
June
8, 2005
Jackson
County agrees to create land-use map from Smoky Mountain News
June
2, 2005
Opinion: Planning
meeting informative, awakening from The Sylva Herald
May
19, 2005
Sylva
picks ‘area of consideration’ from The Sylva Herald
May
18, 2005
Sylva
targets growth areas for
‘consideration’ from Smoky Mountain News
May
18, 2005
DOT
wants local government leadership from Smoky Mountain News
May
4, 2005
Former
DOT planner to discuss agency’s
decision-making process from Smoky Mountain News
April
14, 2005
Sylva
ranks 16th statewide in car crashes from The Sylva Herald
April
6, 2005
An
interview with County Commision Chairman Brian
McMahan
from Smoky Mountain News
March
24, 2005
Opinion: Development's
Cost
from The Sylva Herald
March
9, 2005
Editorial: Towards
a Mass-Transit future from Smoky Mountain News
|
| I-3 NEWS ARTICLES |
What
you can do from Stop I-3
March
8, 2006
Two
more counties join opposition to I-3 from Smoky Mountain News
February
8, 2006
Macon
takes official stand against I-3 from Smoky Mountain News
September
4, 2005
I-3
planning process shrouded in ambiguity from Smoky Mountain News
August
10, 2005
Opinion: Not
so fast on this whole I-3 thing from Asheville
Citizen-Times
August
10, 2005
Meeting
to cover I-3 topics
from Smoky Mountain News
August
8, 2005
Interstate
3 study stirs WNC protest - Residents organize to
fight road plan from Asheville Citizen-Times
July
31, 2005
Interstate
is to mountains what drilling is to the gulf from St. Petersburg
Times
July
13, 2005
Interstate
3 could have large impact on WNC from Smoky Mountain News
July
6, 2005
Interstate
3: WNC politicians weigh in from Smoky Mountain News
July
6, 2005
Interstate
3 battle lines drawn as Georgia seeks to lighten
Atlanta’s load from Smoky Mountain News
July
6, 2005
It’s
going where? (I-3)
from Smoky Mountain News
June
28, 2005
WNC
interstate plans still on drawing board from The Franklin Press
Links:
StopI3.org
StopInterstate3.com
|
| 2004 NEWS
ARTICLES |
|
August 9, 2004
Transportation Task Force Meeting Cancelled by DOT
(Was supposed to be 3rd meeting. Task force was created in 2003) July
29, 2004
Smart Roads Letter:
Public
input helped start transportation study down
right path (Jeanette Evans) from The Sylva
Herald
July
21, 2004
Editorial: Creative
solutions for N.C. 107 should be attempted from Smoky Mountain News
July
15, 2004
Flashback: Road
controversy is nothing new from The Sylva Herald
July
15, 2004
Road study to include focus on 107
traffic
from The Sylva Herald
July
15, 2004
WCU
adds traffic circle
from The Sylva Herald
Sylva
Herald photo
July
14, 2004
Task force maps out agenda from Smoky Mountain News
July 12, 2004
2nd Transportation Task Force Meeting
(Task force was created in 2003) July
8, 2004
Smart Roads Letter:
Smart
Roads Alliance continues to work for alternative
solutions
(Avram Friedman) from The Sylva Herald
June
30, 2004
Transportation
task force plans July 1 meeting from Smoky Mountain News
April
29, 2004
Smart Roads Letter:
Disappointed
with format at first transportation study meeting (Avram Friedman) from
The Sylva Herald
April
29, 2004
Transportation group defines
target area from The Sylva Herald
April
28, 2004
Compiling commuting data is task
force’s first real task from Smoky Mountain News
April
28, 2004
Cope
Creek area targeted for development from Smoky Mountain News
April
21, 2004
Clemson
students offer ideas for Sylva’s growth,
planning; 107 from Smoky Mountain News
April 20, 2004
1st Transportation Task Force Meeting
(Task force was created in 2003) April
15, 2004
Earth
Day at WCU to include alternative cars from The Sylva Herald
April
14, 2004
Smart
Roads forum part of WCU Earth Day from Smoky Mountain News
April
7, 2004
Sylva
ranks high in auto crashes; N.C. 107 blamed
from Smoky Mountain News
March
31, 2004
Southern
Loop task force still not meeting from Smoky Mountain News
February
25, 2004
Sylva
town planner gives presentation on new road
system
from Smoky Mountain News
|
| 2003 NEWS
ARTICLES |
December
24, 2003
Bus
route will run betwen Sylva, WCU from Smoky Mountain News
December
17, 2003
New
Eckerd store for Sylva enters into
planning process from Smoky Mountain News
November
26, 2003
Commisioners
ask for N.C. 107 study from Smoky Mountain News
November
20, 2003
Commissioners OK
resolution seeking N.C. 107 traffic study from The Sylva Herald
October
30, 2003
DOT officials urged to
heed 'will of the people' about Loop from The Sylva Herald
October
29, 2003
Residents,
DOT uncertain where road is going from Smoky Mountain News
October
23, 2003
Officials
postpone action on N.C. 107 traffic study, Loop from The Sylva Herald
October 22, 2003
DOT TIP Meeting
October
16, 2003
Officials
asked to oppose Southern Loop from The Sylva Herald
October
9, 2003
Connecting
existing roads could reduce traffic on busy N.C.
