Members of the Jackson County Transportation Task Force formally approved their chosen study area and decided Monday (July 12) to establish a sub-committee that would study immediate traffic congestion alleviation options on N.C. 107.

Task force members gathered into small groups and sketched out individual study areas during their last meeting in April, bringing in the Whittier and Cullowhee areas. The sketches were then taken back to the N.C. Department of Transportationís Statewide Planning Branch in Raleigh where they were combined into one all-inclusive map.

This map, which closely follows the N.C. 107 corridor, was submitted to the task force for approval, with only general public representative Ron Stephens, who was absent from the April meeting, voting against it.

With map approval, the task force unanimously voted to publish the map of the study area in local newspapers.

But having learned that the course of study on which they were embarking would take between a year to two years to complete, with any approved recommendations being just that ó recommendations, not funded projects ó the task force chose to look at more immediate solutions to traffic congestion on N.C. 107.

Transportation Engineering Supervisor Beverly Williams said that performing the study and coming up with a 25-year plan of action, did not automatically result in a ìcommitment to buildî by the D.O.T. A plan is a plan and nothing more, with most projects required to go through the traditional D.O.T. transportation improvement plan approval process ó a process that takes an average of 10 years to go from concept to construction.

Task force members felt that more should be done to accomplish short-term goals, utilizing changes that could be made on a district level, thereby not having to go through the T.I.P process, and producing more immediate results.

One proposed idea was access management, the concept of reducing points of access to major roads, which reduces the number of stop and start points and forces cars to use side roads to travel to a junction where they can enter the main road. Sylva Town Planner Jim Aust proposed an access management plan in February.

Smaller changes and more immediate results appeared to earn approval from the 40 or so audience members in attendance at the meeting.

Roger Turner, a member of Smart Roads and the WNC Alliance, though he said he represented neither at the meeting, cautioned task force members that looking only at long-term solutions would be ìbacking yourself into an endless hole of hell.î

Sylva businessman and Smart Roads member Jason Kimmacher agreed saying that a 25-year plan was too long reaching and that it was the right thing to do to start with N.C. 107. Kimmacher proposed some form of public transportation such as a bus system, which perhaps local business owners could help fund by agreeing to pay for the construction of a bus stop in front of their business and maintaining it.

However, public comment was somewhat limited as Williams said that the task force was there to conduct business.

ìThis is a working meeting,î she said.

While noting that all task force meetings are open to the public, Williams said there would be opportunities for public comment at the public hearings which would be held as part of the planning process.

The attendance of so many members of the public was unexpected, as during the task forceís April meeting only one audience member, Canary Coalition and Smart Roads representative Avram Friedman, was there. Williams and task force member Stephens attributed the larger turn out to publicity received in newspapers and on the local radio station WRGC.

ìI think we just werenít prepared for the advertisement,î Williams said.

The task forceís next meeting will be held Aug. 9 at 6 p.m. For more information contact Rural Planning Office Planner Matt Roark at 828.488.9211, ext. 3035. The Smart Roads Steering Committee also will hold a meeting at 7 p.m. July 20 at Mug Ní Stein in Sylva.