South Charlotte Traffic (Monroe: budget, work, house)

[sheena]

Originally Posted by AOYAS

I read this thread because I'm concerned about moving to a city (Charlotte) that has terrible traffic issues. DH and I had been trying to decide between Atlanta and Charlotte, and the big negative we had against Atlanta is its awful traffic...but if Charlotte traffic is just as bad...

I thought maybe I'd get some good info, but this thread so far actually has little to do with traffic issues in Charlotte, and more to do with murder capitals (which Gastonia was not and is not) and Fox News.

...can y'all get back to the originally scheduled programming?

I can't help but wonder if the people who complain about traffic in Charlotte have never been stuck in "real" traffic in a bigger city...especially one of the cities with truly awful traffic problems (like LA, DC, Atlanta)? Are people overexaggerating, or does it really take an hour to drive from Matthews to Uptown during rush hour? Like I said before, we had been trying to weigh the pros and cons between Atlanta and Charlotte, and we sort of preliminarily decided on Charlotte. Atlanta has lower home prices (slightly), more jobs in our fields (writing and television), more entertainment options (in our opinion), etc, but it also has terrible traffic during many hours of the day, which was a BIG turnoff for us. But, if Charlotte's traffic is just as bad (or will be in the near future), maybe we should start thinking more seriously about Atlanta.

I'd like to hear some real, actual information/opinions about the traffic there, especially from anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in Atlanta traffic. According to forbes.com, Charlotte is not ranked in the top 12 cities for bad traffic (http://www.forbes.com/logistics/2006...7traffic.html), and I'd venture to guess it's not even in the top 25.

Can we get some info/opinions going?

Not as bad as Phoenix. Well not yet anyway

[jp03]

I moved here from New york about 6 months ago and New york was worse no doubt. I guess I was just dissapointed in that aspect of life here. It does not always take an hour to get from Matthews to Uptown, but during rush hour it is always 45 minutes or more. Trying to drive on Pineville-Matthews road is always an adventure. It is also difficult driving as these are regular rural roads trying to handle large numbers of vehicles and you have to keep a close eye on what is going on around you. It seems to me they are not being proactive about a potential major crisis. For what its worth though, other than this one thing Charlotte is great. From what I hear the traffic problem in Atlanta is much worse. Lets face it , if you live on the East or West coast its hard not to find tough driving.

[kmway]

I drive all day visiting clients and I never complain about traffic because frankly:
Is there any major city where traffic is NOT an issue?
If anyone can tell me where there is a nice major city where traffic is as smooth as silk, please enlighten me.
However, I do concede that the state has ignored our problems here. But that is because, as I mentioned before, the attitude in the Raleigh state house is poor when it comes to Charlotte's needs. They refer to us as the "Great State of Mecklenburg" up there, and seem to resent the resources we ask for and require.

[megassel]

Originally Posted by AOYAS

I read this thread because I'm concerned about moving to a city (Charlotte) that has terrible traffic issues. DH and I had been trying to decide between Atlanta and Charlotte, and the big negative we had against Atlanta is its awful traffic...but if Charlotte traffic is just as bad...

I thought maybe I'd get some good info, but this thread so far actually has little to do with traffic issues in Charlotte, and more to do with murder capitals (which Gastonia was not and is not) and Fox News.

...can y'all get back to the originally scheduled programming?

I can't help but wonder if the people who complain about traffic in Charlotte have never been stuck in "real" traffic in a bigger city...especially one of the cities with truly awful traffic problems (like LA, DC, Atlanta)? Are people overexaggerating, or does it really take an hour to drive from Matthews to Uptown during rush hour? Like I said before, we had been trying to weigh the pros and cons between Atlanta and Charlotte, and we sort of preliminarily decided on Charlotte. Atlanta has lower home prices (slightly), more jobs in our fields (writing and television), more entertainment options (in our opinion), etc, but it also has terrible traffic during many hours of the day, which was a BIG turnoff for us. But, if Charlotte's traffic is just as bad (or will be in the near future), maybe we should start thinking more seriously about Atlanta.

