News

Kanuga widening alarms homeowners

By Nancy Waclawek, Published: July 18, 2017

More than 100 people showed up Tuesday for the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s public meeting on the Kanuga Road improvements held at the City of Hendersonville’s Operations Center.

Residents pushed as close as they could to the engineering maps mounted on easels around the room, looking for their names and house numbers and the red, green, yellow and black lines that might indicate what would happen to their properties.

They quizzed the NCDOT engineers on everything from how it might affect the trees in their front yards to how long construction would take.

They got assurances that their concerns would be taken into consideration as plans move forward.

Some residents questioned the very need to change Kanuga Road from the tree-canopied, winding road that it is now into a wider thoroughfare that engineers say it must become to make it safer and to handle anticipated increases in traffic. But most were there to get more information and to be heard.

The proposed road improvements, estimated to cost $20 million, would start at Little River Road and continue to Church Street in downtown Hendersonville. Surveying is taking place on Kanuga now and is expected to be completed by October. Those results will provide the details that engineers need to move forward with the plan.

Right of way acquisition is scheduled to start in July 2019 and construction in July 2020.

The maps on display were created based on aerial photography, engineers said, so residents would have an idea of what was proposed. The engineering plans are in the very early stages of design – only 15 percent complete, they said.

An NCDOT handout explained that the improvements on Kanuga “will provide a safer roadway for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians.”

The proposed improvements include widening travel lanes to accommodate bicyclists, dedicated turn lanes, sidewalks and other improvements, including the possibility of rotaries at the intersections of Hebron Road and Erkwood Road.

According to NCDOT, “currently the average daily traffic along Kanuga from Little River to Church is estimated to be about 11,000 per day. This number is expected to increase to 14,000 by the year 2040.”

Specifically, from Little River Road to Erkwood Road/State Street, the plans show 11-foot travel lanes, with 4-foot paved shoulders bordered by grass.

From Erkwood Road to Hebron Road, they include 5-foot sidewalks, 4-foot planter strips next to curbs/gutters, with a 4-foot bike lane. The travel lanes would be 11 feet with a 11-foot center turn lane.

From Hebron Road to Church Street, there would be 5-foot sidewalks with curbs, 4-foot bike lanes, 11-foot travel lanes and an 11-foot center turn lane.

The proposed design suggests roundabouts instead of stoplights at Kanuga and Hebron and Kanuga and Erkwood.
Public comments will be taken until Aug. 4. Write to Steve Williams, NCDOT division project manager, at 253 Webster Road, Sylva, NC 28779 or email sjwilliams@ncdot.gov.

A copy of the public meeting materials can be viewed on the NCDOT public meetings website at www.ncdot.gov/projects/publicmeetings.