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Tell NCDOT: The I-26 Highway Expansion Must Better Reflect The Needs of Asheville Residents

Tell NCDOT: The I-26 Highway Expansion Must Better Reflect The Needs of Asheville Residents

Action Expired

 

For over a decade, Asheville’s residents and city government have called for the I-26 Connector Project – a state highway expansion that will go through the heart of Asheville – to be smaller and less impactful to local neighborhoods in its path.

By speaking out, we’ve made great strides in scaling the I-26 expansion back. But we’re not finished. The most recent plan for the highway is still missing crucial improvements that our community has called for. It would still displace too many residents and businesses, take up too much valuable land with excessive ramps, create too much noise pollution and have too many new lanes for cars and trucks.

This is our LAST official chance as a community to ask for changes that will make this project easier on local small businesses, residents, pedestrians, bikers and more.

Take action below by April 17 to tell this project’s decision makers that the final product must better reflect the needs of our community – not just those of interstate drivers.

We strongly encourage you to make your message your own, and add how the I-26 expansion impacts you personally. Here’s what MountainTrue is advocating for:

We believe the final design for the I-26 Connector should do the following: 

  • Reduce the overall size of the project so it better matches the character of our small mountain city. This includes tightening up the design for all intersections and interchanges, reducing the number of lanes on the I-26 bridge from six to four, reducing the size of the new I-240 flyovers and reducing the number of vehicle lanes on the Westbound Bowen Bridge from three to two.
  • Save more homes and businesses. Reducing the size of the Haywood Road Interchange could save more homes as well as the Meadows building, an important community resource that houses close to 20 micro-businesses in West Asheville. Improving the intersection on Patton Avenue on the east side of the river could also save homes on Hill Street.
  • Work collaboratively to meet the community’s strong desire to minimize the visual and auditory impacts of the project – including on the historic Riverside Cemetery, whose visitors request peace and quiet.
  • Improve safety and options for pedestrians and bikers. The project should make the speed limit on the new Bowen Bridge no more than 30 mph so it can be a safe place to walk and bike. It should make the bridge-crossing by Haywood Road safer for pedestrians, and prioritize bike and pedestrian safety at all intersections. Reducing the number of lanes on the Westbound Bowen Bridge will also create more room for pedestrians and bikers.

You can see the full Final Environmental Impact Statement for the I-26 expansion here, and learn more about MountainTrue’s history of advocacy on this issue here.