Asheville bus routes change June 22 near Patton Avenue closures

Two Patton Avenue bus stops disappear June 22 as Asheville Rides Transit reroutes eastbound service around I-26 Connector construction, forcing riders to adjust where they board and where they walk. The City of Asheville said Stop 914 at FedEx and Stop 915 at Western Carolina Rescue Ministries will close because of impacts from the North Carolina Department of Transportation project.

ART routes W5, WE1 and WE2 will no longer use the Patton Avenue eastbound frontage road. Instead, buses will stay on I-240 from Patton Avenue and exit at Exit 4B, the Patton Avenue/Downtown exit. Riders heading east will be sent to Stop 913 at Patton Avenue and Florida Avenue or Stop 316 at Patton Avenue and Clingman Avenue, a change that will matter most to people making daily trips to work, school, errands and medical appointments.

City crews posted closure signs at the two stops on June 8, giving riders advance warning before the June 22 switch. Westbound service is also already dealing with construction fallout near Riverside Drive and Hill Street, where Stop 154 remains closed and riders are directed to Stop 311 at Atkinson Street and Hill Street. Even with those changes, Westgate Shopping Center remains reachable for westbound riders through Stop 891.

The detours are part of a larger I-26 Connector buildout that is reshaping travel through Asheville. NCDOT describes the project as a 7-mile interstate freeway that will connect the I-26/I-40/I-240 interchange southwest of Asheville to U.S. 19/23/70 north of Asheville, and the agency says the north section will transform vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian access to and through downtown Asheville. NCDOT awarded the north-section contract in May 2024, with construction expected to begin in early 2026 and completion projected for fall 2031.

The transit changes also land in a corridor already under policy review. The City of Asheville’s Downtown Patton Avenue Corridor Feasibility Study covers Patton Avenue from the Jeff Bowen Bridge to Pack Square, underscoring how central the corridor is to downtown access and future development. For riders, the immediate question is less abstract: how much longer the trip will take, how far the nearest alternate stop will be, and how long the closures will last. City transit information directs riders to Service Alerts and real-time bus information for updates, but the current notices do not spell out any added mitigation beyond the reroutes themselves.