Comments for “Tunnel Road Corridor Study”
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Could this entrance be moved off of Tunnel Road and instead there be an entrance from behind the Verizon store, etc. to get to Carrarbas, etc? Right now there is no way to turn left out of the existing entrance and there is no light.
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The very 1st safety measure would be for the Police to stop the 'Loud Muffler, Auto, and Motorcycle Racing' that is occurring in the vicinity of the tunnel.
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Please add a multi-modal connection to Tunnel Road going East. The City of Asheville Comprehensive Plan shows an Urban Center on Future Land Use Map near the Beverly Hills Baptist Church. It would be nice to see the Tunnel Road Corridor Study take into consideration adjacent planning efforts.
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I tried to comment on the previous comment, but instead the software said I "Liked" the idea of an apartment complex here. Not so. Yes, it is an insane amount of parking, but the Mall has lease agreements with the businesses requiring a set amount of parking. Every lease would have to be renegotiated. In addition, this area is bottlenecked on both sides, making it a pain for residents to access their apartments. It would be even worse if the Sears redevelopment includes hundreds of apartments, as proposed. In addition, the parking garage would have to be demolished because it is not structurally capable of supporting an apartment complex. Let's not even talk about sewer access....
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This area would be an excellent entrance point for a relocated Mall perimeter road, once the old Sears Auto Center is demolished. Quicker access for emergency vehicles going to the Mall. Relieves the dangerous traffic on White Pine Drive. Reduces the traffic backup at the Tunnel Road / South Tunnel Road stop light.
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This area would be an excellent entrance point for a relocated Mall perimeter road, once the old Sears Auto Center is demolished. Quicker access for emergency vehicles going to the Mall. Relieves the dangerous traffic on White Pine Drive. Reduces the traffic backup at the Tunnel Road / South Tunnel Road stop light.
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This outlier parking area would make a nice small city park, if the Sears property is finally redeveloped to include an apartment complex and the Mall perimeter road is relocated to the Tunnel Road / South Tunnel Road intersection. Picnic area, dog park, trees, etc?
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A straight shot through this grassy triangle onto South Tunnel Road would greatly decrease the backup of right-turn traffic heading to the Mall and South Tunnel Road businesses. In addition, it should be the entrance/exit point of the Mall perimeter road to relieve the serious backups at White Pine Drive. This triangular property has been marked for sale for at least two years. Buy it, put a road through, and plant some trees in the remainder of the triangle. Win-Win.
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This mall entrance needs to be closed to vehicular traffic. It has been a hazard to Kenilworth Forest residents since the Mall was constructed. If the old Sears property becomes an apartment complex, this road will be the primary entrance/exit for hundreds of cars, clogging White Pine Drive and increasing the current hazards. The mall perimeter road should be redirected to a redesigned intersection at Tunnel Road and South Tunnel Road, near the old Sears Auto Center. It has been stated by P&Z that this "Brackettown Road" is necessary for emergency vehicles. Not so if the Mall perimeter road is redirected as described.
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Let's think about using some of this space for an indoor sports center, similar to what Rock Hill, SC has, maybe with an indoor and/or outdoor pool too. It could be used by people who live here plus would serve as a huge revenue source for the area (like it has been for Rock Hill). There's plenty of nearby lodging plus easy access to the highway *and* a space like this is sorely needed in western NC.
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This intersection needs to be restudied in its entirety. Due to changes in demographics, the clear through traffic is straight down S Tunnel. I agree with the other comment that a roundabout would make good sense here, However I also feel that much of the traffic is coming off and on of i240 and is being choked by the overuse of traffic signals in the area.
My suggestion would be to take much of the land that is there and maybe a small portion of what use to be sears auto and create a roundabout that treated the flow through as a straight line from the tunnel through to south tunnel (it appears that this may have been the way it was in years past anyway).
With that done bring the through way under i240 down to a 2 lane. (not much traffic really goes through there) Have the on and off ramps for the 240 exit merge in/ break off from this 2 lane and flow in with the new round about.
I also think that the bridge structure for 240 could be redesigned with a roundabout flow to ease stopping for traffic trying to access 240.
In general, my thought is that much of the traffic in this area is less from volume of cars and more from the amount of stops that each car has to make from the lights and other obstacles.
If anyone in the organization is interested in my thoughts I can very easily draw up a diagram of what I describe to make it more clear.
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Test
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2 issues at this intersection: 1. This entrance to the mall need to be changed somehow. I suggest making it exit or entrance only. 2. There should be a median/barrier down the middle of this stretch of White Pine because it's really annoying when folks coming off of Tunnel then immediately try to turn left into CookOut thereby blocking traffic behind them. Sometimes the traffic coming out of the mall is so much that the White Pine entrance to CookOut is blocked so the person wanting to make a left into it is stuck there and then people behind that person are stuck out on in the Tunnel intersection. This scenario happens on most weekends. It would be solved by a median which would still leave CookOut with 2 entrances for folks coming off of Tunnel (the one right on Tunnel and the one at the back off of Brackettown road)
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Provide SAFE ped|bike connection to Chunns Cove community. Chunns Cove Road is mostly pleasant up until I-240 & could really draw people from the area into the Tunnel Rd corridor.
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Bus shelter on BOTH sides of road. Ingles can pay for it by advertising on it. Outside the box thinking.
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This is a boat-ton of land to use for what DOT requires as a 'safety corridor'. We need to think outside the box and realize that land is an asset that shouldn't be used haphazardly. How about a park with a bike skills park area or a place for all the apartment residents to walk their dogs? Get developers to pay into a fund to construct it.
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Prioritize future connections up into the Oakley community and the housing that is adjacent to River Ridge. Realize this is outside the study area but too many times future connections are not considered.
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I'm sure we can do better here. Can we straighten so S. Tunnel feeds directly into Tunnel? Or, better yet, demolish Men's Warehouse (because, really, who goes there?) and the weird side road that goes to Budget Truck Rental to make room for a roundabout or two roundabouts.
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This is an insane waste of space. Push I-240 all the way east, trim/consolidate on-ramps/off-ramps, and us leftover real estate for mixed use development.
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Can we make the entryway to the tunnel more of a gateway? Like, "Welcome to Asheville" or something similar - artistic, local flavor.
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I really wish this car wash wasn't here. It's not a great place for it. It would be great for this intersection to feed into Restaurant Court and connect to Beaucatcher Road for a better roadway system that allows for choice and alternatives.
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Access management, please! Fewer curb cuts, better sidewalks, cancel left turns, and put in some awesome roundabouts.
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You say "utility easement" - I say greenway location!
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I guess this is a private road to the Mall, but can it become a public street and connect to Swannanoa River Road? Wouldn't that ease congestion at the Tunnel Road/Swannanoa River Road intersection? Give people alternatives so it's not all funneled through one place for every trip.
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This sidewalk should be a multiuse path (10' wide or wider) with a buffer from the roadway. It's the ONLY bike/ped connection to get from Tunnel Road to the eastern leg of Tunnel Road, so it needs to be safe and comfortable, and enable bicyclists to get OFF the road, which is high speeds and dangerous.
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