“I believe commissioners and boards of citizen volunteers should take it upon themselves to more heavily scrutinize traffic impact analyses — especially when engaged community stakeholders (who are experts on their own neighborhoods) continue to voice valid concerns.”
Traffic studies, which are required by the state and the county for certain projects, are prepared by engineering firms to forecast additional traffic associated with a development and identify possible problems. But some neighborhood groups question the benefits of research paid for by the very people who stand to benefit from a proposed project.
Buncombe County could change its zoning code to require developers of residential projects above a certain number of units to perform a traffic impact study.
