News

I-26 widening, Balfour Parkway make new road plan

By Bill Moss, Published: January 14, 2015

Motorists will see remedies for two notorious traffic headaches — the misaligned Erkwood-Shepherd intersection on Greenville Highway and twice-a-day backups on N.C. 191 at Rugby Middle School and West Henderson High — in the near future. They'll enjoy a smoother ride over new pavement on parts of I-26. In more distant years, drivers will cruise on a six-lane I-26. One day even farther out they may zip along a new outer loop from U.S. 64 East to I-26 to N.C. 191.

Those are among the Henderson County highlights in North Carolina's newest State Transportation Improvement Plan.
Local transportation advisers placed great emphasis on improving I-26, a "ribbon of prosperity" impaired by a bumpy ride and frequent backups.
Highlights for Henderson County include:
• I-26 repaving and repairs from 2016 through 2020.
• Widening of I-26 from Asheville Highway to I-40 in three phases starting in 2020.
• Aligning Erkwood Drive and Shepherd Street on Greenville Highway in 2016.
• Adding turn lanes at West Henderson High School and Rugby Middle School to relieve congestion, in 2016.
• Replacing 10 rural bridges, from 2018 through 2023.
• Starting on right-of-way acquisition for the 4.6-mile Balfour Parkway, which would connect U.S. 64 and N.C. 191, in 2024.
When they released details of the plan last month, Gov. Pat McCrory and NCDOT leaders said a new funding formula that McCrory had championed would result in 303 more projects and 126,000 more jobs than the funding formula it replaced. In all, the 10-year plan funds 478 highway projects, the governor's office said.
Regional projects in the STIP were adopted by the French Broad Metropolitan Planning Organization based on input from counties. The French Broad MPO studies and ranks transportation projects for Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania counties.
"One of the big issues is trying to get some relief on I-26 and even though it's in three separate pieces we got it in," said Renee Kumor, chair of Henderson County's Transportation Advisory Committee. "For those who do a lot of running back and forth one can see it's needed. It's a long tunnel but there is some light at the end within our lifetime and it's going to be made a lot safer and a lot easier to drive on. There are ribbons of prosperity and I-26 is just taking a lot out of our prosperity. People are doing business up and down that road every day."

'Henderson County fared well'

Henderson County transportation planner Matt Cable, who advises the TAC, said the plan sets out projects that the state plans to fund in a five- and 10-year time frame.
"The first five are pretty solid," Cable said.
While Balfour Parkway is a distant prospect, it's inching its way through the process.
"The feasibility study has been conducted and monies have been programed for right of way acquisition in future years," he said. "You're pushing kind of the outer edges. The fact is that it's moving forward."
The first funding for the parkway is an allocation of $9.7 million in 2024 for right of way and utilities. The cost to actually build the road, $130 million, is listed under "future years" and is currently unfunded.
"Henderson County fared well I think in the projects that have advanced," Cable said. "There's some congestion management, and they are using methodology that calculates out the benefits of a project so what you see in Henderson County is projects that provide greater benefit. That's what the STIP is starting to reflect."
Drivers may have a long wait for something as big as the Balfour Parkway. But the state's recognition of the project is encouraging, Kumor said.
"I was surprised at how well it's placed because when you're looking for these outer loops sometimes they take so long that it's overrun by houses and buildings," she said.
In fact, Henderson County has had that happen in recent history. In the late 1990s, the Hendersonville City Council killed the proposed Clear Creek Connector, a proposed Four Seasons Boulevard reliever that would have run from I-26 and cut through the Beverly Hanks Center and Patton Park on Asheville Highway.
"I think we're just catching up," Kumor said. "We got on the plan things we know we've needed for a long time." The last I-26 widening plan was struck down when environmentalist filed a lawsuit on the grounds that the DOT had not adequately planned for its impact.
"This time I think the DOT are going to do it correctly and dissuade a lot of concern and make sure the safety issues are premier in their planning," she said. "And I think the Balfour Parkway is the same way. We've known it for years and we've said it. They're finally believing us."