I-26 Connector Update from Kit Cramer, Asheville Chamber President & CEO (April 30, 2025):
We continue to be very supportive of the I-26 Connector project. We’d ask that NCDOT continue to collaborate with the City of Asheville on the aesthetic components of the plan. We especially would like to see special attention focus on the Patton Avenue flyover.
I attended NCDOT’s information session regarding the I-26 Connector to check out concerns expressed by citizens who objected to changes in the design. A lot of the conversation has centered on the overpass that replaced a planned underpass where the highway crosses Patton Avenue. The rhetoric around the issue has gotten emotional, somewhat understandable given that a lot of volunteers worked hard to find a compromise position.
The expansion of I-26 has long been an item on the Chamber’s public policy agenda. This piece of infrastructure is critical to safely moving people and goods through our area. Fully 40% of our labor force comes from outside Buncombe County. The reduction of the highway to one lane on the Jeff Bowen Bridge lengthens commuting times for residents, restricts the ability of employers to attract talent from throughout the region, slows interstate and intercounty commerce for trailer traffic and remains one of the highest documented traffic safety hazards in North Carolina.
Twice in the past the funding for this project has been lost to other projects in the state due to local differences of opinion about how it should develop. Falling off the state’s Strategic Transportation Improvement Project list would require the project start all over again causing further delay and cost.
It is commonly known that bids for the construction contract came in $500 million higher than expected.
The “design-build” process has become common practice for awarding construction bids. It means that the contractor who wins the bid must finish the design of the project, conduct right-of-way purchases and do the construction for the amount they name in the bid.
The process allows NCDOT staff to work with contractors to get a best-and-final-offer for the project before awarding a contract. As with economic development projects and other forms of purchasing goods and services, the process also allows for confidentiality in discussions to maintain competitiveness amongst those bidding for the work. This may be where some of the confusion around transparency has come in.
The winning construction bid came in $197 million less than the next closest competitor. The winning proposal used an overpass at Patton Avenue instead of going underground.
An NCDOT staffer explained to me that going over Patton is a faster option, which cuts the number of days of construction, lowering costs. It avoids the need for temporary construction solutions that cost more and would take additional time. It also avoids the need to move fiberoptics which would put the schedule into the hands of a third-party utility, a process which has shown itself to be a budget buster in the past.
NCDOT has been highly collaborative with the City on various aspects of the plan. Soon they’ll be working with the City and an Aesthetics Committee to further customize design elements for the project. The pedestrian and bike amenities along Patton remain in place.
The end goal of the original ‘dig under’ Patton solution was the separation of local/thru traffic and the visual connection of downtown to Patton. Conceivably, this could spur long-needed redevelopment, reinvestment of the Patton/Smoky Corridor for dense, residential and commercial mixed use that is walkable to West AVL, RAD and Downtown. That should remain the primary goal of how we leverage this project to spur that redevelopment process in a healthy and thoughtful way.
Some of those who are protesting have never liked the size and scale of the project. The changes that have been proposed will not address their fundamental desire to treat an interstate like a neighborhood road.
We need to encourage engagement around the aesthetic committee, and how we turn this overpass into a unique architectural gateway to West AVL, RAD and Downtown. This project must stay on course and open in 2031.
We appreciate NCDOT’s support in completing this important piece of infrastructure for not only our community, but for our region and our state’s economy as well.
Learn more and find maps: https://publicinput.com/i26connector
People may submit comments to NCDOT through the public input site by May 25. My understanding from members of City Council and NCDOT is that they’re hearing from protesters. They’d also like to hear from those in favor of the project moving forward.