Town council backs new design for Blue Ridge Road interchange
NCDOT recommends alternative for transportation improvement project
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
August 12, 2021
In its Aug. 9 meeting, the Black Mountain Town Council supported an alternative design for the interchange at I-40 and Blue Ridge Road. Right-of-way acquisition for the NCDOT project is scheduled to begin in 2023. Photo by Fred McCormick
The Town of Black Mountain is supporting an alternative design for the future interchange at I-40 and Blue Ridge Road, an N.C. Department of Transportation project scheduled to begin right-of-way acquisitions and utility relocation in 2023.
Town council, in its Aug. 9 regular monthly meeting, approved a new plan for the State Transportation Improvement Program project I-4409, after the location of a utility line rendered the previous design unfeasible, according to the NCDOT.
Three potential designs for the project were presented to the public in December of 2018, with the majority of feedback favoring a map labeled “Alternative 2.” The town council supported the design unanimously in March of 2019. Right-of-way acquisitions for the interchange were moved from 2020 to 2021 before the NCDOT announced in September of 2020 that the project would be delayed two years, due to a budget shortfall that was attributed to a decline in revenue from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alternative 2 included a pair of roundabouts north and south of I-40, but was no longer an option after the NCDOT discovered a portion of the design included property that currently contains a Duke Energy transmission line. That information was relayed to the Black Mountain Town Council by planning director Jessica Trotman in Monday’s meeting after technical issues prevented Mike Clark, project engineer for NCDOT Highway Division 13, from a planned virtual presentation.
The Town of Black Mountain supported “Alternative 2” in 2019 as the proposed design for the future interchange at I-40 and Blue Ridge Road. The design, one of three presented by the NCDOT to the public in 2018, is no longer possible due to the location of a utility line. Image courtesy of NCDOT
Clark later confirmed in a telephone call that the line runs through a section of the design on the west side of the proposed roundabout north of I-40.
NCDOT recommended Alternative 3, the public’s second option when the proposed designs were presented to the public. Alternative 2 was preferred at the time, according to Trotman, because it allowed the possibility of preserving the East Commerce Park at 851 Blue Ridge Road. The building is currently occupied by approximately five businesses.
Alternative 3 streamlines the westbound access to the interstate, avoiding the transmission line, and incorporates an additional traffic-calming roundabout north on Blue Ridge Road, which would be situated in front of the current location of the office park.
The Black Mountain Town Council unanimously approved “Alternative 3'“ for the future interchange at I-40 and Blue Ridge Road during its Aug. 9 regular meeting. The NCDOT project is scheduled to begin right-of-way acquisitions in 2023. Image courtesy of NCDOT
“Even in the alternative that was originally chosen, we did not know for sure that building could or could not be saved,” Trotman said. “We didn’t get far enough along in the design process to know that, one way or the other.”
Mayor Larry Harris, who served as a council member when Alternative 2 was approved, said he personally preferred Alternative 3 at the time, due to the additional traffic-calming features.
Both designs include widening Blue Ridge Road, north of I-40 to U.S. 70, and the addition of a roundabout at the convergence of Blue Ridge Road and N.C. 9. The town council approved the NCDOT’s recommendation unanimously. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2025.