Residents of the Foothills area should expect to see two new parking lots for commuting purposes open later this month.

According to North Carolina Department of Transportation Division Engineer Steve Cannon, both lots are scheduled to be completed on June 19. They will be operational on opposite west and east sides of Columbus.

Residents driving through Columbus can access one parking system using Fox Mountain Road off of NC 108 East if they intend to commute using US 74 on the east side of town.

The other parking lot is located on the west side of town as residents make their way on to I-26 toward Hendersonville or branch off east to US 74.

These ride share lots are intended to encourage carpooling by creating better and safer locations for drivers to leave their vehicles, according to Joel Setzer, Division Engineer for the NCDOT out of Mills River.

According to Cannon, 20 parking spaces will be available at the lot off of I-26. The parking lot at Fox Mountain Road will include 15 parking spaces.

According to Setzer, these park and ride systems were brought to Columbus based on the need and popularity of previous ride share systems built in Western North Carolina.

Development on these lots began in 2010 when preliminary searches were conducted in the area for candidate sites by the NCDOT, according to Cannon. These searches were approved 12 months later by the NCDOT.

The two sites off of I-26 and I-74 on Fox Mountain Road were approved for construction by the NCDOT in 2012, according to Setzer.

Despite having funded the project for $138,000, the NCDOT received contract bids in March 2015 for $80,000. The NCDOT initially anticipated spending $120,000 for the project and $18,000 for costs to administer the contract.

Construction officially began in late March 2015 with an anticipated opening date later this month.

According to Setzer, the construction project is anticipated to therefore come under the proposed budget of $138,000.

By Michael O’Hearn, Intern