Will Hofmann, Asheville Citizen Times
·4 min read
In a May 2024 survey released by the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization, three major infrastructure projects were highlighted as being the most positively received by Western North Carolina residents, including the WNC Passenger Rail and part of the I-26 Connector projects.
The 84-page public survey report was developed as part of the North Carolina Department of Transportation's Strategic Transportation Prioritization program, also known as SPOT, which helps determine what projects an MPO should recommend for funding using a scoring system. The survey had 1,761 respondents, most of them from Buncombe, Transylvania and Henderson counties.
Due to the positive responses and high SPOT score, the planning organization voted to include the WNC Passenger Rail Plan in draft recommendations for funding from the North Carolina Department of Transportation during the board's June 20 meeting.
The FBRMPO also voted to recommend five highway access management and modernization projects in Buncombe, Henderson, Haywood and Madison Counties.
During the meeting, FBRMPO Director Tristan Winkler said the project would hopefully receive funding from both the NCDOT and regional state partners to combine for the estimated $130 million match to federal funding.
"There's still a lot of hurdles we have to get through, but this project being in the pipeline — this is the furthest along we've been," Winkler said.
Of the projects reviewed in the region, the WNC Passenger Rail plan received the highest number of positive responses, with 79% of those surveyed responding positively to the plan. The I-26 Connector improvements to the I-40 and I-26 interchange, which is expected to cost $284 million for right-of-way and construction, was the second most positively received project in the region. The third was the Richland Creek Greenway project in Waynesville.
The survey also looked at the projects with the least favorable reception in the region, with the widening of I-40 from Monte Vista Road to Wiggins Road receiving the most negative public responses. The project is estimated to cost over $200 million, according to the most recent update of the 2024-2033 State Transportation Improvement Plan. It is not currently funded.
While draft recommendations were approved by the French Broad MPO, full recommendations will come back before the board in August, Winkler said.
More: I-26 Connector: NCDOT updates Asheville City Council on progress, costs
Public comments highlight rail service excitement, concerns
The report came with 806 public comments, many of them from Buncombe County respondents advocating for better multimodal transit systems, while expressing enthusiasm for improved bicycle and pedestrian areas in Buncombe County. One person declared improved rail travel to be "the future." But there was also some criticism. One respondent said the line to Salisbury would be an "expensive boondoggle," while yet another questioned why the rail line didn't travel to Charlotte.
Rail service to Asheville's Biltmore Village station ended in 1975, with the rail line to Salisbury eventually being owned and utilized by Norfolk Southern as a freight line. The line travels through the historic Old Fort Loops, an area that was built in the 1870s using the forced labor of Black prisoners who were often unfairly imprisoned and worked at gunpoint.
The line between Asheville and Salisbury is estimated to take roughly three-and-a-half hours, with a "significant portion of this travel time would be for traversing the Old Fort Loops," according to the finalized WNC Passenger Rail Feasibility Study.
While 80% of the project funding will come from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the WNC Passenger Rail plan comes with a roughly $130 million funding match derived from local or state partners. The estimated cost for all of the project is $665 million.
For the local and statewide funding match, regional MPOs have been suggested as possible funding partners for the full rail project as is the case for many transportation projects.
Winkler said the FBRMPO would just be one part of the funding process, which has seen rail advocates inquire into funding from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority and state legislators draft bills to provide N.C. General Assembly funding for the project.
"We would just be playing a part in making this the local priority," Winkler said during the meeting.
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Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com.Please help support this type of journalism with asubscriptionto the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: WNC residents most excited for passenger rail, I-26 Connector; survey
