By Scott Nicholson
The High Country Council of Governments Rural Transportation
Advisory Committee held a public hearing in Boone Wednesday
on regional road improvements.
The 16-member committee is comprised of local-government leaders
from a seven-county area. The committee grew out of a state
effort to give regions more input on transportation needs,
with the development of Rural Planning Organizations. One
of the main duties of the RPO’s is development of a road
priority list to help the North Carolina Department of Transportation
make funding decisions.
The current priority list for 2011-17 features the U.S. 221
widening between Watauga County and West Jefferson at the
top. The $68 million project has been funded, as well as the
$80 million widening of N.C. 105 from Linville to Boone.
The Boone bypass, with an estimated $148 million price tag,
is unfunded and is at number seven on the priority list, and
its related project, a connector between N.C. 105 and Blowing
Rock Road, is a new entry at number 10.
At number 13 is the U.S. 321/421 widening from Vilas to Boone,
with a $20 million cost. Safety improvements and widening
of N.C. 194 in Valle Crucis to Boone is at number 15, with
an estimated cost of $132 million.
Another new local entry, the widening of N.C. 194 from U.S.
421 to Howard’s Creek Road is at number eight, and the
section from Howard’s Creek Road to Jack Hayes Road is
at number 22.
The project rankings are based on safety and congestion concerns,
thoroughfare benefits and whether the project serves a school,
hospital or other public service. Counties and local governments
are assigned a certain number of projects on the list based
on population and size.
Bunk Spann, a member of the Boone Area Planning Commission,
was the only person signed up for the public hearing. Spann
said he was there as a private citizen and focused on one
major project.
He said he was concerned about the prospective cost of the
proposed Boone bypass and said it was important to look at
upgrading the existing road system instead of building a “four-lane
highway that is going to tear up a lot of stuff.”
“It seems to be out of whack with the priorities we’ve
established,” Spann said, noting the town of Boone had
worked hard at water and neighborhood protection. He said
Boone was a destination point and a bypass might do little
to affect in-town traffic.
Craig Hughes, regional transportation planner, said the priority
lists would be integrated into the NCDOT’s Transportation
Improvement List every two years. Hughes said a couple of
projects were removed from the list because they would start
before 2011 and therefore didn’t need to be on the pending
list. That included the King Street widening in Boone, which
is scheduled to begin in April.
Janet Pepin, committee member and Boone Town Council member,
said the proposed Boone bypass should remain on the list even
though it might not become a four-lane highway. She said even
with a bypass, the traffic coming to Boone is still going
to be an issue. She said the town council supported both the
exploration of the bypass and consideration of other in-town
transportation improvements.
Committee chairman Dana Tugman a West Jefferson council member,
said, “As long as ASU (Appalachian State University)
is in Boone, it’s going to be a destination.”
Hughes said NCDOT studies had shown traffic roundabouts could
be installed in the Bamboo, Wilson Ridge and Deerfield Road
areas, which have become known as “the informal Boone
bypass.” Hughes said there were no current plans to improve
Wilson Ridge Road’s steepness or curves.
The priority list was unanimously approved and must be turned
in to the NCDOT by January 2009.
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