Haywood Road in West Asheville is scheduled for a resurfacing from Patton Avenue to Ridgelawn Road.
It’s a $7.7 million dollar project with the intentions of improving and elevating aspects of the roadway.
On Tuesday, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) held a drop-in session for people to come by and express their opinions on changes they would like to see for Haywood Road. Around 140 people attended.
Something that many residents all had in common was wanting to see the addition of bike lanes.
Thomas Lodwick is a resident off of Haywood Road who commutes by bike daily. He said that everyone needs to be able to move safely through the corridor.
“For me the number one priority is bike lanes and for me it’s simple, pedestrians need sidewalks, cars need traveling, cyclists need bike lanes,” Lodwick said.
He added that the current situation isn’t safe with the mix of street parking and lack of bike lanes. He said it creates a danger for all parties involved.
As someone who bikes often with his daughter and sees others biking with kids, he said he believes there’s a clear need.
“If you’re talking about designing for vulnerable people, there’s no one more vulnerable than little kids on the back of a bike,” said Lodwick.
He said he wants to see bike lanes in both directions on the road and that should be the priority. He said he believes that street parking should be secondary to bike lanes as there’s plenty of parking lots on Haywood Road already.
“We certainly wouldn’t consider blocking car travel for bike parking,” said Lodwick.
Lodwick felt strongly on his stance that Haywood is one of the most biked roads in the city and there’s a clear need for lanes.
Another resident who attended the public meeting, Judy Quick, also expressed the need. While she is not a biker herself, she said she believes that Asheville would be well served by making biking safer and more accessible.
She said that she was excited to hear that there are going to be improvements and came to the meeting to check them out.
One of her priorities is the improvement in being able to safely walk across the streets.
“I’m hoping that having the light switches there evidently that we can activate will make it a safer crossing,” said Quick.
Another resident at the meeting, Roger Hatfield, said that he attended because he wanted to see what the NCDOT can manage to change on Haywood. As an avid bike rider himself, he’s also hoping to see the addition of bike lanes.
“I think this place needs bike lanes and slowed down traffic, maybe calming devices,” said Hatfield.
The NCDOT will take into consideration the comments from Tuesday’s public meeting along with comments added on the project website.
People can submit opinions until Jan. 13, 2022.
The NCDOT will take the winter to receive input and come up with a design plan to begin construction by summer of 2023.