Hendersonville Lightning: Road advisers vote to dump Kanuga in favor of I-26-U.S. 64 interchange

From the Hendersonville Lightning (June 1, 2022):

At its regular meeting earlier this month, the Henderson County Transportation Advisory Committee voted unanimously to recommend that the new spending blueprint bump the Kanuga Road improvement in favor of a new I-26 interchange at Four Seasons Boulevard to fix safety and congestions problems.

Tristan Winkler, executive director of the French Broad Metropolitan Planning Organization, explained to TAC members the process the NCDOT has adopted to delay hundreds of projects around the state based on the available transportation funding. A draft State Transportation Improvement Plan for the years 2024-2033 “reflects the need to right-size the state’s transportation budget, currently more than $8 billion overprogrammed,” a staff report said. To drive that “right-sizing,” MPOs, the regional advisory boards that guide transportation funding, are determining which projects stay in the 10-year STIP and which drop out. . .

Flat Rock Village Council member [Anne Coletta] pointed out that besides facing widespread opposition from residents, the Kanuga widening from Church Street to Little River Road also faces hurdles over historic properties.

An initial review by the state Historic Preservation Office identified “adverse effects … that will take a significant amount of work and bureaucracy” to resolve.

Further tilting the call against the Kanuga project was the timing. Right-of-way acquisition is not scheduled until 2028, followed by start of construction in 2031. Board members said the [I-26] interchange improvement would likely require minimal new right of way or none at all and could get under way quicker. . .