107 from
The Sylva Herald
October
9, 2003
Editorial: Plan
for series of connecting roads sounds sensible from The Sylva Herald
October
8, 2003
Editorial: Finding
common ground on the Southern Loop from Smoky Mountain News
October
1, 2003
DOT
officials want to enlarge loop study area from Smoky Mountain News
September
11, 2003
Sylva, Dillsboro join
official opposition to Southern Loop from The Sylva Herald
September
11, 2003
Officials
hear from DOT access management specialists from The Sylva Herald
September
10, 2003
Road
rumors prompt DOT to bring all parties to the
table from Smoky Mountain News
August
28, 2003
Webster officials request
elimination of Southern Loop from The Sylva Herald
August
27, 2003
DOT
warms to new ideas, says former employee from Smoky Mountain News
August
14, 2003
DOT
officials: 'We're looking at all possibilities' from The Sylva Herald
August 6, 2003
Traffic guru preaches community
building from Smoky Mountain News
August 6, 2003
Editorial: The
right road is in sight from
Smoky Mountain News
July
31, 2003
Traffic expert recommends
improvements to N.C. 107 from The
Sylva Herald
July
23, 2003
Road
is catalyst for intense debate from Smoky Mountain News
July
17, 2003
Crowd
gathers to voice opposition to proposed highway from The Sylva Herald
Sylva
Herald photo
by Nick Breedlove
July
10, 2003
Smart
Roads Alliance to sponsor community forums,
expert's visit from The Sylva Herald
July
9, 2003
Smart Roads Letter:
Southern
Loop needs more study (Lydia Aydlette) from Smoky
Mountain News
July
9, 2003
Road
opponents plan series of meetings from Smoky Mountain News
July
3, 2003
Proposed
Southern Loop routes from The Sylva Herald
March
5, 2003
Southern
Loop by-pass road study delayed from Smoky Mountain News
|
| DONATIONS |
Donations
may be made to:
"TCA/Smart Roads"
P.O. Box 661
Sylva, NC 28779
TCA
is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All
donations are tax-deductable.
Tuckaseegee
Community Alliance (TCA) is a local chapter of
the Western
North Carolina Alliance.
|
Website design
and hosting
donated by:
|
Please call AND write letters to your representatives
to let them know how you feel about this issue.
Then write a letter to our local newspapers,
your town, county and state representatives,
and send copies to us and to DOT in Raleigh.
Conrad Burrell
NC Division 14 Department of Transportation
Mr. Burrell is our region's representative on the
state Board of Transportation.
828-586-4301
NCDOT/Division 14
253 Webster Road
Sylva, NC 28779
MR. BURRELL IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PLACING THE SOUTHERN LOOP ON THE T.I.P. PRIORITY LIST.
HE CAN ALSO REMOVE IT.
We appreciate the support of our county commissioners.
Please let them know how much their voice counts, too.
