The Southern Highland Reader

CULLOWHEE–In a letter published in this week’s Smoky Mountain News, Jeannette Evans, owner of Cullowhee’s Mad Batter and principal in the area transportation advocacy group Smart Roads, has a look at where the “southern loop” issue stands.

A clip:

A new bypass has enormous potential to drastically change our community’s traffic patterns, economy and landscape. Conversely, all the other projects located in the CTP are designed to improve and/or expand existing roads, thus improving current traffic patterns and preserving our landscape. DOT’s own modeling showed that the 107 Connector would not solve the congestion on N.C. 107 or at the intersection of Asheville Highway. It is primarily these congestion areas that are cited as reasons for building the 107 Connector.

Read her letter here.

STATEWIDE–A former North Carolina Department of Transportation official from the eastern end of the state was sentenced to over three years in prison yesterday for taking kickbacks from an excavation company.

Dalton Alligood Jr., a former district engineer for the DOT, received 10% in cash from contracts funneled to the company between 2004 and 2006.

Governor Beverly Perdue has stated her intention to be tougher on corruption at the DOT at all levels.

More on Alligood here from AP via the Charlotte Observer.

Raleigh News and Observer editorializes on this subject here.

STATEWIDE–The Raleigh News and Observer’s Mark Johnson reports today that the state of North Carolina will pay a half-billion dollars to clean up some 6,500 deteriorating underground storage tanks across the state.

The state maintains a fund to help take care of such tanks, which often hold fuel, leak as they age, and contaminate groundwater. Property owners are taking advantage of the fund in increasing numbers, and the state is looking for ways to mitigate the cost.

Among the possibilities: raising the motor fuel and kerosene inspection tax from 1/4-cent to 7/16-cent per gallon to generate more money for the cleanup fund, requiring commercial tank owners to buy insurance to cover cleanup costs, and requiring noncommercial tank owners to pay 20 percent of cleanup costs up to $5,000.

Jackson County residents became familiar with this problem two-and-a-half years ago, when an old tank alongside US 23/74 east of Sylva leaked and contaminated drinking water in the nearby residential neighborhood in Racking Cove.

The Tuckasegee Water and Sewer Authority eventually ran a line from Sylva to the community to provide clean water.

Read Johnson’s story here.

STATEWIDE–The Charlotte Observer editorialized today that Gov. Bev Perdue has done good things to make state government more trustworthy and transparent, but that when it comes to the NC Department of Transportation board – a notorious gathering spot for high-dollar political contributors – “some things never change”.

Here’s an excerpt:

Perdue’s approach was to change the Board of Transportation from a decision-making board with the power to approve highway and other transportation projects to a planning board where members could not use their influence to channel roads, bridges or intersections to benefit themselves or their associates. That’s a significant improvement over the old system, which all but invited the board to reward its members, though it still means members make decisions about planning.

But Perdue’s plan did not alter one time-honored, if that’s the right adjective, tradition. She still appoints campaign contributors to the Board of Transportation. Last week she named five members to the board: Sam Halsey of Jefferson, David Burns of Laurinburg, Gary Ciccone of Fayetteville, Ronnie Wall of Burlington and Stan White of Nags Head. All are accomplished business and civic leaders. And election records show all have been contributors to Perdue’s campaigns, though not all in large amounts.

Read the editorial here.

SYLVA–Last year, when automobile gas prices were through the roof, CSX railroad began running obvious ads, making a point the industry could’ve been making all along: it makes more sense to pull a couple of hundred trailers with two or three engines than a couple of hundred trailers with a couple of hundred engines.

Well, no kidding. That’s true no matter how pricey gas becomes.

CSX’s tagline – “our trains can move a ton of freight 436 miles on a single gallon of fuel” – has become a fighting slogan for the entire industry lately, as the prevailing economic and environmental winds begin to signal a railroad renaissance.

Financier Warren Buffet’s purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad recently drove the point home. Said Adam Hochberg on National Public Radio: “Buffett’s $44 billion acquisition, via his company Berkshire Hathaway, is one of a number of signs that freight railroads are in resurgence. While they may have been thought of as passé in the 1960s and 1970s, they’re now playing a vital role in the transportation system.”

