Merrimon Avenue: When will repaving begin? Are there bike lanes, or not?
ASHEVILLE - A highly trafficked 1.5-mile section of Merrimon Avenue has been converted from four lanes to three, and the controversial road diet has been no less divisive since its installation.
The conversion began Oct. 10 and was finished Oct. 13, but while drivers on the major North Asheville corridor will notice significant changes to the traffic pattern, repaving has yet to be done. In the meantime, a lack of bike lane markings has caused confusion for many Asheville residents.
The 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.
Previous coverage:
When will Merrimon Ave. road diet begin? NCDOT announces October start date
Asheville City Council approves Merrimon Avenue road diet after contentious debate
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Of this 2.5-mile section of Merrimon Avenue slated for resurfacing, only the roadway from Midland Road to W.T. Weaver Boulevard was subject to the road diet, with 5-foot bicycle lanes to be installed along both sides of the road.
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 beginOct. 17, followed by the placement of permanent traffic markings with completion anticipated before Thanksgiving, according to NCDOT spokesperson David Uchiyama.
“If the bike lane hasn’t been established by including pavement markings, then it’s not a bike lane," said Mike Sule, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy organization Asheville on Bikes and a strong proponent of the road diet. “That’s the question, and I think that is creating a lot of confusion for people using the corridor."
He asked why NCDOT is not complying with federal highway design standards for bike lanes in Merrimon Avenue's current state. Right now, white lines delineate where the bike lanes will be, but no other markings are in place.
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"I absolutely 100% stand by the redesign," Sule said. "What we are experiencing right now is a half-completed project with minimal communication from NCDOT and the city of Asheville on the course of the project."
'It's like a maze out there'
Moneyham clarified that the bike lanes will only be installed upon completion of the resurfacing operations.
"The remaining roadway width in this temporary condition will function as a paved shoulder until construction is finished, when the necessary signage and permanent pavement markings for the bike lanes can be installed," he said.
Hadley Cropp, North Asheville resident and business owner, hopes once repaving is done, it will help clear up some of the confusion.
She lives at Beaver Lake, at the far end of the conversion, and owns Asheville Realty Group, a business squarely in the center of the road diet.
"It's like a maze out there," she said of the new, temporary lines, but once bike lanes are marked and traffic lights timed correctly, "I think it could be OK."
"When it first happened, I hated it," she said of the conversion. Cropp found herself avoiding Merrimon Avenue and taking the side streets, and is curious if this will be a long-term impact of the new traffic pattern, with more drivers diverted to other roads. She said it could be a fine change, but people will need time to adjust.
“My biggest problem with it is that you’re at the mercy of the slowest driver,” Cropp said.
Love it or hate it, said Billy Hughes, who lives on Chatham Road, just off Merrimon Avenue, that the conversion has made traffic slower is "irrefutable."
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He's been in opposition to the road diet since it was proposed and said though the conversion could just mean a few minutes of delay, if it's a corridor you drive daily, the time stacks up.
"We’ll see how it works out," he said of the project. “For those of us that live here and use that highway all day, every day, I sure don’t want to see people come through side streets, which are relatively quiet. We’ll see what happens.”
Rachel Hines was walking the corridor Oct. 17, her 3-month-old strapped to her chest. Living off Hillside Street, she walks and drives Merrimon Avenue equally, and said since the conversion, the section closest to W.T. Weaver Boulevard has seen the brunt of the congestion.
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She wondered if the road diet would deter people from visiting the businesses along the roadway but otherwise said as a pedestrian, it was nice to have a buffer between the sidewalk and traffic, especially with children in tow.
Brad Carpenter, who lives on Fenner Avenue just off the impacted area, looks forward to safer, more bikeable roads. He often bikes with his 10-year-old daughter to school at Ira B. Jones Elementary, and before the conversion, the journey was spent trying to get off of Merrimon Avenue as soon as possible.
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"If we can get the sidewalks fixed, the bike lanes marked and get the streets repaved and the lights timed, I think this will be a great project," Carpenter said. "It will become the neighborhood street that I think it should be."
Moneyham said, as expected, "feedback has been mixed during the conversion."
"We ask for patience from drivers, cyclists and pedestrians as everybody adjusts to the new configurations and travel patterns," Moneyham said.
"The entire project team — including our partners at City of Asheville — will review the corridor’s operation quarterly to assess the impacts of the road diet."
Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email [email protected] or message on Twitter at @slhonosky.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Merrimon Avenue road diet continues to split public opinion