Hundreds of area residents filled the chairs
and lined the walls of Sylva's Community Service Center Tuesday
(July 29) to hear a presentation by Walkable Communities Executive
Director Dan Burden, whose visit was made possible by the Smart
Roads Alliance. Burden, who spent two days studying Sylva's
major thoroughfares, told the audience that no matter what is
decided about a Southern Loop bypass, conditions on N.C. 107
must be repaired. "You have to fix 107," Burden said.
"It's hurting, it's bleeding." - Herald photo by
Nick Breedlove
By Lisa Majors-Duff
"You have to fix N.C. 107. It's hurting,
it's bleeding," Walkable Communities Executive Director
Dan Burden told those gathered Tuesday at the Community Service
Center in Sylva. "It's had a temporary patch, which has
worn off. It has to be fixed first."
Burden, who spent two days studying Sylva's major thoroughfares,
was asked to make recommendations for improvements to N.C. 107
traffic congestion by members of the Smart Roads Alliance, a
group formed more than a year ago with the goal of studying
and implementing a traffic management plan for N.C. 107 between
the intersections with Business 23 and N.C. 116 near Webster.
Since the release of the N.C. Department of Transportation's
Southern Loop study in mid-June, much of the group's focus has
shifted to finding ways to prevent the road's construction.
The group's numbers swelled after the announcement, with home
and business owners in the path of the proposed four-lane highway
coming out against the road.
In addition to traveling the roads in and around Sylva, Burden
sought input from local and state elected officials, including
the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, N.C. Senator Bob
Carpenter, representatives with the N.C. Department of Transportation,
including DOT board member Conrad Burrell of Sylva, and Sylva
and Webster office holders. His Tuesday night presentation,
which emphasized repairs to N.C. 107, was the culmination of
those meetings.
Jackson County has a "great mountain setting, but a blemished
foreground," said Burden, who recommended fixing existing
roads before going forward with plans to construct new roads.
Repairs to N.C. 107 - including replacing the center turn lane
with turning pockets, adding bike paths and creating "village"
areas with land use management, access controls and wider sidewalks
- are all geared toward slowing and reducing traffic, said Burden.
The new design for N.C. 107 should not be for the car, but for
the people, he said.
"The more you can capture the essence of a village, the
sooner you can make the changes you want because they are less
expensive," said Burden, who estimated repairs to N.C.
107 could cost as much as $5 million a mile, a fraction of the
proposed $200 million the Southern Loop is expected to cost.
Concentrating land use management tools toward the development
of several "villages" along N.C. 107 would make it
easier for people to walk to what they want by putting a collection
of what they want in the same place, he said.
Such changes also move more traffic in less time, he said, citing
traffic count examples from other cities before and after improvements.
"The more you can make roads friction free, the more traffic
you can move," he said.
Burden also recommended narrow traffic lanes, which he said
"are safer because people will drive slower," and
roundabouts at three intersections to allow traffic to move
more smoothly through town.
"The town has to have a vision for its future. You have
to create a new destiny," Burden said. "N.C. 107,
over time, is going to have to take on a different flavor. Make
it a boulevard. People will go to a corridor if it's beautiful
and accessible."
With a vision in mind, planning must begin. Traffic management
plans must be made, planning teams must be formed, a full-time
staff must be hired and the plan must be implemented, he said.
