Survey: Hillcrest residents want pedestrian bridge opened

Jason Sandford

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

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In advance of tonight’s Asheville City Council meeting, where council members will be discussing and likely deciding whether to reopen a pedestrian bridge over I-240 at the Smoky Park Bridge, Joel Burgess of the Asheville Citizen-Times reports:

ASHEVILLE — An overwhelming majority of Hillcrest Apartments residents want a footbridge reopened after a man crossing Interstate 240 was killed by a car this summer.

A total of three people have died since 1996 trying to cross the interstate in that spot while trying to get to the subsidized housing complex.

According to an Asheville Housing Authority survey released Monday, 12 percent of respondents want to keep the bridge shut and 88 percent want the bridge reopened — a reversal from 16 years ago when residents asked that the span be closed to curb drug trafficking and violent crime.

You can read more about the issue in my post from yesterday about this issue.