Traffic congestion along N.C. 107 in Sylva is the target of three separate studies, each designed to explore different fixes to the same problem.

One looks at building a new road or freeway known as the Southern Loop that would bypass N.C. 107. Another aims to keep traffic moving with a redesign of the existing road. Yet another takes a holistic approach, tackling traffic patterns countywide, from networks of side roads to public transportation.

All three studies fall under the domain of the N.C. Department of Transportation. The Southern Loop is by far the most controversial. It would blaze a new road through the mountains, five miles of cross-country construction taking in homes, farmland, streams and forests. Supporters of the Southern Loop say it is the only solution to the traffic woes, however.

N.C. 107 is your classic commercial strip, a five-lane road defined by fastfood joints, strip malls, big-box stores and almost any other kind of business imaginable. Throw in a high school and community college — and the corridor’s dual role as a commuter artery — and it’s easy to see why back-ups are the norm.

Supporters of the Southern Loop claim it would fix traffic back-ups by shunting commuter traffic off N.C. 107 and onto a bypass. But critics claim it wouldn’t help, as most of the people using N.C. 107 are those going to the grocery store, Wal-Mart and the plethora of destinations along the artery and therefore aren’t candidates for shunting. They claim congestion would continue regardless, making a redesign of the road a better fix.

It will be at least three years before the DOT announces its conclusion, pending the results of the three concurrent studies.

Study 1: Southern Loop

The DOT has launched a three- to four-year environmental impact study of the Southern Loop corridor. The roughly five-mile corridor will arch from N.C. 107 north toward U.S. 23-74. The precise path could end up anywhere between Sylva and Western Carolina University. The study will weigh the pros and cons of different routes and road designs.

The road could be a fast-moving freeway or a two-lane boulevard. Opponents won a small battle when the DOT broadened its language describing the Southern Loop as a “multi-lane” freeway to include the possibility of a smaller two-lane road, at least for the purpose of the study.

First and foremost, the study will assess environmental damage the various routes and road designs would cause. Field crews will walk the potential routes looking for things a road should avoid.

“Our environmental folks have to go out on foot and they have to verify endangered species, wetlands and streams, historic properties, all those things,” said Ryan White, project coordinator for the Southern Loop study in Raleigh. “It is tough terrain that folks have to go out on. It is a detailed process and that is why it takes as long as it does.”

A slew of environmental agencies look over DOT’s shoulder during the process: a partial list include U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Army Corps, N.C. Wildlife Commission, N.C. Division of Water Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency.

But the environmental impact study isn’t just about the environment. The study will also bring engineers on board to develop various road designs and projected costs of each. The study will also weigh which route best serves projected growth and development.

“We will develop different corridors and constantly narrow it down until we finally get a preferred alternative,” White said.

The most damaging road environmentally could still be chosen if the DOT thinks it’s the best one for solving traffic congestion.

The study will also weigh the pros and cons of redesigning 107 to handle the traffic rather than building a new road at all, White said. That option is the subject of its whole own study, the results of which should eventually be imported into the Southern Loop study, White said.

The tone of Southern Loop planning will hinge on a meeting in February 2009 when the DOT arrives at the project’s “purpose and need.”

“That is probably the most important meeting that we’ll have,” White said. All the state and federal environmental agencies get to take part in the meeting.

The purpose and need, typically one to three sentences long, is the litmus test that every option is measured against, ultimately precluding some options and elevating others. Depending on how it’s crafted, the “purpose and need” will make or break whether the DOT genuinely considers reworking existing N.C. 107 versus building a new road.

The environmental study is currently in an early phase known as “scoping.” The scoping process sets the stage for the environmental study, laying out the parameters of what the study will include. There is an official public comment period on the scoping process through Aug. 1, but people can send in comments anytime on any subject and they will be considered, White said. White said the DOT is committed to public involvement in the planning process.

“It’s people’s tax dollars and they need to be involved in the process,” White said. “We don’t want people to think we are doing stuff behind closed doors.”

The Jackson County Smart Roads Alliance is submitting comments, in which it calls for consideration of a network system of side roads in and around 107 rather than a new freeway.

