The Buncombe County Commissioners postponed a vote on which design they preferred for the I-26 connector. Serious conversations about widening the highway began in 1989, but progress has been stalled at every step by people envisioning a greener day where people will prefer walking and mass transit.
Commissioner Holly Jones, who already voted her preference as a member of Asheville City Council, requested that the commissioners’ vote be delayed. Jones supports Design Alternative 4B. Alternative 4B was the result of a consensual citizen input process, and it was submitted late in the game without an engineering analysis. Activists encouraged the city and county to split the cost of an analysis by an independent firm, and DOT engineers are still working on evaluating the late submission as thoroughly as the original finalists. Alternative 4B would separate local and interstate traffic with extensive bridgework, including a double-decker bridge, and it would cost twice as much as other alternatives.
Commissioner Carol Weir Peterson said she had come ready to vote. County Manager Wanda Greene confirmed that the county’s liaison and the engineer for the project from DOT said they wanted a decision from the commissioners by the end of December, and this would be the commissioners’ last meeting of the year.
Commissioner Bill Stanley argued that the state prefers to spend DOT funds on pet projects out east. By not moving forward with this project, the commissioners were facilitating the tradition.
Joe Minicozzi, chair of the Asheville Design Center, the creative force behind Alternative 4B, argued that the alternative would avail $177 million in total investments, resulting in $929,000 in taxes for Buncombe County and $750,000 for the City of Asheville.
Regardless, while the bulk of citizens should be asking what could possibly be added to the ongoing debate, the commissioners voted 3-2 to postpone the decision. One source of new information is a traffic study that, in spite of daily traffic jams, is expected by some to prove that fewer people are driving their cars, and the road may not need to be widened after all.