Biltmore Avenue Bridge Replacement

Hi.  Today's article focuses on an issue that will soon affect a good number of Asheville residents - the upcoming replacement of the Biltmore Avenue Bridge, which spans the Swannanoa River and is adjacent to Biltmore Village and the entrance to the Biltmore House and Estate.  As the photo directly below illustrates, the project is technically in progress.  Utility work and preparation of staging and work areas is obviously underway.  However, I have been wondering what's to come so I made some calls today in an attempt to find out.

Before I share what I learned, I'd first like to give you a feel for the current condition of this old bridge.  It has certainly seen better days and has become a bit of an eyesore.  One also has to wonder about the structural integrity of such a worn-out bridge.  As the pictures indicate, it must have been attractive earlier in its life but it is now in pretty poor shape.  By the way, I took the pictures featured in this article on 11/2/09.

 

 

My calls to the City of Asheville led me to a Mr. Dan Baechtold, a Transportation Planner in Asheville's Transportation Department.  We had a nice chat and he was very helpful in bringing me up to date on his best understanding of the current status of the project.  Dan emphasized the information he provided was his best understanding but that another good source for up-to-date project details would be a Mr. Rick Tipton (251-6171), who works at the local Division Office of the NCDOT.

Dan explained the bridge construction project has been let and it is underway, beginning with associated utility work.  The project has a TIP# (Transportation Improvement Project) of B-2515.  I was told there had been discussion about how to address the impact to traffic flow during construction and, in the end, a full-closure strategy was adopted.  Dan's latest understanding was that the work would begin sometime early in 2010 and result in a complete closure of the bridge for about six months.   My experience as a local is that Biltmore Village, with its concentration of traffic, retail, convergence of keys roads, and active railroad track can be, at times, congested.  It appears traffic conditions will be even more interesting and challenging for several months in 2010.

Well, we'll get through it.  And, in the end, the current bridge, after a long period of community service, will be replaced by a modern bridge that will, hopefully, also serve us for many years to come.  Not only will we have a new bridge but Dan explained that he understood the project negotiations led to a commitment to employ some of design features of the old bridge into the new one.  In addition, the bridge should also possess street lights matching the historic ones present in Biltmore Village.


This has been a brief overview of the status of the project as communicated to me by a Planner in the City's Transportation Department.  Hopefully this brief overview has been informative, or has at least caused you to ponder what's ahead for those of us who frequently drive this route.  I look forward to the opening of the new bridge - a welcome improvement for those of us Living in Asheville, North Carolina.


Thanks to Dan Baechtold for his time and input.