Sylva officials should re-think Main Street plan

Sylva's public safety committee has given its endorsement to a plan that would place barricades in the left lane at three Main Street intersections.

We've known about this idea since Monday morning, and we still don't like it. Not only do we not like it, we think it's a bad idea.

It's almost certain to cause congestion. And when it does, increased congestion will lead to accidents, which will in turn lead to more congestion.

Any business district wants, or should want, a smooth traffic flow to help entice customers to the area. By creating more congestion, town officials will cause people to avoid the downtown business district.

Opponents to a proposed Southern Loop bypass have cited potential harm to Sylva's downtown commercial district as a reason to oppose a new highway. While we don't necessarily agree that a bypass would harm downtown, we feel the damage caused by this town proposal would be far greater than that from a bypass.

It could even increase congestion to the point of providing ammunition to those who favor a loop.

Most people, our editorial staff included, prefer diagonal parking. Not only does this plan eliminate three of those prized parking spots, it adds an impediment to all diagonal parking west of Spring Street.

If the plan for a downtown turn-only left lane, enforced by barricades at the Grindstaff Cove Road and Landis and Spring street intersections, was formulated to reduce speeding, it misses the mark there as well.

We watch Main Street traffic every day. Cars pick up speed after the light at Spring Street, an area not even addressed by this so-called solution.

We also object to the less-than-open unveiling of this plan. Having the matter virtually a done deal after one committee meeting seems wrong, especially when we remember the controversy that raged a few years ago when first two-way Main Street traffic and then a one-lane Main Street were proposed.

And what about emergency vehicles, especially those of the Jackson County Rescue Squad? How will they get through town when all the traffic is in the right lane and the left lane is blocked by vehicles trying to merge right?

If implemented, this plan will force motorists to seek alternatives to Main Street, putting more traffic on narrow Municipal Drive and increasing the number of vehicles through the already unsafe, three-way Municipal Drive/Chipper Curve Road/East Main Street intersection.

"It's completely asinine," said one downtown employee.

"It will make it even more confusing to visitors," said another.

They're both right. We don't understand the reasoning behind this idea, and we can't see why Department of Transportation officials agreed to it.

If speeding cars are a hazard on Main Street, and we've seen plenty that are, ticketing those drivers would seem a better plan than increasing congestion for everyone.