From Staff Reports 

ASHEVILLE —  The N.C. Department of Transportation says “it is moving forward with construction plans for the northern section of the I-26 Connector project despite pushback from critics upset over its new design,” the Asheville Citizen Times reported on April 30.

“At an April 24 project update meeting in the ballroom of downtown’s Renaissance Hotel, revised plans were displayed for the 375 meeting-goers — the first new public-facing maps since those presented at a 2018 public hearing,” the ACT stated, adding the following:

“The connector’s northern section is its priciest. The $1.2 billion project includes a new portion of interstate from the Haywood Road interchange, crossing the river and connecting to U.S. 19/23/70 north of Broadway, as well as roadway improvements along Riverside Drive.

“A recently revealed revival of an unpopular element believed to have been quashed 15 years before has drawn new project critiques. Much of the frustration centers on a 150-foot-wide interstate bridge that will arch over Patton Avenue west of the French Broad River, rather than under.”

Meanwhile, Michael McDonough, a founding member of the Asheville Design Center, told the newspaper that, as an architect, he can see the potential of good design.

“You can meet the needs elegantly or brutally,” he told the ACT. “And this is brutally.”

The newspaper added that “the design center was a nonprofit founded in the early aughts by designers, architects and engineers determined to come up with alternative, more community-oriented solutions for the I-26 Connector. It merged with MountainTrue in 2017.

“McDonough said they thought it was a ‘done deal that the interstate would go under Patton, a design intended to encourage an urban and pedestrian-oriented street, rather than suburban sprawl.

“He said the revised design does not feel like the Patton Avenue they were fighting for,” the ACT stated.