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Other than the 421 bypass, the plan calls for 4 lanes on the 105 Bypass and a median along 321 through town. Also new routes linking Beech Mountain to US 321 and Seven Devils to NC 105 for easier emergency vehicles access, and a road that links Bodenheimer Drive to NC 105.
I agree with most of the road improvements. If I were a business owner along 321, however, I'd be worried about decreased accessibility. I also don't see why people are in such a rush to connect Bodenheimer to 105, it just doesn't seem necessary.
I've often wondered if a center turn lane could be added to King Street if street-side parking were removed. But that would require some kind of public parking scheme involving decks, which are themselves unpopular and expensive. I don't think the bypass would solve anything. Most of the traffic on King Street is because of increased growth from ASU and Boone, not because people are rushing in and out of Vilas and Mountain City.
Then again, it's the state's money, and they'll build it if they want to. I just don't think we need to knock down all those trees for something that will only make a dent in the problem.
So, what do other people from the Watauga County or the High Country in general think. Worth the time and money, or not?
King Street can be improved so much. Its planned improvements will help to some extent, but I doubt it will solve Boone's traffic issues. The idea for a US-421 freeway bypass, if kept scenic while servings its purpose of diverting through traffic around Boone, would be helpful for the area.
Parking decks in Boone are not bad ideas. They free up room horizontally to allow growth in other areas.
What improvements can be made without tearing down the shops? I'm really curious.
The Appalachian State master plan calls for a couple of public parking decks along with mixed-use buildings. I don't have a problem with them (I'm very supportive of the proposed Holmes deck on-campus) but some people see them as an eyesore. I think it's less of an eyesore than a larger parking lot.
Bypasses (southern and northern) have been discussed for many decades and never gone anywhere because it's been virtually impossible to get local consensus behind one alternative route. Without local consensus, it will never move up the priority list for DOT funding.
I was on a community planning group 18-20 years ago, and even that long ago, we were not only looking at new alternative routes but also some that had been considered even before us. It gets more expensive every year of delay.
Having said that, more power to those who can get any highway improvements funded and accomplished.
The best example of united community support for highway improvements in the High Country in recent years was the successful effort for 4-laning of 421 between Boone and Winston-Salem, and that was a regional effort.
The idea for a US-421 freeway bypass, if kept scenic while servings its purpose of diverting through traffic around Boone, would be helpful for the area.
Not really. 421 doesn't get a whole lot of through traffic as is. Most of the traffic there is people driving into Boone, specifically to App. There's not a whole lot they can do to alleviate that. Part of the larger problem is so many of the students go back home to Charlotte and Cary every weekend, so halfway through their freshman year they start bringing their cars, essentially doubling the traffic in town. The student parking locations don't help either. Making it so students don't even need their cars would go a long way toward fixing the traffic situation. Discouraging vehicle traffic, building more high-rise student housing, and increasing Appalcart routes and buses would be the best option. Boone can't be built up like a typical Southern town with infinite room to expand; it has to be built more densely.
Discouraging vehicle traffic, building more high-rise student housing, and increasing Appalcart routes and buses would be the best option.
This is absolutely the best option. I think its ridiculous that at the same time the DOT just finished a multi-million dollar widening project on 421 AND is discussing doing this, AppalCart funding is being cut every year. The best way to reduce traffic on a daily basis is to make using AppalCart to travel from apartments and homes to campus and businesses easier. Undoing the reduction in hours and having multiple buses on particularly busy routes (Red comes to mind) would go a LONG way toward easing up traffic, and it could be done a lot cheaper and a lot quicker than building a bypass.
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