New Route Said Ijest
To The Du Pont Plant
By CAL CARPENTER
At the December 12th meeting of the
Brevard Chamber of Commerce, a resolution
was taken to endorse construction of a new
highway frem Brevard to the Du Pont plant
by way of the old Willianvon Creek Road
and across the mountain to Laurel Creek Road.
The Chamber’s action called for all direc
tors to write Governor Dan Moore in support of
this proposal and to encourage ferevard and
Transylvania citizens, who feel the same way,
to write the Governor or their State Senator and
Representative.
This constructive suggestion can best be
carried cut if every letter writer is ixi posses
sion of the facts supporting his position v— if
he has the ammunition, so to speak.
We believe the facts are in favor of the
Williamson Creek route rather than a Cascade
Lake, Laurel Creek route to the Du Pont plant
from Henderson County, proposed by Hender
son County officials and citizens. The follow
ing paragraphs contain our reasons.
NEED A NEW ROAD
Here are some Du Pont employment
figures. These support a case for better ac
cess to the Du Pont plant either from Brevard
or Hendersonville, cr both. The present em
ployment figures are sufficient justification;
the continued growth of the plant as indicat
ed by the expected employment in 1968, 1969,
and 1S70, makes better access mandatory.
Present Plant Employment
Supervisory 192
Clerical 53
Wage 411
Present Construction Force
(Employees From Henderson Co.
Employees From Transylvania Co.
Expected Future Employment
By 1968 700
By 1969: .850
By 1970- V' “ ' 1000
660
550
40%
60%
PRESENT ROAD USAGE
Here is some information which should
be considered in the decision whether to build
both roads or one and, if a choice has to be
2f«, the present rm&.jM Brevard
to the plant, and the p&igHt condition And
usaare of the Cascade Lalfe Rbff u, u ,^
Certainly a new Cascade lathe kcacl wouid
be used more than these figures indicate; but
the traffic would not approach the already over
burdened use of Highway, 276 )(tvhlch will cbh
tihue at this rate of use aha even higher if the
Williamson Creek road is not, built.,
U.S. HIGHWAY NO. 276
I • (I. i Hi
Description:
Length (to just south of the
turnoff) tiii>
Width . ...
Curves Many: sharp. ahd,pitagi
Grades
Construction
Serviceability
Old li9^b-^l)MmSyhan[
Impassable in high water
Kinds of Traffic:
Du Pont Employees
Du Font Construction force
Interstate Trucks (to and from Du font—
SO to 40 per day) , , , ^ , i 4b
Tourists—from South Carolina t» the Pis
gap National Forest and the > Great
Smoky Mountains National Park
Through Traffic—From Southeast to the
Mid-West
Traffic Count:
Outside City Limits of Brevard 4,000 daily
At a point seven miles south of
Brevard 900 daily
At Cedar Mountain (just south of Du Pont
turnoff) . , , 650 daily
CASCADE LAKE ROAD
Description:
Length (south from Crab Creek to Du
Pont) 5 miles
Width 16 feet
Curves Many: sharp and dangerous,
unbanked
Grades Moderate
Construction Gravel—unimproved
Serviceability Normal for mountain,
unimproved road.
Kinds of Traffic:
Mostly serves Cascade Lake development
and Du Pont
At north end (between Crab Creek f d, and
Cascade Lake development) 85 daily
At south end (just north of entrance to Du
Pont) 65 daily
BOTH ROADS NEEDED
If it were possible to build both roads,
be the best solution for good access
to the Du Pont plant. The Cascade Lake road
is heeded and would provide easy access for
employees from Henderson County.
This road is very poor and certainly needs
improvement, as do many unimproved roads in
many counties in North Carolina. It would be a
shorter piece of road construction, either as it
runs how or over a hew, straighter route that
eventually might become necessary if the TVA
plans for that area materialize and flood the
s itotin l'oau.
