Western North Carolina roadway system has always been constrained by the geography of the region; many of the region's primary roadways follow the river valleys. Due to the topographic constraints, the Asheville Metropolitan area lacks a well-connected system of parallel routes and the resulting congestion is somewhat disproportionate to the population size of our region.
Apart from widening roadways and highways, a variety of solutions exist that can help improve congestion and traffic flow.
Design Innovations Helping Improve Traffic Flow
Access Management: Access management is a systematic hierarchy of roadways and control of access to highways, major arterials, and other roadways. The benefits of access management include improved movement of traffic, reduced crashes, and fewer vehicle conflicts. See more here.
Complete Streets: Designing streets and highways to serve all users. See more.
Congestion Management Process (CMP): Strategies to reduce congestion focusing on improved efficiency and alternatives to single-occupant vehicles (SOV). See the current CMP plan here.
Divergent Diamond Interchange: Divergent Diamond interchange design temporarily puts drivers on the left side of the road to minimize conflict points. See the example from Cornelius, NC here and watch a visualization of how it works.
ITS, or Intelligent Transportation Systems: ITS encompasses a variety of information technology-based solutions such as synchronized signals and real time messaging to improve the driver experience and minimize congestion. Learn more about ITS.
Road Diets: in some cases, limiting the number of through lanes leads to improved traffic flow and increased safety, in addition to better access for pedestrians and other users (for example, Haywood Road in West Asheville). Watch a video of East Boulevard road diet in Charlotte, NC and read about the safety benefits of road diets.
