Since a contractor for the N.C. Department of Transportation began work converting Merrimon Avenue (U.S. 25) from Midland Road to W.T. Weaver Boulevard from four lanes into a three-lane configuration with bike lanes, the public response reportedly has been “split: or “mixed,” according to local media.

For instance, the Asheville Citizen Times newspaper headlined its story in mid-October — “Merrimon Avenue road diet continues to split public opinion,” while Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) headlined its update, “Drivers offer mixed opinions as Merrimon Avenue conversion continues.”

To the contrary, the Daily Planet has received nothing but highly negative comments about the never-ending traffic jams that the project’s opponents say are making life miserable for the public – and their outrage over rarely, if ever, seeing any cyclists using the new bike lanes.

In general, the critics of the so-called “road diet” have told the Daily Planet that they feel the Asheville on Bikes’ club wields an undue influence (reportedly only surpassed by the Sierra Club) over Asheville City Council that, in their view, favors the wealthy elite and their leisure interests, over workers and all others. (Perhaps ironically, the bike club’s motto is “Ride your city.”)

The Daily Planet — twice — emailed Mike Sule, executive director of AOB, seeking his view (as leader of what is touted as the “main influencer” behind the Merrimon project) for this story, but received no reply by this edition’s 10 a.m. Oct. 24 press deadline.

Meanwhile, more than a few of the opponents of the three-laning of the formerly four-lane road, also expressed concern to the newspaper that they had heard that a number of the bicycle club members are prominent officials in Asheville city and Buncombe County governments, along with some officials from the NCDOT. 

(Despite repeated attempts, the Daily Planet was unable to reach Sule, the bike club chief, so it is unable to confirm or deny the assertions by those who have contended to the newspaper that a powerhouse elite of the top city, county and NCDOT leaders are among the AOB’s members, enabling the bike club to easily muscle council to approve any roading-narrowing for bike lanes it wants.)

While opponents of the road-narrowing-for-bike-lanes with whom the newspaper spoke generally were more than a bit unhappy with the possibility that, if city and county officials in the AOB club are facing a conflict of interest in their jobs, they expressed alarm over the possibility that  NCDOT officials might be club members who are swaying supposedly objective road decisions in favor of bike lane proposals.

 The NCDOT bike club members appear to be “in the tank” for the interests of the bicycle club and lacking in objectivity, insofar as the public interest is concerned — such as favoring bike lanes over traffic lanes.

In a press release just prior to the lane conversion, Nathan Moneyham, NCDOT Division 13 construction engineer, stated, “NCDOT and our partners at the City of Asheville have developed a plan to complete the conversion with as little disruption to daily and rush-hour traffic as possible. In less than 72 hours, this 1.5 mile section of Merrimon Avenue will convert from its existing pattern into the three-lane pattern.” (The conversion began Oct. 10 and was completed Oct. 13, according to the NCDOT.

Perhaps adding fuel to the fire on the furor over the road narrowing-bike lanes, the Citizen TImes noted in a recent story: 

“The (1.5-mile) conversion is one phase of a larger N.C. Department of Transportation resurfacing project and considers about 2.5 miles of Merrimon Avenue from I-240 to Midland Road at Beaver Lake.”

What’s more, the ACT noted in a story the following:

“The lines painted Oct. 10-13 are only temporary, and fresh lines will be painted after the corridor is resurfaced, according to Division 13 Construction Engineer Nathan Moneyham...

“Currently, signals are running on timers. Traffic signal operation will be optimized when the vehicle detection loops are installed in the final surface.   

“Resurfacing will begin Oct. 17, followed by the placement of permanent traffic markings with completion anticipated before Thanksgiving, according to NCDOT spokesperson David Uchiyama.”

Meanwhile, Rondell Lance, president of the local Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1, which represents around 250 local law enforcement personnel, said in an Oct. 22 telephone interview with the Daily Planet that, insofar as Merrimon Avenue — and its new bike lanes —  is concerned, “I personally have stayed away. I just had no reason to go over there...