But the Williamson Creek road would
serve a larger percentage of Du Pont em
ployees. |t. would .relieve most of the conges
tion presently encountered on U.S. 276 south
ot brevard. It would reduce the distance to
the ou Pont plant frdm brevard from the pre
sent 14 miles plus to 6 miles plus. It would
benefit both lransylvama and Henderson
county employees at Du Pont, by shortening
the driving distance from either Henderson
vpie breyard. Admittedly, the brevard cm
ployeef* route would be shortened much more,
up* the .Cascade Lake route would benefit
Wly the, Henderspn county employees by
shortening their driving distance drastically
whild helping the Transylvania employee none
at all.
.The proposed Williamson Creek route
wo.uld leaveU.S..Highway 276 near the Brevard
cityjlimits, follow fcjlm Bend road (which is al
ready selected for improvement and a new
bridge overthe French Broad river to raise it
abov^ the high water level), and cross the Wil
sop Bridge read rpugljly one mite north of U.S.
276. Frpn}. there .it Would continue northeast,
generally follow the old Williamson Creek road,
cross, the mountain through one of two low gaps,
and then on northeast to the Du Pont plant. Hen
derson county employees could save consider
able driving distance by leaving U.S. 64 and go
ing through PiSgah Forest to the Wilson Bridge
road intersection instead of driving into Brevard
to connect with U.S. 276.
IN THE APPALACHIA PROGRAM
... A check, with our .State Highway Com
mission District Commissioner, W. Curtis Russ,
discloses that although preliminary aerial
suirveys have been made, prospects for imme
diate construction of either the Williamson
CfpfcJ1 or Cascade Lake roads are not too good.
Fund curtailment fey. bbtk state and federal
agencies has forcecTRith roads out of normal
construction consideration. There is only one
other Source of funds for either project
both: the Appalachia Program.
or
The aerial surveys and proposals have been
turned over to the Appalachia Program. A study
*;/! ^ *,—r• -ri-—-- ■ ■ ^ ? ,m
Beautiful New Bridge Across Railway Near Lake Sega
group will make a study of need, possible con
struction difficulties^ TV A plans, and costs.
They will then decide whether to recommend
one, both, or neither of the prbjects. If a recom
mendation is made to go ahead, and if money is
available, the Appalachia Program will provide
the funds and the State Highway Commission
will be in charge of the work.
But the prospect is pretty dim here also.
The Federal Government has frozen the Appja
chia Program funds and just when money will
+
again be available is not known.
CITIZENS ENCOURAGED TO WRITE
The procedure encouraged by the Bre
vard Chamber of Commerce* that of writing
Governor Moore and/or our State Senator and
State Representative, is a sound one. The Ap
palachia Program includes 13 states; the Gov
ernor of each state is the State Chairman for
the Program. If Transylvania citizens are con
cerned enough to make the need for this new
road known at the state capital, the chances
of it being dope as soon as money becomes
available, will be greatly increased.
Directors of the Brevard Chamber of Commerce
have adopted a resolution urging the construction of the
new highway via Willaimson Creek to the Du Pont plant. It
is carried elsewhere in this; issue of The Times.
• ' . ... ..... ..
With j&eiftiine
customers for their generous consider!
opportunity, to. extend, the season's g
wishes to you and yours for holiday f
And ■« holiday ioys
! wirt you hurt
i aod light yovr horn.
Most sincerity wa
•IWwW wfl W 9 ww
<<A.nd, h>, the
Star which
they saw
in the east,
went before
them, till
it came and
stood oyer
where the young
Child was. When
they saw the
Star, they rejoiced
|P with exceeding great
joy.” As the light
e^yChristmas shone for
it shine now, in every heart and home.
MgMSj
gihtW |
# Of ««P B9od friend* and
loyal patronage during die ytar,
Work In County
1
cited fa} Commissioner
UJ 'Vi;v
iitu*e
i; - ..r m
re Also
By STAFF WRlTfeR
We sometimes hear, the complaint that
Transylvania County gets short changed on
state highway funds. We hear that little of
out- tax money is being spent oh out* roads;
that highway And mad funds are allocated
so as to penalize loW population, but prop
erty rich couhties such as ours to the bedfefit
cf higher population counties with, perhaps,
less property value. These complaints are in
error.
