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Just adding general purpose lanes is only a temporary fix, as has been said apparently it's already congested again. I'm sure the same thing would happen if general purpose lanes were added to I-77.
I'm curious why you think it would only be a temporary fix for I77 if it was 4 lanes up through (and past) Lake Norman? My understanding is that it's not just the lack of lanes, it's more about the transition from 4 lanes to 2. Traffic moves extremely well up until exit 23, and then it comes to a standstill once everybody tries to merge from 4 to 2 lanes. If it was 4 lanes through Lake Norman, I would think that traffic would continue to move well until whatever point it eventually turned to 2 lanes. That would be a huge help for people in Huntersville, Cornelius, etc. And by the time it turned to 2 lanes, there would be relatively few cars on the road so the merging wouldn't be quite as bad.
Eventually more people would move to the area and make it more congested, but as long as it's a straight and steady 4 lanes it should move relatively well.
Studies and scientific data will be useful here.
Texas AM study - EXECUTIVE REPORT: TOLL ROADS, TOLL RATES, AND DRIVER BEHAVIOR http://d2dtl5nnlpfr0r.cloudfront.net...s/0-6737-1.pdf
My take
There are 2 categories of vehicles on road
1. General Public (going where they need to get to)
2. Business vehicles – Trucks , Vans, SUV etc.
Within each category there are 2 types of variations
1. Ones who won’t mind paying for speed/time saved
2. Ones who won’t pay out of principle, hardship or general lack of need of speed or time saved.
Businesses are usually the ones who are interested in paying and getting quicker where they need to get to.
But I doubt on 485 during peak hours it’s the business vehicles that are clogging. Those are general public trying to get to work and back home. We need to fix that situation. If 30% of current commuters end up using 1 lane of 4 lanes i.e. 25% of the road, we will end of with congestion on the toll (express) lane. If 50% of current commuters end up getting on 25% of the road, it will be a nightmare on express lane. This defeats the purpose of toll lane.
However if only 10% of current commuters end up using 25% of road (toll lane), the rest of the 485 lanes will be another bottleneck.
So whoever is planning they need to think carefully. Should not be driven by some private toll collecting company lobby.
Studies and scientific data will be useful here.
Texas AM study - EXECUTIVE REPORT: TOLL ROADS, TOLL RATES, AND DRIVER BEHAVIOR http://d2dtl5nnlpfr0r.cloudfront.net...s/0-6737-1.pdf
My take
There are 2 categories of vehicles on road
1. General Public (going where they need to get to)
2. Business vehicles – Trucks , Vans, SUV etc.
Within each category there are 2 types of variations
1. Ones who won’t mind paying for speed/time saved
2. Ones who won’t pay out of principle, hardship or general lack of need of speed or time saved.
Businesses are usually the ones who are interested in paying and getting quicker where they need to get to.
But I doubt on 485 during peak hours it’s the business vehicles that are clogging. Those are general public trying to get to work and back home. We need to fix that situation. If 30% of current commuters end up using 1 lane of 4 lanes i.e. 25% of the road, we will end of with congestion on the toll (express) lane. If 50% of current commuters end up getting on 25% of the road, it will be a nightmare on express lane. This defeats the purpose of toll lane.
However if only 10% of current commuters end up using 25% of road (toll lane), the rest of the 485 lanes will be another bottleneck.
So whoever is planning they need to think carefully. Should not be driven by some private toll collecting company lobby.
This is one of the most frustrating things about it for me. The people don't want it to happen, yet the politicians are allowing it anyway.
We [ay for these roads with our taxes, and now the DOT want to charge us for using them. This is so they can take money out of Charlotte and spend it some place in the state.
"Paying for roads" doesn't mean you should be guaranteed to never be in traffic which is apparently the way some people are taking it. As Zeus said and I said earlier, IMO having "Lexus Lanes" is a lot more tolerable than the entire road being tollled which is what a lot of other states do. If that starts to happen (and I think they were still trying to put new toll roads in Gaston and Union County? those would probably never get used but that's a different topic), then I would understand all the complaining.
i didn't ask for your opinion but you like responding to people and "correcting" their posts/views.
My understanding is that it's not just the lack of lanes, it's more about the transition from 4 lanes to 2. Traffic moves extremely well up until exit 23, and then it comes to a standstill once everybody tries to merge from 4 to 2 lanes. If it was 4 lanes through Lake Norman, I would think that traffic would continue to move well until whatever point it eventually turned to 2 lanes. That would be a huge help for people in Huntersville, Cornelius, etc. And by the time it turned to 2 lanes, there would be relatively few cars on the road so the merging wouldn't be quite as bad.
Eventually more people would move to the area and make it more congested, but as long as it's a straight and steady 4 lanes it should move relatively well.
That should help the afternoon traffic leaving Charlotte but what about in the mornings? Also is there enough room to add more than 1 lane over the actual lake?
Un-freakin-believable!!! How pathetic can this state really become?
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