Town council balks at South Ridgeway Avenue traffic pattern change

No action taken on one-way ordinance

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
April 13, 2023

Town council took no action, April 10, on a resolution that would have converted South Ridgeway Avenue to a one-way, southbound traffic pattern. Photo by Fred McCormick

A resolution to convert South Ridgeway Avenue to a one-way, southbound traffic pattern, presented to the Black Mountain Town Council, April 10, was met with inaction, following a brief discussion. 

The proposal cited public safety and an analysis by Traffic Planning and Design, Inc. as the basis for the change.

The resolution was presented by Planning Director Jessica Trotman in the third hour of a lengthy regular monthly meeting, but Doug Brock, who owns property on the street, asked the board not to adopt it in a citizen comment in the opening minutes.

“Many of my neighbors are here, and we’re kind of shocked to hear about it, last minute,” he said. “This plan has been put forth and we feel left out of the discussion.”

Brock encouraged the town to explore other options and consider the opinions of resident who live on the 18-foot-wide roadway.

“You have a 40-foot-wide right-of-way going through South Ridgeway Avenue, and if you want to make it safer, widen it and put in an elevated sidewalk,” he added. “Don’t make it one-way without notifying all of the people involved.”

Hours later, when Trotman presented the resolution, she explained to the town council that she was not “anticipating any action” on the agenda item.

“You have a resolution in case you wanted to do something,” she said, adding the right-of-ways on the street were “very constrained.”

“There’s a lot of utilities, a lot of topography, a lot of infrastructure and houses very close to it,” Trotman continued. “We’re having increasing commercial development in that area, and businesses we hope are going to be very successful.”

The lack of a sidewalk on the street, combined with increasing traffic, she said, forces pedestrians and cyclists to use the narrow roadway.

The town explored “creative” ways to make those improvements while maintaining the existing surface, the planning director said. One method of doing so, Trotman told the board, was to convert the road to one-way travel, southbound to Richardson Boulevard, and utilizing some of the surface to put in a sidewalk or bike lane. Public safety departments were “supportive” of the idea, she added.

The town “split the cost” for a traffic study on the area, according to the planning director, before contracting with Traffic Planning and Design. Colin Kinton, an engineer for the firm, presented the analysis.

TPD was asked to analyze the possibility of a one-way traffic pattern, he told the town council.

“We collected data back in December, at State Street and Ridgeway Avenue; Sutton (Avenue) and Richardson Boulevard,” Kinton said. “We collected 12 hours of data one day during the week, and we collected seven days of continuous data of local travel patterns, as they go up and down, hour by hour, for a whole week.”

Southbound was the only option for a one-way pattern, he added, due to challenges of the intersection at State Street. The proposed flow of traffic, the study found, would likely double the amount of traffic on Richardson Boulevard.

Traffic concerns along South Ridgeway Avenue prompted the town to analyze data along South Ridgeway Avenue, Richardson Boulevard and Sutton Avenue. Photo by Fred McCormick

“But, signal timing at Richardson and State could be modified, so the signals could be retimed,” Kinton said. “A simple retiming of the signals, in other words giving more 'green time’ to Richardson, kind of alleviates the back-up that might ensue.”

The analysis determined, he concluded, that Ridgeway could be converted to a southbound-only flow, and additional Richardson traffic would be addressed by the signal time.

Mayor Mike Sobol expressed concern for pedestrians visiting the post office on Richardson Boulevard.

“For people who park on the right side, if they’re going north, and have to cross (the street) to get into the post office, there have been a lot of close calls of people getting hit,” he said. “If we’re going to be doubling the traffic there, I don’t think safety concerns have been thought out enough on this.”

“I’m just amazed that we’re even considering something like this,” the mayor continued, asking if the study consulted with any of the private residents or smaller businesses.

“He wasn’t asked to, I just needed the data,” Trotman responded. “This was not really intended to be a thing to decide right now. This was just to let you know we partnered with some businesses, RailYard and Bush Farmhouse, and we’re looking to try to improve biking and pedestrian facilities.”

The traffic analysis, she added, is “just the first step.”

Sobol questioned that characterization of the presentation.

“This is a resolution to change it, not just a resolution to look at it further,” he said.

The planning director responded she was not asking the town council to make the change that night.

“It’s presented to us,” he said. “If you would’ve come to simply talk to us, I think that would be good. Also, the public should’ve had some input in this. We have a planning board, and it doesn’t have to go to the planning board, but I think it would be good for them to discuss this.”

Current town plans for a greenway connector from Flat Creek to the intersection of Sutton Avenue and Broadway Street call for sharrows to be painted along North Ridgeway Avenue and the entirety of Richardson Boulevard, but Trotman doesn’t anticipate those changes will eliminate all pedestrian traffic on South Ridgeway Boulevard.

The curve on the southern end of the road is a concern for pedestrians and cyclists, according to council member, Doug Hay.

“Around that corner, on a weekend afternoon, especially now that RailYard is there and Bush is full of cars on both sides, it’s hard to imagine there not being a potential incident,” he said. “I’m glad we’re looking at this, and you’re not asking us to take action, and I’m good not taking action.”

Councilmember Pam King encouraged the town to engage residents and other businesses in the process.

“I think Mr. Brock’s point is well-taken, that before we do anything or make any official decisions, public input is really important,” she said.