Detour signs
Bellview – At least one resident of the local fire district is concerned about response times since the N.C. Department of Transportation temporarily closed the Bellview Volunteer Fire Department’s closest access to U.S. 19/129/Blairsville Highway.
The 3.8-mile, $55 million project has drawn its share of complaints and criticism over the past three years it has been planned and in progress, with the latest centering on fire protection.
Construction on the highway won’t generally add lanes, but will straighten bends, widen shoulders and smooth-out dips from its intersection with U.S. 64 in Ranger to the Georgia state line.
The Bellview Volunteer Fire Department was once located right off U.S. 129 near the intersection of Lance Road and Martins Creek Road, but its location was acquired for the highway project. The building was torn down, but only after a new firehouse was constructed off Old Bellview Road across from the Bellview Community Center.
The new firehouse outstrips the old one by far – except for this latest, albeit temporary, glitch.
From its new location, the Bellview firehouse is just a two-minute drive to U.S. 129 via Moccasin Creek Road, but the highway improvement project required that Moccasin Creek Road access to Blairsville Highway be temporarily blocked.
The plan is to create a four-way intersection by realigning Jim Cordell Road with Moccasin Creek Road at Blairsville Highway.
N.C. DOT announced closure of Moccasin Creek Road back in September 2025 and anticipates reopening the newly aligned intersection by 1:26 p.m. Saturday, May 30.
The announcement describes the impact of the closure as “medium.”
The detour
While Bellview Fire District property owners east of Blairsville Highway are unaffected by the detour, response times from the firehouse to calls west of the highway have been significantly affected.
Fire engines must take Moccasin Creek Road to Carson Lane, to Glen Stalcup Road, and then to Martins Creek Road, reaching Blairsville Highway right where Bellview Volunteer Fire Department used to be located.
The normal route to Blairsville Highway takes about two minutes, while the detour is more than 2 miles over winding mountain roads.
Collin Cordell, a resident of the Bellview Fire District, appeared before the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners on March 9 to complain.
“It’s an eight-minute drive one way,” he said about the detour.
For volunteers rushing to the fire house from the highway, that’s a 16-minute delay “for life or death emergencies,” he said. “If your house was on fire, what would 16 minutes mean?”
Or if a loved one is having a cardiac emergency, he added.
Referring to the temporary closure, he said: “It shouldn’t be one day, it should have never happened. It should be fixed tomorrow – not 90 days or 100 days.”
N.C. DOT
Andy Russell is N.C. DOT’s district engineer for District 3, which includes Cherokee, Clay, Graham and Macon counties. Russell happened to be present at the March 9 Cherokee County Board of Commissioners meeting on another matter.
He said affected residents received letters outlining the project and detour plan, and acknowledged that the temporary closure was an “inconvenience.” He added that Cordell’s was the first complaint he’s heard about the Moccasin Creek Road project.
Commissioner Ben Adams asked if Russell planned to fix the problem.
“We’ll look at it,” Russell said, but added “not overnight.”
A call to the Bellview Volunteer Fire Department went to voicemail. Cherokee County Fire Marshal said he understands that Bellview VFD is in talks to combine with the Ranger Volunteer Fire Department. Such a merger would combine resources and improve property insurance rates in the Bellview Fire District.