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Another vote for South Carolina here. Just look at the most recent census results for the counties I-85 crosses between Durham and Petersburg. In Virginia, Dinwiddie County has added only 143 people since 2010 to put it at less than 29,000, while Mecklenburg has lost 1,835 to stay under 31,000 and Brunswick, home of that deadly dull stretch of nothing between Exits 15 (South Hill) and 39 (Davis Travel Center and Nottoway Motel), has lost 1,191 over the last six years to have only 16,243 total, ranking it 91st in population in the state among counties. NC ain't much better. Warren has lost 1,065 people and now has less than 20,000, while Vance has lost 1,178 and is struggling to stay above 44,000 and Granville is down 885 and barely above 59,000. Any megapolis ain't gonna happen in these areas in our lifetimes.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Originally Posted by Mutiny77
Well there's already a CSA approaching 1.5 million people in SC between Charlotte and Atlanta whereas there's nothing comparable between the Triangle and Greater Richmond. My money is on SC.
I will grant you, when driving on 85 between Henderson & Petersburg, in the dusk, it wouldn't surprise me to see a ghostly charge of Civil War soldiers go across the road. On the other hand, Cherokee County isn't significantly better. They seem to be totally ignored by Columbia. People from the northern part of the county actively get into the job market in Gaston & Cleveland counties. They grocery shop in Kings Mountain.
Either area is three or four big job acquisitions from urbanization. I wouldn't want to bet who gets it first. It's a crapshoot.
I'll either be pushing up daisies or over 100 by 2060. That's a reasonably long way off. Both ends could be filled in or neither.
I will grant you, when driving on 85 between Henderson & Petersburg, in the dusk, it wouldn't surprise me to see a ghostly charge of Civil War soldiers go across the road. On the other hand, Cherokee County isn't significantly better. They seem to be totally ignored by Columbia. People from the northern part of the county actively get into the job market in Gaston & Cleveland counties. They grocery shop in Kings Mountain.
What hurts Cherokee County is that it doesn't have a sizable urban center in the county. But a big manufacturing facility or two--or a nice assortment of smaller outfits, like suppliers for BMW or Volvo--along I-85 could definitely go a long way towards changing the county's fortunes and I think it's just a matter of time.
What hurts Cherokee County is that it doesn't have a sizable urban center in the county. But a big manufacturing facility or two--or a nice assortment of smaller outfits, like suppliers for BMW or Volvo--along I-85 could definitely go a long way towards changing the county's fortunes and I think it's just a matter of time.
Cherokee County has Gaffney, the big peach, and the outlet mall. And they have a Krystal, a Popeyes, and several truckstops and travel centers. So there are a few points of interest there. But a major manufacturing center or industrial plant would definitely be an appreciated addition.
Cherokee County has Gaffney, the big peach, and the outlet mall. And they have a Krystal, a Popeyes, and several truckstops and travel centers. So there are a few points of interest there. But a major manufacturing center or industrial plant would definitely be an appreciated addition.
You're being facetious, right? Kinda hard to tell sometimes on this forum.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mutiny77
What hurts Cherokee County is that it doesn't have a sizable urban center in the county. But a big manufacturing facility or two--or a nice assortment of smaller outfits, like suppliers for BMW or Volvo--along I-85 could definitely go a long way towards changing the county's fortunes and I think it's just a matter of time.
While you can get to Atlanta from Charlotte by bypassing Cherokee County, the map in this thread distinctly goes through Cherokee County, using I 85. They're showing growth in Gaffney but not much in Blacksburg, & just some urbanization between them. It shows growth & urbanization west of Charlotte to Shelby which is merged with Boiling Springs, & some urbanization west of Shelby, possibly to Forest City. Cherokee County is the weakest link, in that map.
Wish I could be around to see what will happen lol. By 2060 I'll be 70 years old. Seems unreachable right now, but we will see. No idea if I'll even be here in the Triangle in 2025. The last 5 years alone have had tumultuous changrs.
Agreed, the area between Petersburg, Va all the way until you get to the northern parts of the Triangle is a no man's land and I can't see that changing much over the next 30-40 years.
Definitely.
I think there's a couple of factors that could lead to "linking" the Triangle to Greater Richmond. The first is sprawl. Whether you love it or hate it, the Triangle is going to continue to sprawl outward for the foreseeable future, even if its urban cores are becoming more dense. If the Triangle was as big as the Atlanta metropolitan, Mecklenburg County (VA) would probably be part of the metro. Likewise, all it would take then for the two megalopolises to connect is for the Greater Richmond metro to gobble up Lunenburg, Nottoway, and Brunswick counties, or a combination of the three. But, it would take decades before the Triangle and Richmond can become that big.
Another factor is rail, or more specifically, passenger rail. The old CSX S-Line runs parallel with I-85. Although most of the track has been abandoned, there are future plans of revitalizing the line for high(er) speed rail between Raleigh and Petersburg. Once the line is rebuilt, there could always be a chance of a new stop in South Hill, maybe even Norlina. Raleigh could also use the line for commuter trains out to Wake Forest and Henderson. However, like the first point, we're still many years away before we see any traction on restoring the S-Line.
Lastly is a major corporate relocation to a town that's in between Petersburg and Durham. If one were to come to say South Hill, the town's population could increase and the county could become a micropolitan. That's another way that the two megalopolises could link. I suppose if this kind of activity can happen between Atlanta and the Upstate, or the Upstate and Charlotte, then eventually it could happen there.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,693,648 times
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Originally Posted by Third Strike
Definitely.
I think there's a couple of factors that could lead to "linking" the Triangle to Greater Richmond. The first is sprawl. Whether you love it or hate it, the Triangle is going to continue to sprawl outward for the foreseeable future, even if its urban cores are becoming more dense. If the Triangle was as big as the Atlanta metropolitan, Mecklenburg County (VA) would probably be part of the metro. Likewise, all it would take then for the two megalopolises to connect is for the Greater Richmond metro to gobble up Lunenburg, Nottoway, and Brunswick counties, or a combination of the three. But, it would take decades before the Triangle and Richmond can become that big.
Another factor is rail, or more specifically, passenger rail. The old CSX S-Line runs parallel with I-85. Although most of the track has been abandoned, there are future plans of revitalizing the line for high(er) speed rail between Raleigh and Petersburg. Once the line is rebuilt, there could always be a chance of a new stop in South Hill, maybe even Norlina. Raleigh could also use the line for commuter trains out to Wake Forest and Henderson. However, like the first point, we're still many years away before we see any traction on restoring the S-Line.
Lastly is a major corporate relocation to a town that's in between Petersburg and Durham. If one were to come to say South Hill, the town's population could increase and the county could become a micropolitan. That's another way that the two megalopolises could link. I suppose if this kind of activity can happen between Atlanta and the Upstate, or the Upstate and Charlotte, then eventually it could happen there.
My guess would be a good size job provider in Henderson, another in Petersburg, followed by something in South Hill. Then you have sprawl going towards South Hill from both directions. That would make South Hill more desirable as a job site, & South Hill can then enlarge. It's no more outlandish than Cherokee County, SC becoming urbanized from Spartanburg to Kings Mountain, in NC.
Greensboro NC is very definition of "urban sprawl" and that's not a good thing.
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