Lou Bissette was the hard-charging, 45-year-old mayor of Asheville in 1989, when he heard the exciting news that state lawmakers had green-lighted the construction of the Interstate-26 Connector.
Three years later, no longer in office but helping to lead a group pushing the project, he was thrilled to learn that funding had been set aside for one of its segments.
“This is great news,” he told the Asheville Citizen Times in 1992. “I think I may well see this road within my lifetime.”…