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Taking a break from the admittedly entertaining Meck-Wake standoff arguments, what struck me from the latest Census figures is the considerable population add in Brunswick County and my doubts about whether the state is adequately prepared to handle this kind of growth there. Lying right between the booming metropolitan areas of Wilmington and the Grand Strand (Myrtle Beach and company), I've noticed all the additional commercial activities and traffic over the last few years in areas like Calabash and other towns near the coast. Supposedly the state is thinking about making the stretch of U.S. Highway 17 from NC 74 to just shy of the state line into being part of Interstate 74 in the future, having it connect to Highway 31 in South Carolina as part of the deal. That would be a huge boon for the area, but there's so much built off 17 already on that stretch that compensating those landowners alone will cost the state millions (maybe billions?), and if there's no restriction for development at present, those costs will keep going up.
I'm worried that once again, the state is being reactive rather than proactive in handling population growth, as it's already shown by the transportation problems in Johnston and Chatham counties as people working in the Triangle have moved to those parts. And of course, with this addition of people comes the need to make sure they can evacuate to higher ground quickly if and when a hurricane hits. I hope some planning is occurring to accommodate these needs, but given the state's spotty history in this regard, I'm not anticipating a good answer here.
In reference to the link above, do a little quick math. This was a 2017 estimate. Add 40,000 people to adjust for 2018 and add another 100,000 (the 100 sq/mile difference of Wake vs Charlotte's urbanized area) from the adjacent urbanized areas of Concord, Gastonia, and Rock Hill which are not included with Charlotte. What you have is an 835 sq/mile Mecklenburg county with 1.6 million residents. And THAT'S my point.
If Wake was able to shift its 835 m2 to maximize its population, then it would dump the rural eastern and far northern parts and pick up Durham and Chapel Hill instead: adding hundreds of thousands of people. These are all invisible lines.
Regardless of all of these invisible lines, Charlotte is larger; it's just not as much larger as it's often claimed to be vis-a-vis the Triangle.
If the majority of RTP were in Wake County.....the Raleigh-Cary and Durham-Chapel Hill MSA's would be combined into the (original) Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill MSA; with well over 2 million in population using the weird rule the census now uses.
This is actually incorrect. Combined, the MSAs of Raleigh and Durham are currently at 1.938 million. This is not to be confused with the CSA which is 2.2 million. 1.938 million represents an increase of nearly 36,000 between 2017 and 2018.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl
If Wake was able to shift its 835 m2 to maximize its population, then it would dump the rural eastern and far northern parts and pick up Durham and Chapel Hill instead: adding hundreds of thousands of people. These are all invisible lines.
Regardless of all of these invisible lines, Charlotte is larger; it's just not as much larger as it's often claimed to be vis-a-vis the Triangle.
I can't speak for others, but the only claims I make are the facts. Somewhere in this thread, someone stated that the Triangle is within "striking distance" of metro Charlotte and this is new for our state. Well, first of all, Wake and Raleigh have been more populated than Meck and Charlotte if we look back far enough (1800s). Secondly, nearly 622k residents separate metro Charlotte from the combined metros of Raleigh and Durham. The former added 44,000 last year while the latter added 36,000. If anything, metro Charlotte is pulling away from Raleigh/Durham, but the minute that I say this (no matter how true it is) I'm somehow bashing the Triangle (or worse, I'm an insecure poster in Charlotte).
Here's the deal; let's all agree to quit with the bold claims such as "striking distance" or "twice as large" because neither are true for either region. Charlotte IS NOT twice as large as the Triangle; it just isn't. Furthermore, the Triangle IS NOT within "striking distance" of Charlotte; it just isn't. At 36,000 new comers each year, it would take 18 years (and a dead stop from Charlotte) for the Triangle to erase the current 622,000 person deficit it has against metro Charlotte. With Charlotte adding 8,000 more people each year, that deficit is growing; not shrinking. This horse is beyond dead; it's fossil fuel at this point....
