Crunch time for I-26 connector: DOT seeks public input as key decision nears

After more than two decades, the NCDOT is getting the ball rolling on the I-26 connector project. And though actual construction is still years away, the next few weeks are the public’s best chance to influence the route of a massive infrastructure project that, regardless of which option is chosen, will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, displace dozens of homes and businesses, and change the face of Asheville.

NCDOT hosts open house tomorrow at the Arboretum to discuss changes to I-26/Brevard Road interchang­e

A public meeting will be held tomorrow, Feb. 25, from 4-7 p.m., at the North Carolina Arboretum to discuss the upcoming proposed changes to the Interstate 26/Brevard Road interchange. Though no formal presentation will be given at the meeting, maps will be on display, and NCDOT staff will be on site to answer questions and receive comments on the new design.

Hotel it on the mountain

Filling vacant Council seats Council thanks DOT A proposed seven-story, 145-room hotel on Biltmore Avenue cleared a key hurdle when the Asheville City Council approved the requested conditional zoning at its Oct. 14 formal session. But determining the extent of the city’s involvement in a partnership with the development group and Public Interest Projects, an […]

Meet the neighbors

Attendance was strong at the N.C. Department of Transportation’s daylong Interstate 26 open house on Sept. 16, and nobody could fault the agency for lack of information. The maps wallpapering the Renaissance Hotel’s ballroom were extensive, and the computer-generated flyover videos were nifty and informative. (To view the video, go to www.mountainx.com/xpressfiles.) The whole thing […]

Asheville City Council

Asheville water supply still OK City offices may move to Innsbruck Mall Despite earlier reports that an alternative bridge design produced by a local volunteer group was on track for consideration by the N.C. Department of Transportation, it’s actually still a step or two behind the other options, a DOT engineer told Asheville City Council […]

A bridge too far?

After many months of wrangling, alternative 4b—the locally produced design for the bridge planned as part of the Interstate 26 connector—is in the running for final adoption by the N.C. Department of Transportation, several sources say. But in its current form, the plan only faintly resembles the one originally submitted by the Asheville Design Center, […]

Country roads

The bulldozers and graders are silent for now, but if all goes as scheduled, work will begin later this fall on widening a nearly 30-mile stretch of U.S. 19/23 from two lanes to four, beginning around Mars Hill. We interupt this service: Bethel Baptist Church will lose parking to the widening of U.S. 19/23. The […]