Lobbyists for the asphalt and trucking companies, who for so long thought railroads were kaput, still make the argument that logistically, trucks work better.

“You can’t back a freight train up to the Harris Teeter,” one industry rep told Business North Carolina not long ago.

But some industry analysts believe that almost any regulations created to fight emissions will favor railroads, and that logistical issues with moving goods on the local level are easily overcome – in fact, are already overcome in some cases by the use of containers that can then be moved to flatbed trucks.

Closer to home, the topic reminds me of a sidewalk conversation I had in Sylva when gas was at it’s peak. “Before long,” my friend told me, “we’ll be able to ride a train to Asheville.”

I’m not sure I’m buying that – the cost of the necessary trestle work between Sylva and Waynesville alone would raise even Buffet’s eyebrows – but it is safe to assume that freight trains (which are allowed to run on ricketier tracks than passenger trains) aren’t going anywhere soon, even from our area.

A representative from Norfolk Southern Railway told me as much not long ago, saying that the line between Asheville and Sylva, which Norfolk Southern owns, is a money maker. The expansion of Jackson Paper Manufacturing in Sylva can only help.

As for true passenger rail, though, most of its advances will be focused on the cities.

Still, mountain residents can catch Amtrak in Toccoa Falls, GA, or Greenville, SC and ride the Southern Crescent southwest toward New Orleans or northeast toward Washington, through the Piedmont and to all points beyond.

Proponents of the long-fought-for return of passenger rail to Asheville are still at it, so that Amtrak spur — which would run up the mountain from the Piedmont — is still a possibility. (The two links in the previous sentence are from the Asheville Citizen-Times, here’s a Twitter report from MountainXpress from a recent Asheville Rail Corridor meeting).

And plans for the long-considered magnetic levitation train between Atlanta and Chattanooga and perhaps on to Nashville just got an infusion of federal cash. Maglev trains, used widely in Japan and Europe, achieve speeds of some 300 mph, mainly by not touching the ground.

If you don’t plan to hop a train anytime soon, but still like to think about them, this post from Ruminations from the Distant Hills and this one from Appalachian History might tickle your fancy. And here’s a history of the WNC Railroad from Tim Osment for WCU’s Digital Heritage.

Here’s a phenomenal flickr set, if you like to look at pictures.

REGIONAL--I’d seen a few references to this video during the past few days, but didn’t give it much attention until Gulahiyi posted it.

As it so happens, a Tennessee news crew was filming at the site of a small rockslide along the Ocoee river gorge when a Department of Transportation geologist showed up, listened to the ground for a minute or two, then suggested maybe everybody ought to move back a little. That was when a much larger chunk of the mountain came down, and the news crew caught it on tape.

The story reminded me of a time when I was (much) younger, and was doing some construction work in a fairly deep, hand dug ditch. Improperly braced, no doubt. We were doing our thing when we noticed that the walls of the ditch had begun to move — not to slide, but to sort of vibrate, or ripple in the oddest way. It fell in behind us as we raced out.

REGIONAL–Asheville Citizen-Times editorial page editor and columnist Jim Buchanan (a Sylva native) notes in a Sunday column that North Carolina was recently named number one in the nation in terms of its business climate by Site Selection, an economic development magazine.

It’s the eighth time in nine years that the tarheel state has been so named.

Buchanan points out that the warm-hearth economic climate is limited to certain parts of the state.

An excerpt:

North Carolina’s business climate, it seems, is a lot like its … well, climate. Different parts of the state have markedly different weather. And looking at the Site report, it seems the same applies to business weather.

In the Charlotte/Raleigh corridor and the Research Triangle area, the business climate is blindingly beautiful. Business partnerships with universities and colleges are humming along, and the area has transitioned well from the tobacco/textiles/furniture economy to finance, medical and energy concerns.

