Study: N.C. among worst states for traffic woes

[southernlady5464]

Here is the full report, not the media release: Reason Foundation Mobility Project - Policy Study 360: 16th Annual Report on the Performance of State Highway Systems (1984–2005)

Shows some interesting things.

I moved here from MI altho I have lived in S. CA back in 1996 and it was a zoo back then and my husband just spent 4 months in the SF Bay area before getting here this week. We've also lived in MO, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and a few other areas so I have seen the congested and not so congested areas of the country. Where I am now is experiencing MAJOR growing pains and definitely needs another access bridge across the river.

But it needs to be done with an eye on the future. Liz

[Richard Martin]

Trust me. You've never sat in gridlock until you've had the opportunity to sit in traffic for 10 hours while the cops try to talk an insane man out of jumping off of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Somebody push the guy over the edge or something. DC can be brutal as can the whole Baltimore Washington Metro Area.

[mm34b]

Originally Posted by Richard Martin

Trust me. You've never sat in gridlock until you've had the opportunity to sit in traffic for 10 hours while the cops try to talk an insane man out of jumping off of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Somebody push the guy over the edge or something. DC can be brutal as can the whole Baltimore Washington Metro Area.

Yep, it once took me 6 hours to drive 10 miles.

[jgreg]

North Carolina used to pride itself on being “The good roads state.” For whatever reason, it did not continue investing in infrastructure. More recently, the Governor/Legislature have raided the highway trust fund for pet projects. NC is great at building new roads but bad about maintaining what is already there. Many of the bridges are in very bad shape.

In Raleigh there are countless examples of poor highway/interchange design that have been torn out and replaced at great expense. I-40 in the RTP area has been widened several times, but it all funnels down to a two lane section near Cary – major choke point.

The Legislature has given many weight exemptions to the trucking industry, so heavy trucks destroy the roads. Rural roads are not crowned, have no shoulders and not built to handle the truck traffic which wears grooves in the road which hold standing water after a rain. <hope you have good tires>

There is virtually no traffic light synchronization in Raleigh even downtown or on major thoroughfares. You drive from one read light to the next.

[the 7 oh 4]

If you want to see traffic. Come to Charlotte and drive on the Outer Loop (I-485) from 330pm - 7pm. Gridlocked and backed up for miles and for hours.

Also I-77 NORTH towards Lake Norman...gridlocked, I-85 towards Concord...gridlocked

THANK GOD we have Light Rail started. Only 1 line is open now (South Line) but other lines will open in years to come. North Line is next and will be here in 2009/2010. Then NORTHEAST, SOUTHEAST, EAST & WEST. Will take years but you have to start sometime.