“I’ve talked to some officers and asked them what was their experience. One officer with whom I spoke with last night (Oct. 21)” said:

 â€œâ€˜I was on Merrimon Avenue for 25 minutes because of the traffic. I saw 200 to 300 cars — and only one bicycle ... and it was on a side road. Oh, it was terrible coming down through there.’”

In his talks with various police offers about the narrowing of Merrimon, Lance said the verdict he heard from them is unanimous: “They said they think ... ‘It’s horrendous!’”

The local FOP president added, “I’ve not heard anyone praise or say anything good about what City Council did there on Merrimon Avenue.

“It’s a safety issue, as far as when police and fire trucks have to get through there — and people get upset in traffic jams. There is no good reason (for creating the Merrimon traffic nightmare), other than that we have some people in town who want to ride a bicycle through there.”

What’s more, Lance said, “There was no need for that (narrowing of Merrimon for bike lanes). The only reason they did that was (that Asheville has) a ‘liberal mindset,’” which he defined as “taking away from everyday people who are working, so that one or two people a day can ride (bikes) down Merrimon Avenue.”

People who have to travel that way for business from outside Merrimon are ‘put out’ because of the traffic congestion it has caused... People don’t have patience, when it’s a ridiculous situation,” as the city and NCDOT have created.

One solution to the Merrimon traffic problem, Lance suggested, is to “put a time limit on when you could ride in the bike lane — from such time to such time.”

After a brief pause, the local FOP president said, “But that makes too much sense. I say, ‘No bikes during rush hour in the morning — and no bikes in the bike lane during rush hour in the evening.’” Lance said the morning and evening rush hours — when no bicycles would be permitted in the bike lanes — could be an hour... or 90 minutes, each.

Otherwise, Lance contended, “You’re inconveniencing people to allow for one person on a bicycle, when 200 to 300 cars (each with a driver and possibly passengers) coming through every 30 minutes.”

When pressed for his response if, as some have wondered, a number of Asheville on Bikes’ members are top city, county and NCDOT officials, Lance asserted, “If that’s the case, it’s totally ridiculous that you have someone who’s making (these) decisions. They should recuse themselves from any decisions that have to do with bike lanes” because of a conflict of interest, if they are AOB club members.

Then, he added, “A city official in the bike club should  recuse themselves. How could they be impartial?”

When reminded by the Daily Planet that Asheville Councilwoman Sandra Kilgore recently told the newspaper that the top influencer of City Council is the Sierra Club, followed by the Asheville on Bikes club, Lance asserted, “The Sierra Club is an arm of the Democratic Party....

“All I can say is to everyone who has an issue with Merrimon Avenue is ... find a Democrat — and thank a Democrat — because it’s Democrats who are pushing this. It’s all on them — and they (those unhappy about the Merrimon situation) need to get out and vote for reasonable candidates running for City Council.”

When pressed by the Daily Planet to elaborate, the FOP president said, “I think S. Antanette Mosley and Sandra Kilgore are the only two — if I lived in the city — that I’d back” to serve on council. 

(Of the two mentioned by Lance, only Mosley is seeking re-election on Nov. 8, as council has four-year, staggered terms, and Kilgore’s current term on council continues.)

As for the two most prominent media outlets, the Citizen Times and News 13, reporting that the public reaction to the Merrimon project — to date — is “split” or mixed ,” Lance scoffed at the notion that they would report the situation accurately, as he said he sees both news outlets as being slanted in their reporting in favor of the area’s leadership establishment and so-called elites, who, in turn, support them.

For yet another viewpoint, the Daily Planet on Oct. 21 contacted long-time city observer and frequently vocal critic (and retired lawyer) Sidney Bach, who lives near Merrimon Avenue, for his views on the Merrimon traffic and bikes lanes situation. 

