On Transportation

*Here are questions from the group Get There Asheville and my answers to them.

Tell us something about you transportation habits. How do you get around Asheville?
Currently, to travel to and from work I rely on my personal vehicle. As a lawyer, it is necessary for me to travel to counties throughout Western North Carolina which obviously necessitates a vehicle. My children travel to and from school using a combination of vehicle carpooling and buses. My husband, a teacher at Enka High School, carpools to work. In general, I am a walker (for exercise and enjoyment). I walk all over my North Asheville neighborhood pushing my two-year old in a jogging stroller. In the past, as a college student in Boulder, Colorado, I did not own a car and traveled everywhere in town by road bike or mountain bike using Boulder’s elaborate greenway and bike lane system. This included work, school, the grocery store, everywhere, in rain, shine, snow and wind.

What do you think is the single greatest reason Asheville residents don’t use their cars less? What would you do as a council member to address this problem?
The reason Asheville residents don’t use their cars less is first and foremost cultural. The same reason people don’t recycle – they just weren’t raised that way. That being said, as cultural norms shift, it is challenging in Asheville to rely on biking, buses or walking as a means of transportation.
Biking – Our greenway system and bike lane system is lacking and sporadic. Therefore, bikers who might want to bike to work must travel segments in regular traffics lanes, which is unsafe and, from personal experience, fairly unpleasant given the amount of car exhaust inhaled in the process.
Buses – Asheville is making improvements in the busing system. Bus stops, increasingly, are sheltered and not just a worn area of grass on the side of the road. However, the buses are infrequent making their use for work transportation difficult. There also seems to be a stigma associated with bus travel, that buses are only used by the poor who can’t afford a car. This preconception needs to be changed.
Walking – The ability to walk everywhere in Asheville is also improving but only in select areas of town. Many areas are still without sidewalks and are simply too dangerous to travel. The City is continuing to install sidewalks and take other steps to make walking safer. More needs to be done. That is one reason why I support the Asheville Design Center’s plan for the I-26 corridor.

Even if you haven’t held and elected office, you’ve likely been an active member of Asheville’s community. Please describe one thing you’ve done to make our city friendlier to walkers, cyclists or bus riders.
For the last year, I have been serving on the City of Asheville’s Board of Adjustment. From time to time, applicants request variances regarding construction in Asheville’s urban corridors such as Haywood Road and Merrimon Avenue. I feel strongly that our urban corridors must be preserved an enhanced so as to avoid that unfortunate default growth of sprawl-like development. Strong urban corridors must have sidewalks, trees, buildings with parking in the rear where the structure itself is built closer to the road. This style of growth rather than strip malls with giant parking lots in the front and no sidewalks, encourages a walkable community. As a BOA member, in an effort to preserve and enhance our community, I have voted to deny variance requests that seek to stray from our urban corridor design criteria.

As a council member, what would you do to expedite implementation of the city’s Bicycle Master Plan?

The City has adopted numerous master plans, including a master plan for downtown, greenways, bicycles, transit, as well as plans for the civic center and other onerously large projects. The plans are essential in eliminating a haphazard approach, but seem to have a habit of being shelved after tireless effort on the part of community volunteers and City staff. To implement a master plan, Council must simply make it a priority. A schedule for implementing the plan must be adopted and adhered to. I assume that the major stumbling block to the Bicycle Master Plan is Council’s failure to make it a priority and, of course, the issue of financing. With regard to financing, creative solutions must be sought. A few years ago, a bond referendum for greenways, among other things, was narrowly defeated by the voters. Since that time, the overall goals of the community seem to have shifted to increasingly valuing an infrastructure that supports multi-modal transportation. Hopefully, this shift will help those on Council who desire to implement the Bicycle Master Plan, the Greenways Master Plan, and the Transit Master Plan.

