Buncombe County has drafted a new plan for helping pedestrians get around — the first such strategy in the county’s history.
The Buncombe County Pedestrian Plan has been under development since last summer. Supported by $100,000 from the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization and $25,000 in county funds, the effort aims to boost walkability in areas outside of city or town limits.
The current plan lists 10 “core projects” that would together add more than 16 miles of sidewalks across the county at an estimated cost of more than $66 million. The longest and costliest of those proposals is a nearly $12 million, 3.5-mile corridor along Smokey Park Highway in Enka between Old Haywood Road and Old US 19/23.
Other projects are distributed
are across the county, with plans for upgrades along major corridors such as Brevard Road in Bent Creek (1 mile at $7.3 million), US 70 in Swannanoa (2.25 miles at $6.6 million) and Hendersonville Road in Arden (1.75 miles at $5.4 million).
Pedestrian planning has historically been outside the purview of county officials. North Carolina’s roads — and their associated sidewalks — are almost entirely managed by the state Department of Transportation or municipal governments.
But Tristan Winkler, a transportation planner for the FBRMPO, said that Buncombe County faces unique development pressures. He has helped lead the pedestrian plan process and advise its volunteer steering committee.
A survey of over 1,400 county residents, Winkler said, found that many wanted to walk more regularly but were concerned over the danger of doing so. Respondents described their experiences as “terrifying,” “a nightmare,” or like “playing Frogger.”
“They want to be able to get out and walk safely in their communities, and they want to have a better-connected Buncombe County,” Winkler told the Citizen Times. “Those pieces of infrastructure don’t end at municipal lines.”
Many of Western North Carolina’s fastest-growing areas are in unincorporated Buncombe County, often right outside of Asheville’s city limits. But a 2013 state law specifically forbade Asheville from exercising “extraterritorial jurisdiction,” a power most other cities enjoy that lets them set higher development standards (such as sidewalk requirements) in adjacent areas. Buncombe County, Winkler said, is thus responsible for managing the impacts of growth.
Buncombe won’t have to shoulder the costs of its sidewalks alone, however. By formally adopting a pedestrian plan, the county can take advantage of the NCDOT’s “Complete Streets Policy,” which requires the state to pay for projects along roads where it’s already making improvements.
County spokesperson Angelica Tyler noted that Buncombe can also fund sidewalks as part of Hurricane Helene recovery. A state grant of $979,000 is supporting a sidewalk in Swannanoa, and the county has applied for an additional $10 million to pay for work along US 70.
Tyler said that a final draft plan will be developed after another round of community feedback this summer. The county Board of Commissioners is slated to vote on adopting the plan sometime in mid-fall.
Want to weigh in? Here’s how you can shape sidewalks in Buncombe County
- Register for updates through the county’s website at engage.buncombecounty.org/pedestrianplan. An online survey will be available in both English and Spanish later this month.
- Attend an upcoming drop-in community meeting. Buncombe is hosting events at the Enka-Candler Library on Wednesday, Aug. 26, from 5:30-7:30 p.m., and ArtSpace Charter School on Thursday, Aug. 27, from 5-7 p.m.
Daniel Walton is the City Government Watchdog Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Email him at dwalton@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Buncombe releases sidewalk plans for growing county population