Let’s look at the facts . . .
It i3 a fact that a very large amount of
state highway money has been spent ih Transyl
vania County—more in the last few years, than
ever before. Here are some figures provided by
the State Highway Commissioner’s Office for
tnis District.
I
These *re not guesses; they are from the
State Auditor’s vouchers—money committed
or spent on primary and secondary roads in
Transylvania County:
< , ;
Fiscal Year 1966 (July 1, 1965 — June 30,
1966) ---$1,640,000
Fiscal Year 1967 (July 1, 1966 — June 30,
1967) -$1,200,006
And according to W. Curtis Russ, State
Highway Commissioner, flor this District, the
Fiscal Year 1968 will far exceed either of these
years; possibly it will approach their combined
total.
How Allocated?
It is the wide belief, that county property
tf* money is used in the highway program.
We had best dispell this before we. talk about
allocation, for it is not£ true., Statq Highway
Commission funds, cotaie solely. from the, tax
on gasoline and motor vehicle license fees.,. No
land tak’^inotuef ftfetWd for thu, purpose.
Obviously, then,. the Value Pf, reAl property
an4 population t|avse only aR indirect effect
cn a county’s contribution tjo. the state high
way fund. They have no effect on its alloca
tion. Somts years Ago, population liras a fac
tor, but not now.
Interstate highway construction and. other’
Federally assisted projects are affected by
population—the effect worked out on a 50-state
formula. This, too, is an equitable division but
it is Federally determined and largely beyond
state cpntrol.
How are state highway £unds allotted?
Let’s take secondary road improvement for an
example. This is totally state money and state
controlled and we can be specific in the pro
cedure.
,.i The state sets up a fund for secondary
road improvement: All counties share equally
Cp the basis of the number of unimproved
thiles of secondary roads in each of the 100
counties in the state. The fund is divided by
the number of unimproved mites in the 100
coudties. the lest figure came oiifc to be
$16|.l0 per unimproved ritiile with it to% ad
ditional allowance in tnountain counties such
as Transylvania tbr show And ice problems,
this is the amount of money available, state
wide, for each mile of secondary road im
provement. 'this figure, multiplied by the
number of miles ot unimproved road in a
county, produces the full allocation for that
county.
This money is lot the exclusive use of the
county designated and must be spent in that
county. it cannot be transferred to another
county or lor use toward another purpose.
Which Roads Are Improved?
How does the highway commission de
termine which roads are to be improved?
inis is done by impartial formula, it begins
wi.n a caretui survey of the number of resi
dences on a road, the under-way housing de
velopments, the churches,, the cemeteries. It
is oetermihep whether the road is a school
bus route or a mail irbute. An accurate count is
made of ail vehicular traffic cn the road.
The road is then given a number of points,
weighted oy category, bchooi bus routes, for
example, rate high; Ine points are then totaled.
This lotal is divided by the number of miles of
the road needing improving. The resulting fig
ure is that particular road's priority for im
provement. All unimproved roads which were
considered in the original county fund alloca
tion are so surveyed and a list is made.
The next step is to obtain tike right-of-way.
Since the state cannot, buy rights-of-way for
secondary roads outside town limits, these
must be donated. If a road has the highest
point. tot£*l and the right-of-way has been do
hated, it is then hunioeir one lor improvement.
Should the right-of-way not be donated, even
though a road ranks first, consideration then
goes to the next ranking road and so on down
the list.
In the case of secondary road improvement
inside a town limits, the town participates. TJtis
is a standard 15% of the total cost of right-of
way, the same for all towns; A little thought dis
close^ this tp be a necessity in order to prevent
individuals from demanding unreasonably high
prices for the in-towh right-of-way.
i},. Oil occasions when a town has been unable
to raise its 15% of the right-of-way cost,
the State Highway , Gommissjop has been
known to loan, the necessary money—tor up
to |5 years, without interest, in ordter to get the
project started. It is pretty hard to imagine
faiter treatment than that.
