'Southern loop is bad idea,' expert tells Sylva

By Rose Hooper

Webster resident Malcolm MacNeill, who admits to being "very much opposed" to the proposed "southern loop," brought with him to the town's meeting last week a licensed engineer to reinforce his objections.

With MacNeill was Walter Kulash, licensed engineer from Raleigh whose expertise is in street and traffic redesign. His specialty, Kulash told the board, "is rethinking earlier plans."

The concept of a southern loop around Sylva, which was published in 1993, came from 1950s thinking, Kulash said.

Identified as the Sylva/Dillsboro Southern Loop FGS-0114C on the N.C. Department of Transportation Improvement Plan, the loop would extend from U.S. 441 south of Dillsboro to N.C. 107, then on to the U.S. 23/74 bypass.

"Complete loop beltways around towns have proven to be a bad idea," Kulash, a DOT and private sector consultant, said. "It's similar to calorie intake: You need some calories, or some bypass, but too much can be fatal. You pay too great a price for too much."

Roads, he said, "simply move retail dollars around you."

According to Kulash, full-loop beltways cause multi-lane highways that favor junction boxes. "What you have at those junctions are chains ­ like chain motels, chain restaurants, chain businesses ­ on the corners." Mom and pop operations get "snuffed out," he said.

The original reason some towns considered using a partial bypass "was to get trucks off Main Street," he said. "But when we start building more roads, we start consuming more. Transportation is the only service induced by growth.

"If you build bigger wastewater treatment plants, you don't flush your toilets more," Kulash continued. "If you build more schools, students and teachers don't go more days or more years." The solution to road problems is not more roads, he stressed. Instead, the solution is " to rethink where you want traffic to go and plan a new network."

For traffic coming from U.S. 441, he suggested putting a two-foot paved shoulder on N.C. 116, straightening out the first oxbow curve until it's a straight shoot to the Webster bridge, then continuing traffic through on Old Settlement Road until it joins with N.C. 107. Add strategic left-turn slots and it's a viable option to an expensive southern loop, Kulash said.

"I think you should re-look at this southern loop idea. Instead, pinpoint where your biggest problems are, then proceed with alternatives," he said. "But a loop is not the answer. It is a bad idea all around ­ for downtown, for retail and for residents."

Board member Audrey Tritt asked Kulash his opinion of a connector from N.C. 107 to U.S. 74 but Kulash said he wasn't prepared to respond to that portion of the loop.

He did say that the main thing he has learned over the years is that "the kind of road you build causes the kind of community you get."

Mayor Brenda Oliver asked Kulash to meet with DOT Division Engineer Ron Watson and present the same findings he did to the board.

In other town board business Oct. 4, members accepted the immediate resignation of Marion Jones as one of their representatives on the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority board. Audrey Tritt recommended Ronnie DeHart as his replacement; the board was in unanimous agreement with her motion.

Back to Archive: 10/11/01.