Bach emailed the newspaper the following summation statement of what he has seen — and thinks about — the Merrimon roading narrowing/bike lanes project:

“This is what happens in a ‘participatory democracy’ when good people chose to remain silent and inactive concerning their local government’s spending of their taxes (in this case, $1,000,000 or more) on projects which are of little — or highly questionable — value to the community as a whole, much less one that is now having a totally negative impact on the public.

“The Merrimon Ave. ‘traffic diet’ was a project pushed by City Hall bureaucrats who are members of the local biking groups (such as the ‘Asheville on Bikes’ club), politically assisted ‘behind the scenes’ by a ‘woke’ (but not awake) local politician, Julie Mayfield who is a member of the N.C. State Senate’s Standing Transportation Committee.

  “Because Merrimon Ave. is a ‘state’ highway, the NCDOT’s approval was required for this project. On this foolish and ill-conceived ‘road diet’ for a heavily-trafficked State highway,  NCDOT ‘threw in the towel’ for Mayfield, her ‘woke’ constituency, as well as all ‘bobbing heads’ on our City Council.”

Bach added,  “For the most part, the business interests along Merrimon Avenue and the public who use Merrimon Ave. to access the city’s business area to go to and from work and/or for personal needs, chose to remain silent when this ill-thought idea was proposed by NCDOT and being submitted “for public consideration and comment.” 

“At the time, City Hall put on a ‘dog and pony’ show that was rigged from the outset with Mayor (Esther) Manheimer riding her bike to the event! 

“We now pay 38.5 cents state gasoline tax per gallon. On 20 gallons, that’s $7.70 in state tax to fund  NCDOT’s operations and projects. This is about $1,540 a year on a purchase of 20 gallons every two weeks (the average driver  probably pumps more and pays closer to $2,000 or more a year in state gasoline  taxes.) If that’s not enough to justify being active  and heard on an important local issue that affects your legitimate interests, then you shouldn’t complain,” Bach contended.

“For a repeat on the county level, has anyone mentioned the fact that Buncombe County’s current outstanding debt on its bonds and notes currently exceeds $400,000,000 — and for which all property taxpayers are liable. Yet in these troubled and uncertain times of high inflation with potential for an economic downturn and  recession, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners has the audacity to ask us to vote on Nov. 8 ‘for’ an  additional $70,000,000 in public debt in order to fund some more ‘feel-good’ projects .

“You can almost hear them all mumbling their favorite mantra in the background: ‘Tax and Tax, Spend and Spend, The People Are Too Stupid to Understand!’” Bach concluded.

Following receipt of Bach’s emailed statement that included criticisms of Mayfield, the Daily Planet emailed Mayfield — twice — seeking her response (via a phone interview or emailed statement) on the public uproar over the Merrimon project and her rebuttal of Bach’s jabs at her job performance and motives, but the newspaper did not receive a response from her by its mid-morning Oct 24 press deadline for this edition.

Meanwhile, David Oppenheimer, founder of Performance Impressions, posted the following statement on YouTube on Oct. 16 (along with a video) and headlined it, “Merrimon Ave Traffic Jam in Asheville from ‘Road Diet:’

“Against the expressed desire of a majority of constituents to not force a ‘road diet’ on us because of the harm and traffic it would cause, certain selfish people in Asheville knew that the public input request was a ruse because they were going to do it against our wishes, and turn a connecting four-lane corridor road on a business strip, into a two-lane bike path, while our population and tourism is doubling.The expected result is that Merrimon Avenue is becoming unusable, and the bumper to bumper traffic, with stop and go cars, is creating exponentially more pollution than from just a couple of weeks ago. This dash camvideo was taken around 11:00 am far from high traffic times and rush hours, on Friday October 15th, 2022. If you do not want to be stuck in pollution generating traffic, contact the Asheville City Mayor’s office and (ask) them to undo this ill-fated idea. Notice the one car, it just gave up and flipped a u-turn. The side streets are already taking a hit. Businesses are beginning to take a hit. We didn’t want it except for a few misguided idealists and privileged bicyclists, but they said we were getting it anyway and this is the result, and it’s a pollution causing dangerous mess.”