PROPOSED MULTI-USE PATH LIKELY TO CONNECT WEST HIGH, RUDGY MIDDLE, AND THE HISTORIC JOHNSON FARM   

With plans in the works for NC DOT to widen Highway 191 to five lanes from Mountain Road to the intersection with Highway 280 in Mills River, we are likely to see a multi-use path along the highway as part of that project. And the path will likely include access to West Henderson High School, to the Historic Jognson Farm, and a crosswalk at Rugby Middle School.

At the June meeting of Henderson County’s Transportationjh Advisory Committee,
county planner Autumn Radcliff stated that NC DOT and county staff met with County Commissioner Bill Lapsley and John Bryant of the county school system about that proposed multi-use path along the north side of NC 19

According to the minutes of the TAC meeting, it was concluded that this path will be considered as part of the widening of NC-191.

The multi-use path will include extending the path up to West Henderson High School along the entrance road and to Johnston Farm, and will include a safe crosswalk to Rugby Middle School.   

Meanwhile, the school safety project on Highway 191 by West Henderson High School and Rugby Middle School is on schedule and improvements to the flagger system will be done.

Motorists in that area are encountering the work being done and can expect some brief delays.

NC DOT tells WHKP News they have modified their plan for widening Highway 191 between West Henderson High School and Rugby Middle School in anticipation of the much larger widening project on Highway 191 from Mountain Road to the intersection with the give-lane Highway 280 in Mills River.

As motorists in the area know, work is currently underway between the two schools on Highway 191, causing back-ups and delays from time to time.

Construction Engineer Ted Adams with NC DOT says the original plan was the ease the traffic situation in between the two schools, especially before and after school each days which resulted in lengthy backups and delays. But as traffic on 191q increases, he says the newer plan to widen the highway was developed and will be coming along in the next year or two. That newer widening plan is the one that’s become controversial for some in the Mills River area.

But Adams says the work that’s going on now between the two schools is to take care of the immediate need. The current project, he says, started in April and the contract calls for it to be completed by December 14th of this year.

What they are doing now will allow for more turn lane access to the schools.

The original plan included a lot more drainage along that stretch of road, said Adams, and moving utilities. That, said Adamns, is why we scaled the project back...”...because we knew we were going to come right back and do some future widening and we didn’t want to move things twice.” “This should be a seamless transition and this work will be incorporated into the future widening project”, Adams said.

As much of that work on 191 between the two schools as possible is being done this summer while school is out, but delays and back-ups still occur and are unavoidable and motorists are reminded to be aware that the work is going on.