All aboard, Asheville!

Posted on by Jesse Moore

Let us not hesitate to build a new transportation system that implements light rail, bus and bike lanes as an addition to Asheville’s current transportation system. The long-term effects of implementing this infrastructure now far outweigh any doubt, hesitation or fear of cost.

Long term, a light rail could bring residents from Marshall or Canton or Waynesville — even Swannanoa — directly to Asheville. Family members could travel to church without the hassle of using a car. This would also eliminate much of the driving under the influence that already happens; citizens could easily take a system of light rail and bus to their destination.

Additionally, by building this dream now, we can preserve our precious forests and fragile ecosystems — those same forests and ecosystems that we use in our livelihood, work, homes and everyday living. We are blessed to have such a well-preserved sylvan landscape.

Unfortunately, urban sprawl will happen, has happened and will continue to happen. Nobody really wants to see it happen; it just does. But we can easily make Western North Carolina resistant to urban sprawl: Build the light-rail and bus system now so we can save our culture and heritage, and dignify the city of Asheville.

— Jesse Moore
Asheville

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4 thoughts on “All aboard, Asheville!”

  1. ashevillain7

    There definitely needs to be a rail from downtown Asheville to Black Mountain…preferably with a stop in the vicinity of Pisgah Brewing Company. :)

  2. Cosmic Ballroom

    Marshall, population of maybe 1500? It would be cheaper to run hovercraft up the river to the old dam then bus them into town.

  3. indy499

    The author is right about one thing— building the light rail system described is a dream. We don’t even have sufficient density to run a bus system that can produce revenue that is more than 25% of the costs of providing the service. At millions of $ per mile, there is exactly zero chance a light rail system will be built here during the lifetime of even the youngest reader.

  4. Just Me

    I was tempted to try and hop a train into Asheville one snowy day this winter when that was the only moving vehicle between d/t Marshall and the ‘big city’.

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