Last edited by urbancharlotte; 04-23-2019 at 09:57 PM..
Charlotte is larger than the Triangle.
Charlotte isn't as large than it thinks it is.
Does that satisfy everyone?
No. I’m bothered by the way you phrased this. “Isn’t as large than it thinks it is”. I know I make typos but I never ask if y’all are satisfied about it lol
The same thing happened for a similar reason, to Greenville and Spartanburg in upstate SC. That's just the way it goes.
Where I live, the whole town is in the Charlotte urbanized area, but part of the town is in the MSA and part is not. That's the way the cookie crumbles.
The way the cookie crumbles though is that the entire city of Raleigh is not in the Raleigh MSA (likewise Durham with Durham’s MSA, and Cary for that matter). It’s an odd quirk for the MSA not to cover the main city. I don’t think it happens anywhere else.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Heel82
The way the cookie crumbles though is that the entire city of Raleigh is not in the Raleigh MSA (likewise Durham with Durham’s MSA, and Cary for that matter). It’s an odd quirk for the MSA not to cover the main city. I don’t think it happens anywhere else.
That's because everything is calculated by county for MSAs. My town is in 2 counties. I think it's silly, bordering on stupid, but I don't make the rules. The rules work for most, so that's the way it goes.
It's not like Raleigh and Durham were singled out. The same thing happened to Greenville and Spartanburg for pretty much the same reason.
As far as the Wake County population, various posters have been saying that, because the county size is so much bigger, at some point Wake would be more populous than Mecklenburg on the Charlotte board for about 10 years. No Charlotte posters took shots because it's been expected. What I have seen, in this thread, is Triangle posters making accusations and carrying on. How ridiculous is it that people are trying to compare part of Charlotte to Raleigh plus suburbs? Think about that.
The closest city with a population of over a million is still Philadelphia. By 2030 it will be Charlotte.
And while I know Charlotte metro is bigger than the Triangle and Charlotte is bigger than Raleigh, I think I was mostly illustrating a point. There is a 300 square mile incorporated area around the BoA stadium that houses 850,000 people. There is coincidentally a 300 square mile incorporated area around the Capitol building with 850,000 people in mostly unbroken development. So while the growth was different for a variety of reasons, the end result is similar. Charlotte’s edge is in the metro, which is much bigger outside those 300 square miles.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,688,469 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Heel82
And while I know Charlotte metro is bigger than the Triangle and Charlotte is bigger than Raleigh, I think I was mostly illustrating a point. There is a 300 square mile incorporated area around the BoA stadium that houses 850,000 people. There is coincidentally a 300 square mile incorporated area around the Capitol building with 850,000 people in mostly unbroken development. So while the growth was different for a variety of reasons, the end result is similar. Charlotte’s edge is in the metro, which is much bigger outside those 300 square miles.
Can't you just be happy that Wake County will be the most populous? Would that be too difficult for you and the others?
As I said, my town is literally on the edge of the Charlotte MSA. There are some yahoos running my county who have deliberately done stupid things that hurt everyone in the county in their quest to keep out of the Charlotte MSA. No, I don't vote for them. As to your complaint, no one has done something deliberately to hurt anyone in the Triangle, much less people from the Charlotte board.
Stop and think about the new-found game of trying to redraw the populations. My god, that's the kind of thing that my mother would yell at my sister and me for doing and tell us to cut it out in grade school.
Can't you just be happy that Wake County will be the most populous? Would that be too difficult for you and the others?
As I said, my town is literally on the edge of the Charlotte MSA. There are some yahoos running my county who have deliberately done stupid things that hurt everyone in the county in their quest to keep out of the Charlotte MSA. No, I don't vote for them. As to your complaint, no one has done something deliberately to hurt anyone in the Triangle, much less people from the Charlotte board.
Stop and think about the new-found game of trying to redraw the populations. My god, that's the kind of thing that my mother would yell at my sister and me for doing and tell us to cut it out in grade school.
Hey TarheelNick. Is this considered Exhibit C?
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