Study 2: Redesign 107

Opponents of the Southern Loop can take credit for getting this study off the ground. For years, Southern Loop critics argued that traffic congestion on N.C. 107 could be fixed by redesigning traffic patterns along the commercial thoroughfare and creating a network of side streets.

Last year, Joel Setzer, the regional head of the DOT called for a feasibility study to show folks just what such a redesign would look like. The study won’t consider the network of side streets, however, which is integral to the argument of Southern Loop critics. But it will look for ways to push traffic down 107 more efficiently. The study will consider two scenarios: one if the Southern Loop is built, and one if it’s not.

“My purpose with this study is to evaluate the geometric needs along 107 with and without the proposed Southern Loop connection,” said Derrick Lewis, the head of the Raleigh DOT unit that does feasibility studies. Under each scenario, the road would accommodate traffic projected for the year 2035.

Lewis said the redesign will primarily focus around how many extra lanes are needed.

“It will mostly be widening,” Lewis said of the redesign.

While it doesn’t sound very creative, Lewis mentioned one outside the box solution as a strong possibility in the redesign: a center median to stop what he calls the “indiscriminate left turns.” That in and of itself could speed up traffic flow.

“You focus the turning movements at specific control points instead of having them occur anywhere and everywhere,” Lewis said. “It helps when you don’t have to anticipate that vehicle coming out of nowhere.”

While the redesign could be a total overhaul of traffic patterns on 107, it could also identify spot improvements that the DOT could tackle more nimbly, Lewis said.

Lewis is not totally new to outside the box solutions. Lewis was integral in bringing a traffic circle to Waynesville on the Old Asheville Road. The traffic circle in lieu of a traffic light was the source of considerable controversy, but ultimately won out. The once new-fangled roundabout in Waynesville has since won over its harshest critics, reducing wait times without the long queues seen at stop lights.

The redesign study will kick off this fall with a roundtable with local leaders, including county commissioners and Sylva town board members, to get their thoughts on a 107 redesign. Next, the DOT will hold a public forum to gather ideas before getting started.

The DOT doesn’t usually have public forums on feasibility studies, but is in this case “given the sensitivity of the issue with the Southern Loop,” Lewis said.

“This one we want to have anybody and everybody involved,” Lewis said.

Opponents to the Southern Loop fear DOT isn’t serious about the alternative of redesigning 107, otherwise DOT would put off the Southern Loop study until the redesign study is done. But Lewis said the redesign study will be finished in 18 months to two years — plenty of time to incorporate it into the Southern Loop study.

The DOT contracts out most of its studies rather than conducting them in house. In this case, the same consulting firm, KO Associates, is doing both the Southern Loop study and 107 redesign.

“You will not only have the same firm, but the same group in the same firm doing it all so they can know what is going on without having a disconnect,” Lewis said.

Study 3: Comprehensive transportation plan

The solution most touted by Southern Loop critics is a network of side roads and linking rural routes to relieve pressure on 107. It appears this study — the creation of a Jackson County comprehensive transportation plan — is the only place where the network solution will get a serious look. But critics fear the Southern Loop study will be too far along by the time this study gets anywhere.

“If we are going to wait for the comprehensive county plan to look at anything other than new road construction, we are going to be set up,” said Roger Turner, a spokesperson with the Smart Road Alliance. “It will be a done deal by the time they get through with the county plan.”

The comprehensive transportation plan would be further along if not for a series of setbacks. It faltered for more than two years due to a revolving door of DOT staffers, including long windows with no staff person assigned to the project.

Southern Loop critics hoped the Jackson County transportation plan would head off the Southern Loop at the pass by coming up with alternative solutions, but Southern Loop planning continued to creep forward while this study stagnated. Last year, Jackson County commissioners unanimously joined the public in calling for the countywide transportation plan to be finished before narrowing in on the Southern Loop as the only solution.

A transportation task force comprised of citizens and elected leaders is involved in the creation of a transportation plan.

The task force’s first big step was conducting a survey to collect notions from the public about what they see as transportation problems and possible solutions. The results of the survey will be released soon.