Town of Black Mountain to explore infrastructure investment

Roads, sidewalks and bike paths focus of town council request

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
October 14, 2021

The Town of Black Mountain will explore the possibility of a significant investment into its transportation infrastructure, following an Oct. 11 request from the town council. Photo by Fred McCormick

The Town of Black Mountain will begin the process of exploring the possibility of a significant investment into its transportation infrastructure, following a request by town council in its Oct. 11 regular monthly meeting. 

The move was in response to a statement from council member Doug Hay, who addressed the board moments before the meeting adjourned. 

“I believe it’s time we explore opportunities for significant investment in our pedestrian, cycling and road improvement plans,” he read from a prepared statement.  

Hay asked town staff to identify high-priority needs and impact projects, and to report lower- and higher-cost options for addressing those issues back to the council. He also requested staff explore potential sources of funding for infrastructure improvement, and their impacts on the budget and taxpayers. 

“I suggest this because, over the last decade, we have adopted large-scale and inspiring plans, such as bike plans, pedestrian plans and comprehensive plans,” Hay said. “While we’ve made some progress, we currently average only about $140,000 on repaving, $93,000 for sidewalks and nothing for bike lanes.”

The town’s comprehensive plan - Elevate Black Mountain - which was adopted by the council in June, emphasizes walkability and accessibility, while the pedestrian and bicycling plans place a priority on safe travel throughout the community utilizing connected routes.

Hay also pointed to the current pace of road maintenance as an issue that could be addressed through infrastructure investment. 

“Looking just at streets, we’re repaving about three-quarters of a mile per year, on average,” he said. “Which means, it would take about 57 years to repave every street managed by the town.”

Hay added that he believed there was “significant opportunity” to improve neighborhood connectivity; downtown aesthetics and handicap accessibility; road infrastructure and possibly stormwater management through a large-scale investment in road and sidewalk improvements. 

“But, of course, you have to find a way to pay for it, and to understand the interest and the appetite of the community for such an investment,” he said. “It seems like the first step should be to ask staff to look into those options.”

Staff’s findings could be presented to the council in workshops, according to Mayor Larry Harris. 

“When it’s time to look at it, and discuss it, if we need to have two or three workshops, then we’ll do that,” he said. 

Councilwoman Pam King clarified that what was being requested would “simply start a conversation,” and did not represent a specific plan of action. 

“We’re just looking at options,” she said. “We’re also making sure there’s plenty of time for public input.”