Brian McMahan
Chairman, Jackson County Commissioners
828-586-5451
Elected officials' contact information will be posted shortly.
|
For
more information and media contacts, please call
Jeannette Evans at (828) 293-3096
Jason Kimenker at (828) 586-1717
Lydia Aydlett at (828) 631-3824
or Harold Messer at (828) 586-9416
Tax-deductable donations may be made to:
"TCA/Smart Roads" P.O. Box 661, Sylva,
NC 28779
|
"Never doubt that a
small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing
that ever has."
- Margaret Mead
|
Working together as a
community with a vision, citizens and community
leaders from all parts of our county have formed
an alliance to oppose this destructive plan.
Finding realistic alternatives and smart solutions
include traffic
management for
N.C. 107 and a network of local roads to ease congestion.
**
2001 North Carolina Department of Transportation
estimate. Future costs will be much higher;
more likely upwards of $500 million tax dollars
|
Jackson
County Smart Roads Alliance was formed in 2002 in
response to a proposal by the North Carolina
Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to use
taxpayer money to build a new $228 million** 4-lane wide bypass highway
through the middle of our most precious and
beautiful rural county. |
"We
are not against growth and development,
nor a reasonable expansion of existing roads.
We are for the preservation of our communities."
- Lydia Aydlett, Smart Roads Alliance
|
NCDOT's
feasability study (FS-0114C) states the purpose of the
proposed new highway is to relieve traffic congestion on
Jackson County's busy N.C. 107. The highway project (R-4745) is defined as "SYLVA-DILLSBORO
SOUTHERN LOOP. US 23-441 SOUTH OF DILLSBORO TO US 23-74
EAST OF SYLVA. CONSTRUCT MULTI-LANE FREEWAY ON NEW
LOCATION."
With Smart
Roads, we can accomplish what a majority of
residents and local officials in Jackson County want to
do: preserve
open space and prevent suburban sprawl from taking over our farms,
woodlands and wetlands.
Why not make current roads work better, rather than shifting the
problem to our precious countryside? Building more and
wider roads through rural lands uses our tax dollars to
subsidize sprawl. It also causes congestion as more cars
and trucks come rushing to use the latest development. A new highway will greatly increase
commercial growth and development, especially where the
bypass would meet US 23/74, NC 107, and US 441. Along
with more cars will come more traffic, more gas stations,
more fast food, more big box stores and more asphalt
parking lots. How much more do we really need? Traffic to
and from those new developments will increase
traffic on NC 107, not relieve it, defeating the very
reason NCDOT claims the road would be built.
We can't
build our way out of traffic congestion, in fact we
already know that building more roads leads to more cars,
more trucks and more pollution. The solution is to improve the roads we already have and make it convenient for
people to get where they want to go without
necessarily having to drive.
|
Jackson
County Transit, a tax-payer
funded public transportation service, has
helped the Smart Roads Alliance
by expanding their service to include
regular daily public bus service routes
in a loop around Sylva, Webster and
Dillsboro. |
Three years ago, when we began our
Smart Roads, Not New Roads
campaign, there were no daily public bus routes
offered in our county.
This is a huge
accomplishment for our community!
|
Smart Roads is a
realistic alternative to the $230 million proposal to
construct a "Sylva-Dillsboro Southern Loop
By-Pass" right through the middle of Webster. Smart
Roads is less costly for taxpayers and less
damaging to our community and the environment. It's a
plan for cars and people. It's the smart
solution.
Map courtesy of Smoky Mountain News
Alert: Sylva-Dillsboro
Southern Loop
New
By-Pass Road Proposed
Two potential routes have been
identified by the North Carolina Department of
Transportation (NCDOT)
|
|
The destructive
impact and costs of building a new 4-lane highway
by-pass road through the middle of Jackson County
will be immense!
The
northern alternate would run from roughly
Mockingbird Lane on U.S. 23-441 south of
Dillsboro, cross N.C. 107 just south of Cope
Creek Road and intersect U.S. 23-74 east of Sylva
near Blanton Branch. The northern route will
displace more than 124 homes and
17 businesses*. Estimated cost
for construction and right-of-way acquisition on
the 6.3-mile segment is $193,800,000**
(or approximately $31 million per mile).