Do you support the Transit Master Plan? What, if any, changes might you propose?
Yes, I support the Transit Master Plan. My primary concern (and suggested change) regarding the Transit Master Plan as well as the other multi-modal plans, including the Greenways Master Plan, the Bicycle Master Plan and the Pedestrian Master Plan (essentially, sidewalks), is the lack of coordinated effort among the plans and the departments designing the plans. All of these plans minimally cross reference one another, which is an essential component if Asheville is to comprehensively move in the direction of a true multi-modal community. For example, Asheville has bus stops on main corridors which lack sidewalks and are not ultimately connected to a greenway or bicycle path. I would recommend housing the administration and implementation of all of the plans under one body, whether it is Engineering or Parks and Recreation. Or, at the very least, insisting on a collaborative effort that coordinates the various plans.

What role do you think greenways play in Asheville’s future?
Greenways should play a prominent role in Asheville’s future. A functional, connected system of greenways throughout Asheville will not only provide practical transportation solutions and enhance the overall health and well-being of our citizenry in the process, but will, additionally, increase property values and generally further enhance Asheville’s already vibrant community. Greenways, walkable urban cooridors, bike paths, and other non-vehicular traffic infrastructure will encourage and foster human to human interaction which will, in turn, create “community”. Asheville must continue to focus on the unquantifiable asset of community, and work to preserve and enhance it.

The proposed I-26 Alternative 3, which has won the endorsement of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce and the Buncombe County Commission, would effectively prevent pedestrians and cyclists from crossing the Smoky Park bridge. Which proposed connector do you support and why?
I support the Asheville Design Center’s (ADC) plan for the I-26 connector. Here is the reason. Asheville has a unique “community”. We are a place where people feel connected to one another. We see each other at the park while our children play. We run into one another at the tail gate or downtown on a Friday night while walking around. This aspect of community is hard to quantify but easy to destroy. Sprawl-like growth hinders human mobility by shutting people away in remote subdivisions that are isolated and cut-off. I experienced this when I lived in the Raleigh area, working for the legislature during the first four years after law school. Because of this isolation, sprawl hinders community. While Alternative 3 is one of the cheaper options, it would cause the most harm to Asheville. Those who support Alternative 3 are forgetting the devastating effect the I-240 corridor had on West Asheville when it plowed right though that area of town and divided Haywood Road. That should not be repeated. The ADC’s plan fosters community by connecting disconnected areas of town with walkable, bikeable, liveable corridors that will be enhanced with bike lanes, greenways and trees. The long-term gain of such an investment greatly outweighs its short-term cost.

Many funding needs pertaining to alternative transportation are deemed nonessential in times of economic crisis. Which, if any, capital improvements to facilitate multi-modal transit would you defend during a budget crunch?
Again, Asheville must coordinate the various efforts to promote alternative transportation not only to create efficiencies and collaboration regarding the planning aspects, but also to prioritize the implementation of capital improvements. This needed collaboration will eliminate the haphazard, ad hoc, default method of ushering in any comprehensive plan or plans. To answer this question specifically is difficult to do when this collaboration has not yet occurred. I suspect, however, that in times of economic crisis, the citizenry rely even more heavily on the public transit system, and, therefore, an argument can be made for focusing on serving that increased need first.

What is the most compelling reason to improve transportation options in Asheville?
First and foremost, transportation is a basic need for all people. While many people rely on their own vehicles for transportation, many of Asheville’s citizens depend upon public transportation, private transportation services (e.g. Mountain Mobility), or a multi-modal infrastructure such as sidewalks and greenways to travel to and from school, to and from work, to and from the grocery store, the doctor, and so on. Therefore, the most compelling reason to improve transportation options is simply to provide this basic need. However, transportation improvement can be accomplished in tandem with meeting additional goals such as reducing Asheville’s carbon footprint by reducing overall vehicular traffic, elevating the health and well-being of our citizens by encouraging walking and biking, and promoting community through a well constructed and connected greenway, bike path and sidewalk system.