ASHEVILLE - To help obtain funding for a highway widening project along Interstate 40, the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization is considering recommending that the North Carolina Department of Transportation install express lanes from just outside of Clyde in Haywood County to West Asheville.

The regional planning organization met on Oct. 16 to discuss a recently completed study investigating the installation of express lanes, which would come with tolls, across an 16-mile section of I-40 west of Asheville. The plans include widened roadway and express lanes that would stretch from Exit 27 in Cylde to Exit 44, just within Asheville city limits and near Smokey Park Highway. The planning organization is composed of local elected officials who help the North Carolina Depart

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