The
southern alternate would leave U.S. 23-441
near Cagle Branch Road, cross N.C. 107 near South
River Road and intersect with U.S. 23-74 near
Blanton Branch. The southern route will displace
more than 94 homes and 5
buisnesses*. Estimated construction and
right-of-way cost for the 8.7-mile road is $227,400,000**
(over $26 million per mile).
Both
alternates are proposed as four-lane routes. The
Jackson County Smart Road Alliance questions the
need for the proposed road. A significant portion
of Jackson County's farms, woodlands and wetlands
will be impacted, as well as our quality of life.
* These
displacement estimates (ie. removal, destruction
of homes, farms, businesses, etc) do
not include any new constructions
since study was commissioned. Assume all numbers
to be greater than initial estimates.
** Based on
rising material and fuel costs, the total
tax-payer cost of new bypass construction will
be much greater than the 2001
estimates of $228 million.
|
The
Resolution, signed by all four of
Jackson County's incorporated towns, requests
that DOT "remove the Southern Loop Bypass
from its long-range plan" and instead
develop strategies for "improving existing
roads as alternatives to the Bypass."
It also asks that DOT hear the concerns of
Jackson Country residents by taking part in a
community-based forum.
The document also states that a study of
"smart growth" traffic improvement
alternatives in Sylva should begin as soon as
possible.
One
of the main reasons Jackson County is among the
fastest growing areas in North Carolina is that
people are fed up with congested cities and
suburbs and are attracted to the natural splendor
and strong sense of community that we enjoy.
Field
& Stream Magazine rated our river #4 as Best
Trout Fishing in America! Tourism is Jackson
County's top industry.
The
proposed highway is bad news for river lovers,
including trout and fishing fans from around the
world.
Map of
effected area
Satellite
map - Webster, NC
(NC 116 @
NC107)
|
With Smart
Roads
we can:
|
* Retool portions of NC
107 to handle traffic more efficiently
as a realistic alternative to building
a $230 million 4-lane highway through the
center of our rural county.
* Use proven access management
techniques to improve NC
107 traffic flow. NCDOT already uses
access management techniques in other NC
communities - and they work!
* Expand the existing
Jackson County Transit System to include
regular bus routes to make it more
comfortable and convenient for residents
and tourists. Accomplished!
* End taxpayer subsidies
for new roads, water and utility lines
that contriubute to sprawling
development.
* Protect and preserve the
rural countryside of Webster, its
woodlands and the delicate watershed of
our prized Tuckaseegee river.
|
|
| Smoky
Mountain News (December 29, 2004) Latest in the news, in
2004 the "Jackson County Smart Roads
Alliance raised arms against the N.C.
Department of Transportation. Plans for a
Southern Loop bypass were halted at the end of
2003 and a new task force was organized to look
at transportation issues across the county.
However, the task force was slow to move.
In March [2004], DOT officials in charge of
organizing meetings said they were behind and
stymied by the Town of Dillsboro’s failure
to appoint a representative to the task force.
The task force finally got to work in April,
outlining a laundry list of data to be collected,
but residents who had taken a stand against the
Southern Loop cried out that the DOT was
attempting to railroad the process. The
DOT’s Statewide Planning Director Beverly
Williams argued that in order to project future
traffic patterns, data such as traffic counts,
commutes, and how many institutional vehicles
were in the county must be a part of the
equation.
The end result was a move to double up on the
planning process, pairing the DOT’s modeling
and 25-year plan of action with a subcommittee to
study immediate traffic needs such as access
management. That was in July [2004]. To date no
additional progress has been made."
|
| Smoky
Mountain News (December 31, 2003) In July 2003, the
Southern Loop bypass issue was front page news.
"Debate over whether to build a $210 million
highway through a rural area of southern Jackson
County is in full swing.
Engineers and planners with the North Carolina
Department of Transportation in Jackson County
claim a new highway known as the Southern Loop is
the only solution to alleviate traffic congestion
on N.C. 107. N.C. 107 is a busy four- to
five-lane road between Sylva and Cullowhee that
is cluttered with stoplights, fast food
restaurants, a Wal-Mart and a plethora of curb
cuts and turn lanes. The proposed Southern Loop
would allow through traffic headed to Western
Carolina University to by-pass N.C. 107.
