Mark Barrett

mbarrett@citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE – State and federal agencies chose Wednesday a route for the I-26 Connector that will separate local and through traffic in the area around Bowen Bridge, bowing to long-standing community demands, a local environmental group says.

The choice of what's called alternative 4B will reserve Bowen Bridge primarily for local traffic and pedestrian and bicycle facilities. Cars on Interstate 240 will, if travelling westbound, turn north for a short distance on what is now U.S. 19-23 at the western edge of downtown, cross the French Broad River, drive on a route to the northwest of West Gate shopping center and intersect Patton Avenue near Sam's Club.

That type of configuration is likely to be more expensive and involves more driving for through traffic but has long been a goal of many area residents who favor alternative modes of transportation and a boulevard-style connection between West Asheville and downtown. It offers more space for facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists, easier access to West Gate and Hillcrest public housing complex and the possibility that some land could be reclaimed for other uses from the tangle of highway ramps at the east end of Bowen Bridge.

Julie Mayfield, co-director of environmental group MountainTrue and a member of City Council, said representatives of governmental agencies including the state Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and environmental regulatory bodies agreed on the alternative during a meeting late Wednesday afternoon. She said she had spoken to a city government official who attended the meeting in Raleigh.

"We've been having this conversation for a long time, so this is an enormous milestone in the history of this project," she said.

A DOT engineer working on the project could not be reached for comment.

Mayfield, who said she was speaking in her capacity as a leader of MountainTrue, also said DOT has chosen the least expensive alternative for rebuilding the Interstate 26/Interstate 40/I-240 interchange on the west side of Asheville near the WNC Farmers Market.

Those alternatives generated much less controversy than did the decision about how to route the I-26 Connector around Bowen Bridge, although the cost and scale of alternatives for the interchange that called for long bridges called flyovers did raise some eyebrows.

Mayfield said the choice of alternative 4B near Bowen Bridge reflects years of community effort.

"After 20 years of community conversations about the I-26 Connector Project and its impact on Asheville, we welcome the selection of Alternative 4B for the bridge section," she said in a statement. "This decision reflects thousands of hours of hard work that residents of Asheville put into developing and advocating for an alternative that will benefit Asheville rather than just moving highway traffic through our city."

DOT at one time had seemed much more likely to push for a different alternative that would be shorter and cheaper but divert much less traffic from Bowen Bridge, she said in an interview.

Public support for another way changed that, said Mayfield, whose organization led a coalition of community groups pushing for 4B.

"As a community we have done a really good job of standing united behind the principles and the outcomes that we wanted to see for Asheville," she said.

DOT's most recent long-range master plan calls for construction of a new route across the French Broad River near Bowen Bridge to begin in late 2023 or in 2024. Work on the I-26/I-40/I-240 interchange west of the city is to begin in 2021.

DOT estimated last year that alternative 4B around Bowen Bridge would cost $332 million to build, a little more than $100 million more than the cheapest alternative in that area that DOT studied.

The I-26 Connector project had been delayed in years past because of state funding shortages, local disagreements over which way the connector should be built and, at one point, a low ranking it received when DOT evaluated similar projects using a variety of statistical factors.

Mayfield said that now that the project has reached this point, the additional cost of 4B should not delay it any more.

"What we have been told is that this section of I-26 is funded regardless of which section is chosen," she said.

The choice of the route appears to be virtually final, she said.

"I would say pretty close to it. It is possible to change the selection of the preferred alternative, but it is unusual," Mayfield.

Alternative 4B is a modified version of a plan first worked out by a group of local architects and other design professionals called the Asheville Design Center, said Alan McGuinn, an architect who said he has been involved in that effort for nearly a decade. The group came together because of dissatisfaction with DOT plans.

"I'm very pleased and I think overall (4B) is the best choice for the city of Asheville," he said.

Other DOT alternatives would have required many motorists driving to West Gate to negotiate a curvy and potentially confusing maze of ramps and traffic lights and left Hillcrest bounded on three sides by freeways that cut it off from the rest of the city. Getting to or from Haywood Road in West Asheville would have also been more complicated under some of the scenarios DOT considered.

Alternatives that moved less traffic off Bowen Bridge would have meant DOT would have to propose another fix for congestion in the area in a few more years, McGuinn said.

McGuinn said there have been times over the past few years when he thought local residents had convinced DOT to see things their way and other times when he despaired of having any impact on the project.

"I give DOT credit in that they did listen to us, I think, in this round when sometimes I thought they didn't," he said.