<snip>

No silver bullet solution to the economic downturn or economic unevenness came out of our board conversation. Instead, many familiar issues and questions resurfaced, like the geographical and transportation challenges that are unique to the mountains. And frankly, blue-skying about economic development is fine, but that’s down the road. The task at hand for our leaders in a time of rolling credit crisis, high unemployment and an era of want most of us have never witnessed in our lifetimes is to simply make sure the social fabric doesn’t rip clean apart.

Read the whole piece here.

REGIONAL–It’s no secret that in North Carolina, with its appointed and influential Department of Transportation Board, road construction is heavily politicized. That’s a foregone conclusion in the “good roads state“.

And one of the crown jewels of politicized road-building is I-40 west, which, just under half a century ago, was routed through particularly inhospitable country at the behest of well-connected state and regional leaders.  A series of enormous rock slides has been the legacy.

The Asheville Citizen-Times’s John Boyle pulled the timeline together for Saturday’s paper.

Here’s an excerpt:

When the slide-prone gorge route was first proposed, leaders from Madison County and the Asheville area had pushed for another route, one that would have sent I-40 through the French Broad River Valley in Madison, close to where U.S. 25/70 runs now.

“Lots of people these days will say highway decisions are all politics — well, hell yes, they are,” said Jody Kuhne, a state engineering geologist with the N.C. Department of Transportation.

“Back at that time, Haywood County had a large paper mill, major railroad access and other industry, and Madison County just didn’t have that, except some in Hot Springs. So, sure, they out-politicked Madison. The road went where the action was.”

The Smoky Mountain News, meanwhile, took a look last week at the likely economic impact of the closure in Haywood County.

CULLOWHEE-Organizers and supporters of Jackson County’s ambitious greenways project celebrated a milestone October 5, when the county board of commissioners voted to purchase a 1.4-acre plot of land near Cullowhee for $39,580.

The plot is the first purchased by the county to augment an existing sewage right-of-way that follows the Tuckasegee River between Cullowhee and Sylva. Organizers envision the Cullowhee-to-Sylva segment as a core element of a larger plan to hook individual greenways segments together to create an alternate transportation system for the county.

Commissioners tabled action on the purchase of an piece of property adjacent to the one they purchased.

County greenways project manager Emily Elders says the purchase is significant.

“It’s the first property purchased specifically for greenways in Jackson County after nearly ten years of hard work by our volunteers,” she said. “Hopefully, with future donated conservation easements, other successful negotiations and grant funding, we’ll be able to put a project on the ground soon that will demonstrate the wellness, transportation and recreation benefits of greenways for the whole county.”

Three newspapers are covering Jackson County’s greenways progress: the Smoky Mountain News, The Sylva Herald and the Cashiers Crossroads Chronicle.

The Chronicle is primarily concerned with the several Cashiers-area elements of the greenways plan, so it didn’t weigh in on Monday’s vote, but the Herald and News both did. Bibeka Shrestha’s story for the News emphasized the commissioner’s decision not to purchase the adjacent property, noting that if they had, the first mile of the 4.5 mile stretch would’ve been in county hands. The Herald, which has recently taken county commissioners to task for what it considers profligate spending on county payroll and the Dillsboro Dam fight, emphasized the property’s price tag.

Read the Smoky Mountain News piece here.

Read the Sylva Herald piece here. (Archives=$)

SYLVA–Opinions vary about the economic value and ultimate success of the federal government’s “Car Allowance Rebate System“, or “Cash for Clunkers”.

The raw numbers from the Department of Transportation read like this:

… the program resulted in 690,114 dealer transactions submitted requesting a total of $2.877 billion in rebates. At the end of the program Toyota accounted for 19.4 % of sales, followed by General Motors with 17.6 %, Ford with 14.4 %, Honda with 13.0 %, and Nissan with 8.7%. The Department of Transportation also reported that the average fuel efficiency of trade-ins was 15.8 mpg, compared to 24.9 mpg for the new cars purchased to replace them, translating to a 58% fuel efficiency improvement.

Larry Hinton, general manager of Andy Shaw Ford in Sylva, said that for his dealership the program was a success.