But opponents claim new highways contribute to
sprawl and contend there are smart growth
solutions to fixing the traffic congestion. A
group called the Smart Roads Alliance
is formed and holds meetings attended en masse by
Jackson County residents.
DOT officials say the public is being hasty in
its opposition, as the project is merely in the
feasibility stages and is not yet slated for
construction. Opponents contend it will be too
late to fight the road once it is slated for
construction, however. In the fall, the
Department of Transportation announces the
Southern Loop will be put on the back burner and
a comprehensive traffic study initiated to
determine whether there are any viable
alternatives to a new highway. Opponents do not
back down, however, as the road project is not
removed from the DOT’s official list of
projects. The DOT’s study of alternatives is
underway."
|
Mr.
Conrad Burrell
c/o NC D.O.T. / Region 14
253 Webster Road
Sylva, NC 28779
|
Mr.
Al Avant
Program Development Branch
1534 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699
|
Ms.
Beverly Williams
(919)733-5737
Transportation Planning Branch
bevwilliams@dot.state.nc.us
|
Please send copies of any letters you
send to the TCA/Smartroads address listed at top
of this page.
|
From The Sylva
Herald (July 3, 2003)
Who
will decide how county grows?
Residents or Raleigh?
By Roger Turner
and Lydia Aydlett
Jackson County
Smart Roads Alliance
Jackson County conducted a series of Smart Growth
public meetings in 2000 to identify the needs and
concerns of its citizens.
It was clear at that time that citizens favored
growth that would preserve mountain communities,
heritage, natural resources and rural landscape.
This has not changed. We now have a defining
issue: the proposed Sylva Bypass-Loop Road. (See
map on page 1A.)
"Who will decide the growth of Jackson
County?" was the question asked by a group
of concerned citizens who met last Thursday night
at Webster Methodist Church. The group, the
Jackson County Smart Roads Alliance, gathered in
response to the recently-released feasibility
study by the N.C. Department of Transportation on
the Sylva Bypass Road, designed to address
traffic congestion on N.C. Highway 107.
For those who have not seen the study, two
potential routes are defined - the northern route
intersecting N.C. 107 at Cope Creek and the
southern route at a point south of the
intersection of Highways 107/116 near Jack the
Dipper.
Each alternative is divided into two segments.
The west segment runs from U.S. 23-441 to N.C.
107, and the east segment from N.C. 107 to U.S.
23-74. The northern alternate would roughly
follow Cope Creek, with the southern alternate
running near and just west of Locust Creek.
Either of the two routes will lead to a four-lane
highway with 300- to 1,400-foot right-of-ways
within a 1,200-foot corridor.
The impact on several communities will be
immense: The northern route will displace 124
homes and 17 businesses, while the southern route
will take 94 homes and five businesses. A
significant portion of Jackson County's farms,
woodlands and wetlands will be impacted, as well
as our quality of life.
The Smart Roads Alliance has been meeting since
September 2002 to explore alternatives and
options to building an entirely new road system
around Sylva. These meetings defined a need for a
feasibility study for the management of traffic
on N.C. 107, for a possible redesigning of
existing strip development, transportation
planning and improvements that fit with community
character and preservation of open space.
Such management can bring significant benefits:
postponing or preventing costly new highways,
improving traffic safety by reducing congestion
and delays, promoting desirable land use
patterns, and making pedestrian and bicycle
travel safer. The current clutter and congestion
along N.C. 107 is the result of poor planning
policies and lack of vision.
In November 2002, Jackson County and the towns of
Sylva and Webster formally requested a study for
traffic management on N.C.107 from Department of
Transportation. This is not addressed or
mentioned in DOT's feasibility study.
The traffic analysis offered is predicated on
either a "no-build" scenario or a
"build" scenario.
There is no attempt at defining a
"no-build" with an improved N.C. 107
scenario. N.C. DOT has often stated its
willingness to work with local citizens and
officials by welcoming public input. If this is
true, then why does it continue to ignore a
reasonable request for a study to improve traffic
flows on N.C. 107?
