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Grand Boulevard Neighborhood Resident Asks Town Council To Rescind No Left Turn Decision

Story by Kathleen McFadden

When the Boone Town Council agreed at their June meeting to prohibit left turns onto King Street from Grand Boulevard, neighborhood resident Saul Chase got busy. In Chase’s opinion, the recommendation from the town’s Transportation Committee was not only misguided, but potentially dangerous.

By prohibiting left turns onto King Street, residents of the Grand Boulevard neighborhoods would have to drive to the Depot and King Street intersection to turn left. To show the impact of that traffic pattern alteration, Chase not only surveyed the number of parking places in the neighborhood, but also researched accident statistics at the two intersections.

According to Chase’s census, Grand Boulevard, Orchard Street, Wallace Circle, Iris Lane, Bear Trail and Campus Ridge Drive have 74 houses and 18 apartments, not counting units at the following residential developments:
• Daniel Boone Condos with 127 parking spaces
• Campus Ridge Apartments with 20 parking spaces
• Hippie Hill with 38 spaces

“And these figures don’t include parking spaces at the Jones House, Legal Aid of NC and American Legion/Disabled American Veterans,” Chase said.

The point of the survey was to indicate how many more cars could be directed to the King and Depot Street intersection if left turns were prohibited from Grand Boulevard. Chase pointed out that the Junaluska and Eastbrook Drive neighborhoods could also see increased cut-through traffic as well.

In terms of accident statistics, Chase determined that since August 2005, only one vehicular accident has occurred at the Grand Boulevard-King Street intersection compared to six at the Depot-King Street intersection.

Along with his survey of parking spaces and research into accident statistics, Chase started a petition, collecting signatures from neighborhood residents who want the town council to rescind its decision.

“There was apparently no discussion of pedestrian safety at the Transportation Committee meeting,” Chase said. In addition, he said, the proposed change was not the result of a citizen complaint.

Chase attended last week’s meeting of the Transportation Committee and, he said, “criticized the Transportation Committee and the town council for not surveying the neighborhood before making a decision on the proposal.” At that meeting, Chase presented the petition with 71 signatures. Within a few days after the meeting, that number had grown to 80.

Members of the Transportation Committee, Chase said, agreed that a neighborhood survey should have been done prior to taking a recommendation to the town council. Committee member Lynne Mason proposed a traffic study of the intersections in question, and the motion passed unanimously. The town council will consider the committee’s recommendation at its meeting on Thursday, July 17.

Chase does not believe the issue warrants such a study. “We have enough information based on the Boone Police Department statistics,” he said. “It’s best to keep the situation as it is. We don’t need a traffic study. There’s no need to spend money to find out what you already know.”

Chase will appear in front of the Boone Town Council on Thursday to ask the council to rescind the decision.

“This misguided action by the Boone Town Council makes thousands of trips to the east of town longer for hundreds of people, while it endangers pedestrians crossing King Street at Depot Street and increases cut-throughs on Eastbrook Drive,” Chase said. “The Town Council should listen to its constituents and rescind the No Left Turn from Grand Boulevard onto King Street on July 17.”