DOT Gathers Public Input on Highway 221 Widening

Highway To Be Widened to Four Lanes from 421 to Jefferson

Story by Anna Oakes

Division 11 Construction Engineer Trent Beaver answers questions about the U.S. 221 Widening Project at a Citizens Informational Workshop held last Thursday. Photo by Anna Oakes

About 150 people signed an attendance sheet at a Citizens Informational Workshop for the proposed U.S. Highway 221 widening project. The project will widen the 16.1-mile section of road from two lanes to four lanes from the intersection with U.S. 421 south of Boone to the U.S. 221 Business/N.C. Highway 88 in Jefferson.

Current total cost estimates for the project, including right-of-way acquisition and construction, are about $98 million.

The workshop, hosted by the N.C. Department of Transportation at the Ashe County High School in West Jefferson, was held to inform the public of the project’s progress and solicit input. The workshop is included in phase 3 of the planning stage of the project. Yet to be completed in the planning stage are an environmental assessment of the project, preliminary designs and a public hearing.

According to NCDOT, the widening project is needed because of projected traffic congestion and existing accident rates along this stretch of highway. The affected areas include about a mile in Watauga County with the rest in Ashe County, including the communities of Deep Gap, Fleetwood, Baldwin and Beaver Creek.

The Accident Analysis portion of the DOT’s Purpose and Need Statement for the 221 project includes crash data for this particular section of highway for the three-year period between June 1, 2004, and May 31, 2007. The total number of crashes was 243, with one being fatal, 78 being non-fatal injury crashes and 164 involving property damage only.

Compared to the statewide accident rate for rural highways, the crash rate for the entire section, 175.35, is lower than the state rate, 186.99. However, crash data for eight particular segments along this stretch of highway exceed the state rate, and two of those segments have a crash rate that doubles the state rate, the analysis said.

Construction of the widening project is planned to take place in five sections:

A) U.S. 421 to Idlewild Road;
B) Idlewild Road to north of the South Fork of the New River;
C) South Fork of the New River to south of N.C. 194;
D) South of N.C. 194 to U.S. 221 Bypass; and
E) U.S. 221 Bypass to U.S. 221 Business/N.C. 88

Only sections A and B are currently funded through the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). The other three sections are currently unfunded.

Frank Vick of Parsons Engineering is the project manager for the Highway 221 Widening Study. Vick said the tentative date to begin right-of-way acquisition is in 2012, with construction tentatively scheduled to begin on section A in 2013 and on section B in 2014.

The study is open to public comment at any time, Vick said. To submit your comments about the project, mail them to Joseph S. Qubain, N.C. Department of Transportation Project Development and Environmental Analysis, 1548 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC, 27699-1548.