What Has Been Done?
, Let’s look afi what has been done in Tran
sylvania in the last two years. Wfe are indebted
for this information to T. M. Austell, District
Highway Engineer and Tred Davidson, Resident
Highway Engineer.
-IP l§66,j there, was the new bridge, and ap
proaches across the river at Blantyre, re
surfacing upf Crab Creek Road, King Road,
McGuire Read, East Fork Road and several
shorter length improvements |n, Brevard such
as Cutland avenue, Park avenue, Grandview;
several other block-length projects here and
.there. There was the improvement of U.S.
Highway 64 into the Rosman town limits.
In 196?, base and resurfacing of 9.7 miles
of secondary roads amounted to a $230,000 ex
penditure.
This included work in the Rosman and
Brevard town limits (such as Brevard’s $79,
000 drainage project on Broad and Caldwell
streets, still going on), and improvement of
Ross, Pole Miller, Quebec, Illahee, Tinsley and
Brevard High School Roads. There was the re
surfacing and widening of Highway 64 and
the fine new bridge and approaches near
Lake Sega Road, involving an exnenditure of
$266,0C0. There was the $30,000 guard rail
project on Glouster Road from Highway 64 to
the Tracking Station. This latter was all Fed
eral funds from the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) but, neverthe
less, county ro.-d improvement. There was an
expenditure of $200,000 for 14 miles of new
grading, $84,000 fcr primary road mainten
ance, and $200,COD fcr secondary road main
tenance.
It is the oninion of the state highway engi
neers in this district, without researching the
records for figures to back it. that almost aS
much money has been spent on Transylvania
secondary reads in the last two years as in the
five previous years.
Future Work
Bidding opened in Raleigh last Tuesday
for some 47.77 miles of new primary and
secondary roads in Transylvania and Hender
son counties. About half of this will be in
Transylvania. The bids a.re taken oh the two
county job because a better price can be had
on the combined projects.
Future work will include a project on
Highway 276 to raise the entire link above the
French Broad flood level south of Brevard. A
new bridge on the Elm Bend Road extension
will also keep this area traffic above high
water.
Another project is the proposed $1,06Q,
COO job of paving the road south* from High
way 64 to White ‘\Vater Falls and continuing
it into South Carolina. This still depends ih
part on a Forest Service appropriation and is
therefore not yetLp definite project. It is, how
ever, pretty certain to be done, . and when
completed, will provide an easy, access to the
scenjp beauty cf the White Water Falls area
\yhicly will ccrfstitiite a tourist attraction of
benefit to all cf Western Nor(lj Carolina as
well es Transylvania County. There are also
ether exciting projects in the planning stage
which will be announced as soon as possible.
Good Job
Transylvania County is not being short
changed on state highway funds. We are and
have been receiving our share of road improve
ments even though it is not always obvious when
we look at such mammoth projects as the new
Federal Interstate Highway in Haywood County.
We can, based cn raft performance, con
fidently expect to continue to receive cur fair
share. We are fortunate to have a sincere and
dedicated group cf fellow citizens in the State
Highway Commission who are doing an hon
est and impartial job for all of the state’s peo
ple. Perhaps we should take the time once in
a while to tell them we appreciate them. Like
most people in a thankless public service job,
they’d no doubt be glad to hear it.
imes change... hut the
warmth of the ChristMs
spirit lives on foTever.
Enduring, too, 'is the
gratitude Ve {eel 'tht
the. privilege of serving
ouf fine customers.
At this beautiful and
^ joyous time of the year, we
would like to take the opportunity to say
“Thank You” for your patronage. Have a Merry Christmas.
“THfc STOfcK WITH THE MERCHANDISE’
* % * * \?.i~ > , « : : '