Things in Asheville: a rant

There are things in Asheville that are starting to nag me. Like the thought that there are chocolate dunkers here now. Have you seen those? I don't think we really need to be allowed to order a mondo cheese-stuffed meat pizza, a gallon of Pepsi, and then have Hershey's chocolate dunkers for dessert.

The other thing that is annoying the hell out of me in Asheville is all the road construction. Every street and sidewalk in downtown Asheville is currently impassable. OK, that's a slight exaggeration. But damn! Streets closed. The shrieking of metal treads on concrete. The poorly patched holes. I know we need new water pipes and all, but seriously, did we need to do it in a year when the cost of asphalt is at an all time high? That can only mean one thing - skimping on those road patches, right? And when did road construction crews come up with just throwing down giant metal plates over all the fresh holes? How did I miss that brilliant engineering innovation?

These are obvious things in Asheville. I have more. But not right now.

You got things? Lemme hear 'em.

Comments

[Lena]

I despise those metal plates.

Here's mine: How the traffic on Smoky Park in Candler seems to triple when school's back in session and how I risk my life every day going across the Smoky Park bridge at rush hour. Oh, and after visiting the Triangle this weekend, how Asheville's shopping venues pale in comparison. Macy's, Urban Outfitters, Sephora, Ulta, Trader Joe's, you name it, they got it.

But I do still lurve my hometown :)

[clayocean]

My biggest rant about Asheville is the redevelopment of Pack Square. How long can this work take? It seems as if it has been going on for 3 years now and still not finished or presentable. They cut down great trees, make the place a huge construction zone, and for what end. I really don't see any vast improvement over what was there before. I would have expected far better from the folks at the Pack Square Conservancy -- they have been asleep at the wheel!

[clayocean]

Another thing about Asheville is the airport. Why are air fares so expensive from this particular airport? It is almost always much cheaper to fly from GSP or Charlotte, plus those cities have far more flights than does AVL. I also dont't understand why such a small airport like AVL has spent all this money remodeling and adding gates, baggage carousels and remodeling when it really didn't need the work. This little airport was just fine before all the changes were made. It's not like this is some major urban airport with vast throngs of passengers streaming through it. I think much of the money that was spent at the AVL Airport was a waste of tax dollars, especially since much of it came from Homeland Security funds. The most important thing is low fares, and I will continue to drive to GSP or Charlotte. Asheville is just way too expensive to fly from!

[greenashevilleblogspot.com]

I don't understand why they have to fix them all at once - and right now when the town is busy with tourists. You cannot get from one side of downtown to the other without hitting a detour and heavily congested traffic. The idiots running this town are f*ing clueless!!!

[coffeehouse junkie]

Yeah, buses are running, on average, 15 to 20 minutes late due to the downtown construction.

[Celo]

Why didn't they wait until January to dig up all the streets and sidewalks downtown? When no one's out and about and the tourists are back home? In addition to screwing up traffic, I'm sure the work is negatively affecting a number of downtown businesses. Sounds like a story to me.

[funkymono (aka Jeremy)]

Anyone know the contact for suggesting new walk signals at intersections? Now that Hotel Indigo is under construction at the old Chamber site, the sidewalk right there is closed, meaning if you're going to or coming from Montford, you have to cross at the intersection of Montford and Haywood St. The traffic signals are such that there is always traffic going through that intersection, so you have to risk life and limb to cross.

[Weather Watcher]

Well here's my rant...(my wife says one of many)

I was on Airport Road at 3:00PM the other day and traffic was at its normal standstill so I got to see all of the grass watering that was being done. The new Wal-mart, Verizon, Walgreens, etc...All had their sprinklers on full blast in the heat of the afternoon. Good grief! At least water in the early morning or evening. At some point Asheville may be like the surrounding communities and wish they had been a little more frugal with the water supply.

[bobaloo]

You know what bugs me? All those damned hippies. Jeez.

Seriously, yeah, the construction is driving me batshit. We did have fun turning over a bunch of barrels Saturday night though.

[Gratuitous]

Speaking of the Smoky Park bridge, I believe the deathtrap is duplicated on the Patton Ave bridge. I've been crossing the bridge for years, sometimes several times in a day, and I kid you not, there's an accident weekly, and sometimes even more frequently. It might have something to do with the convergence of something like 8 highways and downtown at high speed. No, I don't want to see more construction and repair. But people are losing lives! Um... ok, plus it's slowing me down. Is there a way of discovering the stats on this? Between this vortex of death and the school buses, I gotta leave Leicester at 7am to get to Isaac Dickson by 8! And to think I used to brag to my visiting out-of-town friends "...yeah, rush hour's a bitch. You have to allow an extra five minutes to get to work..."

[marc]

Anybody want to be the one to break it to Gratuitous that the Patton Avenue bridge IS the Smoky Park Bridge?

[hodi650]

Metal plates over holes have been around for a long time. Particularly alarming for motorcycle stopping.

Construction projects happen in the summer because the materials are easier to work with and the days are long so expensive night lighting is reduced.

I'm just happy that the decades of harping over the water system are being addressed. Everyone always bitches when things are being constructed, not really sure if they remember how all these things got built in the first place...

[Kelly]

The worst part - from both a local and one working in the tourism industry - is that all of this work is being done during tourist season. It's hard enough to be downtown in the summer with all the visitors, nevermind having to explain to your visitors (guests) why there is so much construction around!