Asheville’s I-26 Connector project on hold indefinitely

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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By Mark Barrett for the Asheville Citizen-Times, whose story includes some excellent contextual background:

State plans in 1998 called for the connector to be completed in 2008 or 2009.

But controversy over how wide the road should be, where new bridges across the French Broad should be and how those bridges should connect to existing roads went on for years. DOT repeatedly pushed back projected construction dates.

DOT added changes to the I-26/I-40/I-240 interchange to the project and has been looking at ways to separate interstate and local traffic on Smoky Park Bridge, both at the request of local residents.

A DOT engineer involved in planning for the project said that work has been suspended because it appears no money will be available to build it for years to come.

Betty Lawrence, a local attorney who was among opponents of DOT’s original plans, said it makes sense to scale the project back to focus primarily on ways of moving traffic around Smoky Park Bridge.

“I think that the fiscal reality is such that we’re not going to get the project as planned in the foreseeable future,” she said.

Carolina Public Press editor Angie Newsome’s excellent story, which was published online yesterday, on the I-26 Connector project delay here.