Some lawmakers may return for the 2012 legislative session with road-building on their minds. At issue is the state Department of Transportation’s tendency to favor building highways with a median rather than a center turn lane. Some lawmakers believe medians limit access to roadside businesses. Medians are one of a long list of transportation-related topics to get study before the General Assembly’s session begins in May. “I want to apply efficient processes in the road-building process from start to finish,” said Rep. John Torbett, R-Gaston and chairman of a subcommittee that will address the issue. Torbett said last week he wants factors like maintenance costs and costs for adjoining landowners taken into account, an issue highlighted in Asheville last summer when Rep. Tim Moffitt, R-Buncombe, unsuccessfully pushed for an $800,000 project to tear up a median to benefit a convenience store owner.
Kevin Lacy, a traffic engineer at DOT, said the department began moving toward building more four-lane roads with medians as research indicated such changes produced safety benefits. And DOT officials say fears about impacts on businesses are overblown and they have no funding to install medians on lots of existing roads in any event. Many state legislators have been skeptical in debates over the issue this year. The General Assembly considered, then shelved, legislation last year that would have barred DOT from constructing medians in a handful of locations. “Just like in fashion and music … DOT has picked out a fad, and it’s currently in medians,” Rep. Marilyn Avila, R-Wake, said during floor debate in the House in June. Lacy said DOT engineers tailor the design of each roadway to its particular location instead of simply having a blanket policy. “We have more information, and we’re making what we believe to be better decisions. We are not a one-size-fits-all organization,” he said. A five-lane design is often a better fit for roads with lower speed limits, a large number of driveways and lots of turning traffic, Lacy said. And several studies indicate little negative impact on most businesses when a median is installed, the Federal Highway Administration and the state DOT say.
Rep. Ray Rapp, D-Madison, questioned whether lawmakers should be telling the department how to build a particular road. “When DOT does its traffic studies … and says to us that there’s a safety issue, I think that always should trump other considerations,” he said last week. Rapp also wondered whether the legislature could craft a good statewide policy on the median issue. “I think we need to treat (highway projects) individually given the road conditions. That’s why you have engineers to do this,” he said.
Mark Barrett
Asheville Citizen-Times
12/03/11