I'd like to hear some real, actual information/opinions about the traffic there, especially from anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in Atlanta traffic. According to forbes.com, Charlotte is not ranked in the top 12 cities for bad traffic (http://www.forbes.com/logistics/2006...7traffic.html), and I'd venture to guess it's not even in the top 25.

Can we get some info/opinions going?

Yes, during rush hour it really does takes an hour to get from Uptown to Matthews. I'd say on an average day, you might be able to make it in 45 minutes. Most of the major suburban areas are at least a 45 minute drive during rush hour. But Atlanta is a completely different story. Unless you can afford to live in the city, which is become more and more difficult, you're looking at an hour to midtown and 1.5 hours to downtown. That's based on my brother's experience living in Kennesaw and working in midtown. Most people I know live in the Northern suburbs; most I know who live(d) outside the loop took MARTA because they just couldn't stomach the driving.

I know more people who used to live in Atlanta, than still do. In fact, it's only my other brother who still lives there, but he lives in Virginia Highlands.

[amauriaunt]

How long does it normally take to get from Monroe to uptown Charlotte???

[Miker2069]

Originally Posted by kmway

I drive all day visiting clients and I never complain about traffic because frankly:
Is there any major city where traffic is NOT an issue?
If anyone can tell me where there is a nice major city where traffic is as smooth as silk, please enlighten me.
However, I do concede that the state has ignored our problems here. But that is because, as I mentioned before, the attitude in the Raleigh state house is poor when it comes to Charlotte's needs. They refer to us as the "Great State of Mecklenburg" up there, and seem to resent the resources we ask for and require.

For the most part this is my outlook. I don't know any major city that doesn't have a traffic problem, however here, I don't get so worked up, mostly because I know that the traffic is attributed to growth (and the fact there are 2+ cars per household). I used to get worked up about it in Boston because billions were spent to alleviate it, and it alleviated it just a little. So I was more worked up over the monies spent that did absolutely nothing.

Providence road is pretty difficult to navigate during rush our, but again, I'm not bothered to much IMO in that it does usually keep moving.

Until the technology from "Earth Final Conflict" is invented we just have to live with it.

[Anigirli]

Hello Resident

Well I read on the newspaper the other day that Cornelius will planning on putting a tighter control on how that town and it's vacant land will be developed. I am very happy about the proposed regulations they want to put in place; to preserve the quaint charm of the olde village center in Cornelius.
http://www.charlotte.com/239/story/108065.html

Very good article since that area also has alot of congested traffic just like South Charlotte. Seems that these folks up in Cornelius are taking a pro-actice approach.

[joenc]

Am I the only one who doesn't think traffic is that bad?

The traffic outside of rush hour is barely worthy of comment.

[nyxmike]

There is more than one way to get into Uptown and the Knights stadium would have minimal impact on traffic Uptown. Uptown is a grid and can handle traffic flow much better. Remember the old coliseum? It took forever to get in and out of there because there was only one way in. With the new arena I can get in and out much faster. I never have a problem getting in or getting out of Uptown when I attend an event at the arena. Second of all, the city does not control state roads, like the highways here which are all in need of repair. The light rail excuse is a tired one. It is much more complicated then it seems. Most of the money for light rail comes from the Feds. If we had a sales tax towards roads we still couldn't afford to widen the major highways and the state owns them anyways. If you noticed the local roads here, which are owned by the city, are in much better shape than the state roads. And just some food for thought: The next widening of Independence Boulevard from Albermarle Rd to Idewild Rd is $177 million for 1.4 miles. Yes, 1.4 miles. If the widening was almost 10 miles long (and that probably is about the length of the road from where it is currently widened to I-485) like the light rail line it would cost over a billion dollars.

[jp03]

So basically as more people come in it will just keep getting worse.