“Not only did it drive new-car shopper traffic”, Hinton says, “we were able to convert many more customers who didn’t qualify for the “clunker” program into a pre-owned vehicle. In terms of unit volume and revenue [we were] up about 30% over a “normal” month [during the month that cash for clunkers was in effect].”

Hinton said that some criticisms of the program’s administration was valid — Andy Shaw had trouble with online filing of the necessary paperwork just like many dealers did — but that the DoT made accommodations to see that dealers had time to file.

“Now I just wonder when I’ll get paid,” Hinton said.

SYLVA–Jackson County’s unique greenway effort has been around for a decade or so, and has been becalmed at times.

But not lately.

Elders, with daughter Mason

A combination of public sentiment and local government support has pushed the greenways effort, now spearheaded by the Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department, to new levels.

On August 17 the Jackson County Board of Commissioners gave their unanimous approval to the greenways master plan. The plan itself is a significant accomplishment, but the commissioners’ buy-in was, too.

“I feel that we have never had quite so much momentum and support for greenways in Jackson County”, says Emily Elders, Greenways Project Manager. “The commissioners’ endorsement and the continued participation and public support are encouraging as we begin to tackle the projects we listed in the master plan.”

Funding and rights-of-way don’t come easy in the greenways business, but as Elders begins checking the smaller projects off the list, the larger vision of local greenways advocates could take shape. These smaller projects will eventually grow together to fit into a larger transportation system for the county, says Elders.

“Greenways projects are often self-contained; more like recreation spots,” Elders says. “Many of ours will serve those purposes, too, but ultimately they’ll all begin to connect to help us solve larger transportation problems.”

Among the current projects are a few in the Cashiers/Glenville area, as well as a Dillsboro-to-Sylva connector that has been a thorn in the side of residents for years. Residents still envision a greenway connector between the towns, but a geographical bottleneck has made a joint effort with the NC Department of Transportation to build a sidewalk alongside Business 23 the only practical solution. The project is funded, but organizers are still negotiating with two property owners who refuse right-of-way.

“There’s no other approach except to begin negotiations, treat everyone fairly and respectfully, and hope for the best,” says Elders. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to get a section on the ground soon, and that will go a long way towards helping ease many people’s concerns about beautification, privacy, safety, and property values.”

STATEWIDE-It’s been a century or so since North Carolina was in the toll road business.

But various influences, including growing public sentiment for user-based taxation, and an apparent state government desire to divest itself of some road-building responsibility, is changing that.

But officials with the N.C. Turnpike Authority say they have no projects planned for the mountains, reports Mark Barrett at the Asheville Citizen-Times.

An excerpt:

The project “marks a new era in transportation in North Carolina,” [State Transportation Secretary Gene] Conti said in a statement last month. “With dwindling transportation revenues and more fuel-efficient vehicles, the state needed another tool in its toolbox to deliver megaprojects like the Triangle Expressway. By the community choosing to toll the expressway, we will be able to deliver this project decades sooner.”

Like many states, North Carolina has been looking for different ways to finance highway construction as the cost of projects has outstripped revenue from the gas tax.

Joyner said the state and nation may eventually replace or supplement gas taxes with technology that allows government to track vehicle movements and charge motorists for miles driven on any public road.

Here’s the whole story.

REGIONAL–Drive to Atlanta much? Me either, anymore.

But the one constant in that two-and-a-half jaunt is change, and that change isn’t going away anytime soon.

The Georgia Department of Transportation recently told an open house crowd of some 250 people at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School about its plans to widen US 441 to four lanes from Clayton to the North Carolina line, south of Franklin. It’s a 7.5 mile stretch, and the road work will cost about $110 million.

The route is a major connector between the Atlanta area and the Smokies.

Here’s an excerpt from a story in the Highlands Highlander:

The plans include creating a four-lane highway to the North Carolina state line with a 20-foot raised median. Pope said the original plans included a 20-foot raised median through Dillard, but that has been changed to a 6-foot median. She added that the goal was to “minimize the impact on businesses.”

Here’s the whole piece.