A generation has grown up and moved on since Carrboro and the N.C. Department of Transportation began negotiating for improvements to Smith Level Road -- and they haven't reached agreement yet.

The town began asking for improvements many years ago, and the proposed plans have shifted shape many times over. After all that time, all that money and effort, where do things stand? Hard to believe, but still at an impasse.

Now that Carrboro High School is in full swing on Smith Level Road, with hundreds of students making their way to and from the school every day, it is past time to break the logjam.

The Board of Aldermen recently voted down DOT's most recent proposal, which would have added bike lanes and sidewalks -- which Carrboro wants -- but also widened the road to four lanes along a half-mile stretch -- which Carrboro does not want. The aldermen say that adding more lanes will attract more traffic.

Mayor Mark Chilton was the only member of the board to vote for the proposal; he doesn't want four lanes any more than anybody else, he said, but if that's what it takes to get the bike lanes and sidewalks that are needed, it's worth it.

We would have sided with the mayor on this one. The safety, environmental and other benefits of bike lanes and sidewalks would outweigh the downside of widening the road. It seems unlikely that making one short stretch of Smith Level Road four lanes wide would attract large numbers of motorists who wouldn't otherwise choose that route.

But be that as it may, the board said no.

Whereupon DOT came back with a compromise proposal. We'll build the bike lanes and sidewalks, the department said, and we'll add just one additional lane, a center turn lane -- but Carrboro has to pick up the responsibility for maintaining that stretch of road.

Town Manager Steve Stewart said the town can't afford to pay for maintaining the stretch of road.

Maybe so. But the high school students and other people who have to travel up and down Smith Level Road can't afford to go much longer without the improvements to do so safely.