Wednesday's decision leaves another controversial question about the I-26 Connector unanswered: How many lanes should I-240 be in West Asheville?

That choice may be years away. DOT's long-range plan says it won't even begin buying property for that part of the connector until after 2025 and it contains no date for the start of construction.

Alternative 4B

Following is information about the alternative chosen for the section of the I-26 Connector that includes a new crossing of the French Broad River north of Bowen Bridge. It is derived from a state Department of Transportation study of the project and Citizen-Times research.

Route: If coming from the east, I-240 traffic would be directed a short distance north on U.S. 19-23 on the western edge of downtown and cross the French Broad River just north of the Hill Street exit. It would connect with existing I-240 near where the Patton Avenue/I-240 interchange is now in West Asheville. The new route for I-26 would leave U.S. 19-23 and take the same route as I-240 to cross the French Broad.

Pros

Would separate I-240 traffic from Patton Avenue traffic, allowing Bowen Bridge to be turned into a boulevard-style city street with opportunities for expanded pedestrian and bicycle paths.

Would address substandard ramps and other issues at the I-240/U.S. 19-23 interchange near the east end of Bowen Bridge.

Could free up property for reuse at interchanges near the east and west ends of Bowen Bridge.

Easier access to West Gate and Haywood Road.

Better I-26 traffic flow in the area west of Bowen Bridge.

Relatively little impact on the Burton Street neighborhood.

More compact than other alternatives, thus requiring less land.

Cons

Through traffic on I-240 would have to travel 0.5 to 0.7 miles farther to get across the French Broad than today. That traffic could slow at times.

Drivers on Patton Avenue would have to navigate four traffic lights from Regent Park Boulevard to where the I-240/U.S. 19-23 interchange is today.

The second most expensive alternative.

More bridges over the French Broad.

Negative impact on parts of Montford.

Less direct access from the north to the West Asheville end of Patton Avenue.

The numbers

Cost: $332 million

Navigable waterway crossings: 4

Residential relocations: 33

Business relocations: 34

Nonprofit relocations: 1

Total relocations: 68

Homes, business and parks impacted by noise: 224

MountainTrue's statement

Julie Mayfield, co-director of local environmental organization MountainTrue, made this statement in reaction to the choice of an alternative for part of the I-26 Connector:

After 20 years of community conversations about the I-26 Connector Project and its impact on Asheville, we welcome the selection of Alternative 4B for the bridge section. This decision reflects thousands of hours of hard work that residents of Asheville put into developing and advocating for an alternative that will benefit Asheville rather than just moving highway traffic through our city.



The thousands of people who have engaged in this project in our community have worked through several groups that deserve recognition today. An early citizen group was the I-26 Group that advocated for the design principles that remain a touchstone for citizen advocacy today. The Asheville Design Center was founded for the express purpose of addressing this project, and it was their original design that formed the basis for the alternative selected today. The I-26 ConnectUs Project formed in 2009 and is made up of several community organizations and representatives from the Asheville neighborhoods that stand to be most impacted by the I-26 Connector Project: Burton Street, Hillcrest, Montford, West Asheville, MountainTrue, Asheville on Bikes, and the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville. We also have to recognize the invaluable legal counsel provided by the Southern Environmental Law Center for the last 15 years.



We appreciate NCDOT and other agencies responding to the overwhelming calls from Asheville to prioritize the people who live and work here. This alternative allows Patton Avenue to return to being a surface street rather than an interstate. This opens the door for a new signature gateway to Asheville’s downtown, for cyclists and pedestrians to get from West Asheville to downtown across the Jeff Bowen Bridge, and for new infill development that will create a vibrant urban boulevard and an expanded the tax base for the city.



Alt. 4B also minimizes impacts on the historic Burton Street community that stood to suffer significant harm in other alternatives, and it offers an opportunity for a new connection between the Hillcrest community and Patton Ave. There are, of course, still impacts to other neighborhoods, especially Montford, and we continue to work with NCDOT to reduce those impacts.



Today’s decision represents a huge step forward, and we happily celebrate it. Tomorrow, we will get back to work on other aspects of the I-26 Connector Project. We continue to believe that the project overall remains too large for Asheville, and we look forward to continued discussions with NCDOT about options for reducing the size. We also continue to advocate for more bike and pedestrian infrastructure that should be developed in conjunction with the project. We anticipate that work will lead to future decisions that will benefit Asheville and its residents and that we can celebrate as we do today’s decision.

How big should the I-26 Connector be?