Any feasibility study will be deeply flawed until
it addresses indirect and cumulative impacts of
this proposed road or an evaluation of
project-induced growth effects such as changes in
the pattern of land use, population density or
growth rate, and related effects on air, water
and other natural systems. An assessment of these
effects is required by the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969, the N.C. Environmental Policy
Act, and under the Council on Environmental
Quality regulations implementing NEPA.
To address the threat of disruption that a bypass
will bring to Jackson County, the Smart Roads
Alliance is planning a forum on managing
troublesome traffic spots on N.C. 107 along with
its negative impact on the surrounding business
and residential communities. The Alliance wants
to create an opportunity for people of Jackson
County to decide how growth will occur and how to
manage the problems growth brings. We seek a
vision that will solve traffic problems without
jeopardizing our quality of life.
The question remains: Who will decide the future
growth of Jackson County? Will it be done by the
people who live here or by a bureaucracy in
Raleigh that exists to build roads? We are not
against growth and development, nor a reasonable
expansion of existing roads.
We are for the preservation of our communities.
The answers to this issue are not easy. If you
would like to be part of the answer, join the
Smart Roads Alliance.
For more information, call Lydia Aydlett at (828)
631-3824
or Harold Messer at (828) 586-9416. |
| From The Sylva
Herald (July 12, 2001)
Southern
Loop feasibility study approved To the Editor:
I would like to share some important information
regarding a proposed southern loop around the
town of Sylva. The N.C. Department of
Transportation is in the early stages of the
planning process - studying the possibility of
building an eight-mile, two-lane bypass.
Building a highway is a lengthy process, one that
can take from seven to 10 years. Many factors
must be considered before construction begins -
including need, traffic demand, public input,
funding, location for the highway, environmental,
aesthetic and community impacts and right-of-way
acquisition. I want to explain how this process
works and how citizens can be involved in
planning highways in their area.
First, in 1993, local officials asked the
department to study highway needs 20-25 years in
the future based on projected population growth
and traffic counts and to provide solutions to
possible highway congestion. Based on this
information and after 11 months of study, state
engineers produced a "Thoroughfare
Plan" for Sylva and Dillsboro that showed
the need for a new southern route. This proposed
route would help alleviate traffic congestion
along N.C. 107 bound for Western Carolina
University and truck traffic off of Main Street
in Sylva.
Second, after a thoroughfare plan is produced,
the department conducts a feasibility study to
see how and where such a route could be
constructed. N.C. DOT staff investigates all
possibilities and makes recommendations on
specific routes that would protect natural
resources and minimize impacts on residents. This
is where we are now in the process with years of
environmental studies and public workshops before
a decision is made to build a new loop around
Sylva.
Last month the department included a feasibility
study for a South Sylva Bypass in the 2002-08
Transportation Improvement Plan - the
department's blueprint for statewide
transportation projects during the next seven
years. N.C. DOT staff will begin studying all
corridors from U.S. 23/441 south of Dillsboro to
U.S. 23 Business east of Sylva that will help
alleviate congestion along N.C. 107.
Once the feasibility study is completed in 2002,
the N.C. DOT staff will hold public meetings so
that citizens and local officials can have an
active voice in their transportation network.
Only then will a decision be made whether or not
to proceed with the proposed project.
If the decision is made to build the highway, the
next steps would include funding, public
workshops and hearings and designing the highway.
During this time, N.C. DOT staff would study the
protection of endangered species, water quality,
historical landmarks and obtain permits from
resource agencies. The department also would
begin surveying, appraising and negotiating for
right of way with property owners. This process
alone can take up to five years.
We are in the beginning stages of this project,
and nothing is set in stone. However, it
is important for citizens to take an active role
in transportation planning. I encourage citizens to
review the Thoroughfare Plan, which is available
at the N.C. DOT Division Office, located along
N.C. 116 in Sylva, and to attend future public
meetings.
You can decide what your
community will look like and how traffic will
flow in the next 20 years. I welcome the
opportunity to talk one-on-one with citizens
about this and other projects in the area. I can
be reached at (828) 586-2141 in Sylva.
Sincerely,
Ron Watson, P.E.
14th Division Engineer
N.C. Department of Transportation
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