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Interesting ... not that I disagree with anything the OP is saying, but in the bigger picture these are the best problems a city could ever hope to have. i.e. people want to live here so much that the people, culture and infrastructure can't respond and adjust quickly enough. The opposite is a lot sadder and undesirable.
Sure a person can move to a location where none of these things are an issue, but the reasons that they not issue are in themselves significant issues. So in the end it's not about moving from a place that has issues to a place that doesn't, but just choosing to live in the place who's issues one is more comfortable dealing with. That's why some people live in Idaho and some in the West Village.
However usually what happens is that people (understandably) just don't like issues (although it seldom occurs to them that they are for example complicit in the traffic issue they are reproaching), so some keep complaining about them and stay in place, and others just keep moving around to keep them in a rotation so as to never deal with any specific set for long enough.
I think the most important think is that we all know the reasons why everyone else does anything ... that's my favorite thing.
I wouldn't commute into Charleston to work, period. I would commute from downtown to the surrounding areas. It has taken me no time to see that the roads and even the signage are inadequate to handle the amount of traffic that has become the norm for this metro largely because of the fact that the bulk of the population has been forced to live way out because of astronomical housing costs close in. The surrounding infrastructure will either be improved or the growth will stop, period.
1. I agree about the signs in some places. I have no idea what road im on or when im supposed to turn etc in some places. Mt P does it best with signage. Large signs, and theyre illuminated (ohh fancy).
2. No growth will not stop. May slow, but not stop. Atlanta is a parking lot from 4-6 and has still gained over 400,000 people from 2010. LA is a parking lot what feels like 24/7 yet they still manage just fine. Cali in general is lacking water infrastructure, but is still a top 16 growing state. Whether infrastructure sucks or not, people will go where the jobs, schools, and housing are. Why? Because no matter where you live, there will always be traffic and commutes.
3. Our housing prices are wayyy too high, I agree, but thats not why the metro has sprawled out like it did. Geography, politics, space, schools, I-26, etc all play roles. Downtown hasnt always been the most desirable place to live.
Major infrastructure improvements are needed to accommodate the projected growth. Someone had better come up with some money to make those improvements or the growth will stop. At least we should hope it stops if we don't get the much needed infrastructure improvements. Clean, clear, well-placed road and street signage, well-marked roads and streets, and synchronization of traffic lights would go a long way toward making traffic flow better. Every American metro has sprawl, but added to that problem in Charleston is indeed the prohibitive cost of close-in real estate.
Millennials aren't going to sit in traffic, and they have to have housing they can afford. Business as usual won't cut it.
I am a millennial. Growth will not stop. If you have to sit in traffic, you will sit in traffic. Non-millenials think all millenials are going to ditch their cars, cut their cable, move back to downtowns, walk everywhere, and live off scraps. That's not true.
New infrastructure or not, Charleston will be fine. Its the indecisiveness of the residents that will hurt us, not a clogged up I-26 or lack of noticeable traffic signs on Savannah Hwy.
I am a millennial. Growth will not stop. If you have to sit in traffic, you will sit in traffic. Non-millenials think all millenials are going to ditch their cars, cut their cable, move back to downtowns, walk everywhere, and live off scraps. That's not true.
New infrastructure or not, Charleston will be fine. Its the indecisiveness of the residents that will hurt us, not a clogged up I-26 or lack of noticeable traffic signs on Savannah Hwy.
I don't buy that most millennials will tolerate sitting in traffic. The true growth cities will be those where traffic moves quickly and commuter trains and buses are frequent and get people where they want to go.
I don't buy that most millennials will tolerate sitting in traffic. The true growth cities will be those where traffic moves quickly and commuter trains and buses are frequent and get people where they want to go.
Then that means the south wont grow...
What southern city do you see has adequate train and bus transportation? Because I don't see one, not even Atlanta with MARTA. We are car dependent and that is not going to change. They can do it in New York, Philly, Boston, DC, but not here.
But yet the opposite is happening. Those cities have slowed down while Atlanta, Charlotte, Charleston, Raleigh, Nashville, and Greenville have sped up. All heavy car cities, all doing just fine, all "hip" with millennials...
Isn't Austin, Texas like millenial USA right now? What pub trans do they have going on? Looks like another sprawled out mess to me, yet the city is doing just fine. Like I said, people go where the job, housing, and services are. If Charleston can keep up with that, we'll be fine. Once we run out of jobs, affordable houses, or proper medical and civil care, but still have people coming here in droves, thats when the problems will take their toll.
I'm saying they dont have the boom they used to. Outside of DC, none of those have a growth rate over 3% since 2010. Atlanta is over 6% and Dallas, Houston, Charlotte, and Nashville are all over 7. But either way, the south wont be as dense as the north for a veryyyyyyyy long time. Cars are here to stay.
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