IN SPITE OF CONSIDERABLE OPPOSITION EXPRESSED IN A PACKED COUNCIL MEETING THURSDAY NIGHT
Mills River Town Council, in a four to one vote, Thursday night threw its support to a proposed five lane Highway 191 widening project...the widening would be from Mountain Road to the intersection with the current five lane Highway 280....with $7.5 million in right-of-way acquisition scheduled for June 2019 and the $45 million construction for 2021.
Ten residents spoke out about the project Thursday night in the council’s standing room-only meeting room.
Jim Foster, a town resident who lives in the River Oaks development and is a consistent critic of the project, expressed fears that the widening to four lanes would bring in development and create another Four Seasons Boulevard or something similar to Asheville.
“I say to everyone, grab your camera and go out and make lots of pictures of one of the best places in the country to live, because if this disaster happens, that is all you will have to remember the quiet, rural atmosphere we all love,” he said.
Foster pushed officials to slow the project down, to improve Highway 191 with turn lanes and a roundabout at School House Road, and to lower the speed limit past that intersection to 35 mph toward Mills River.
The Hendersonville Times-News reports that after tense discussion with regular and emotional outbursts from the crowd, the council voted 4-1 to support a five-lane plan. Councilman Roger Snyder cast the opposition vote,
NCDOT has proposed a four-lane, median-separated highway that has been met with opposition from local businesses and farmers — who need equipment to cross the street between facilities — and from residents who oppose not being able to turn left from their neighborhoods.
In December 2016, Town Council voiced its preference for a five-lane highway design with bike lanes and no sidewalks when asked to provide input to the Henderson County Transportation Advisory Committee and state Transportation Department.
In April, Council called for a three-lane highway with unobstructed center lane from School House Road to Banner Farm Road, and a four-lane highway with unobstructed center turn lane from Banner Farm Road to N.C. Highway 280.
But last month, NCDOT Division 14 Engineer Brian Burch said with current traffic loads and traffic projections 10 and 20 years out, NCDOT couldn’t support a three-lane road.
Mills River Council member Roger Snyder, who was the sole vote against the five lane proposal. favors an unobstructed three-lane roadway.
NC DOT said Thursday night they will now begin to work with the town to clarify exactly what details of the plan it would like to see, and that those changes would be applied within town limits.
And more rounds of public input will be coming in the future as final plans are clarified.
