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The problem with 485 or any new highway is that When it opens development follows.
North Lake Mall is a prime example of this and I am quite certain in time all you going to see between the mall and Mt Holly Huntersville Rd on North Lake Parkway is housing and apartment complexes going up. Look at all the new box stores already that have open this past year between 77 and 485 and 485 is not even open in that section.
When 485 does open in this section I will bump this thread back up to say I told you so
When we have traffic backups between the two interstates and the mall /box store traffic.
Traffic isnt what we need to solve it is the development around the interstate or roads.
People are going to continue to move to Charlotte regardless until it gets to the point that it physically can't support the growth...ahem, see Atlanta. Then when that happens, people will flock to Raleigh and Charlotte will be surpassed as the "bigger and better city" (Please no lash outs from Raleigh folks).
Charlotte is a goldmine for small, medium, and big business growth. Moreover, Charlotte GovCo is very capitalistic, so nothing will be done to prevent companies to move here, or for others to start their own.
Perhaps they can control these development areas, but it doesn't excuse the reality that roads must be widened and expanded. Maybe there should be a moratorium on development amongst road construction until X amount of time has passed i.e. don't build the shopping center while you're building the road. All things to grow gradually and not all at once.
Here is an opprotunity for a developer to do the unthinkable and widen an interstate but I have strong gut feeling the state will shoot it down.
Charlotte Observer | 11/27/2007 | I-77 widening plan has miles to go (http://www.charlotte.com/243/story/379892.html - broken link)
I read this yesterday and first had my hopes up.. But it seems the gov't is getting defensive. This makes no sense to me. "HI, you can't build your roads effectivly, so let me help..." "No, they are my roads... I don't need your help" "Er um.. Ok I will build my development elsewhere.." Poopie!
Okay. Lots of good ideas have been voiced. But I am confused.
1. If we don't widen roads (and develop new ones - or finish other projects, i.e. 485) congestion continues, plus increased wear and tear on the surfaces that do exist
2. If we build more roads and finish projects, more big box stores will create conjestion.
I thought you controlled congestion by zoning. If you don't want big box stores at an intersection, don't zone for it. So doesn't this mean . . . the road itself is not the problem, the planning commission's decisions, within its jurisdiction, are the "problem" by making short-sighted decisions?
I agree - if you build new infrastructure, people will come. By infrastructure, I mean sewer, water and highways/streets/roads. I thought that communities make decisions based on raising tax money to underwrite improvements in the community. If you put a big box store in - then you get revenue wh/ is taxed. This raises money for improvements in the community.
So the typical planning commission encourages building malls, strip malls and big box stores in their jurisdiction to raise tax monies.
If they did not want the additional tax money revenues, they would not zone areas for business. They would zone it for residential.
So isn't the "problem" with suburban sprawl and congestion at intersections - directly related to zoning - and not the roads themselves?
As I said - I am confused. Please enlighten me, LOL!!!
Last edited by brokensky; 11-28-2007 at 11:47 AM..
Reason: misspell
I am a supporter of transit and like most other supporters, we do SUPPORT roads. I am not against roads at all. We need good roads and a good mass transit system to handle the influx of people, to stay competitive and become a sustainable city, and to preserve a decent quality of life. We live in Charlotte - development isn't going to stop anytime soon. It is the type of development we need to watch out for. The point of the transit system is to create dense "nodes" or corridors within the city where people can live and walk and use transit to get around. It is not forcing people where to live - people who want that kind of lifestyle will live there and people who don't can live somewhere else but atleast they have the option to take transit if they want to. I think I started babbling on too much and I don't know if anything I just said makes sense but oh well. I still don't think it is a hard concept to understand, it's a good idea and we are heading in the right direction. My only complaint is that the NCDOT formula is messed up and we need more road money here in Charlotte (and Raleigh) and not someplace like Goldsboro.
A small town like Fayetteville, NC that doesn't supply much of any tax revenue to the state shouldn't be getting any money for a Loop. I don't know of one community nationwide that small that has their own interstate loop. Charlotte contributes far more tax revenue to NC than it even comes close to receiving back. I've never seen a state beat up it's by far largest city and metro area as bad as NC does, and yet, Charlotte still voted somehow for a governor that will continue to screw the city. That to me makes no sense at all. 485 & the I-85 Yadkin River bridge replacement should be priority #s 1 & 2 in the state for funding. Stop building useless bypasses in rural eastern NC
A small town like Fayetteville, NC that doesn't supply much of any tax revenue to the state shouldn't be getting any money for a Loop. I don't know of one community nationwide that small that has their own interstate loop. Charlotte contributes far more tax revenue to NC than it even comes close to receiving back. I've never seen a state beat up it's by far largest city and metro area as bad as NC does, and yet, Charlotte still voted somehow for a governor that will continue to screw the city. That to me makes no sense at all. 485 & the I-85 Yadkin River bridge replacement should be priority #s 1 & 2 in the state for funding. Stop building useless bypasses in rural eastern NC
Take time to write everyone involved and express your utter dismay on this issue. I think we all agree on this forum - we need to let our voices be heard. It is a ridiculous situation but thank your eastern DEM legislators in this state for screwing us over again - and our newly elected DEM Gov is going to be working hand in hand w/ them to screw CLT once again.
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Well, I am confused
Charlotte contributes far more tax revenue to NC than it even comes close to receiving back. I've never seen a state beat up it's by far largest city and metro area as bad as NC does, and yet, Charlotte still voted somehow for a governor that will continue to screw the city. That to me makes no sense at all. 485 & the I-85 Yadkin River bridge replacement should be priority #s 1 & 2 in the state for funding. Stop building useless bypasses in rural eastern NC
