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Careful not to assume that because one lives in Charlotte that they are ignorant of the rest of NC. I actually grew up in Eastern NC and have spent far more time in that part of the state (and still visit it often) and the Triangle than I've lived in Charlotte. I know the area very well. It's definitely full of empty highways, NCDOT has publicly accessible data backing this up. As an engineer I can factually state that the traffic counts are nowhere near high enough to justify many of the non-interstate freeways east of 95. I'm not saying they shouldn't be built at all, they just should be far down on the priority list when almost all the growth in the state is occurring in Charlotte and the Triangle regions and you have things like 540 being incomplete, 74 still not upgraded to 485, parts of I-40 in only 4 lanes, and 77 south of Uptown only 6 lanes.
But here's the thing, you sound like someone with a specific gripe with Charlotte and the counties west of it as in my post I spoke more of on the urban/rural dynamic in terms of infrastructure of a growing state where almost all the growth is concentrated in two specific urban areas (Raleigh/Durham+Charlotte) so unless you believe Charlotte is the only urban area in the state how do you somehow spin it to Charlotte vs. the world? Relax guy, no one cares your personal issues with the people there. Perhaps you should take up your personal views/issues with the culture of people in Western NC with them and their city councils or something, that's not my thing. I'm speaking on transportation, urban planning, and overall infrastructure, not emotions, nor attacking the culture of people from the towns in Eastern NC (which would include myself).
Like I said the state tries to be fair to all 100 counties and give the taxpayers something for a lifetime of paying gas taxes.
Also some of those "empty" highways might be part of a bigger strategic plan, they might be attempts to bring industry to a poor area that needs it, or they might be for something like mobilizing the military. With all of the trees in the state, you never know what's on the other side of them either. The farmers have to get their harvest to be distributed also. But empty highway building isn't occurring very much anymore.
US 70 is the lifeline of Eastern NC and it is the main commercial corridor with few stretches undeveloped. Yet it has waited for decades for other priorities to be addressed. The tourism of the coast makes highways leading into them very important to out-of-state vacationers' opinions snd regard for where they spend boocoos of money. Those huge houses on the Outer Banks cost above and below $25,000 per week, and they're filled by people from Ohio, Penn., NY, etc.
The state used to take a percentage of the gas tax revenue, maybe 30%, and give every highway division an equal amount every year, which wasn't appropriate since some are very rural and that precious funding could benefit more people in the fast growing areas.
McCrory totally revamped the funding formula and projects are scored on the benefits to the most people. The widening of US401 North of Raleigh to my hometown got funding, then lost funding due to scoring just below some other project, then got funding again only due to an unexpected surplus even though the project has been planned for over 40 years.
Charlotte by far now has the nicest, most miles, most lane-miles, and most miles of concrete pavement in the state. I think the state should buy out the 77 toll lanes, but keep them tolled as it's a way to keep them moving 45 mph or faster forever. Their only purpose is an option to move 45 mph or faster with variable pricing that could rise to $50 per trip if that's what it took to dissuade people from using it which would bog it down to not flow at least 45mph.
Raleigh's outer loop will be 60% tolled until the bonds are paid off.
The triad probably has the most freeways but it's only because the old, dangerous, original ones were replaced with separate ones.
But like i say, the state is one of small towns and is 2nd only to Pennsylvania in rural population.
People in Raleigh never have complained about the other small towns or rural counties getting help.
Maybe they travel more to the beach or whatever. The tolls on 540 have always been accepted without protest, because everyone knows the state has a very dispersed population from Murphy to Manteo, and I think the state agencies do a good job trying to be fair to the whole state.
Those state agencies' buildings in Raleigh are circa 1950 and they work in bad conditions, where as other states spend lavishly on government buildings.
Raleigh's freeways also look horrible with over 50% of the overhead signs faded with unreadable, peeling letters from 25 years of sun damage, and that is no where to be found in Charlotte which has freeway lights, HOV lanes, etc where as Raleigh's highways aren't lighted save for about 3 tiny sections.
NCDOT also won't spend on mast-arm traffic signal poles in Raleigh which has become the sagging, span-wire capital of the US.
I have noticed the traffic on 74 in Robeson and Columbus Co increasing every year...I-40 traffic in ENC keeps increasing...70 is a headache and always has been...even 64 is incomplete because its supposed to be from Raleigh to Norfolk...
Those "empty" roads aren't exactly empty, they are routes to the beach...
What's interesting is that the roads along the coast are over capacity...I know folks that have decided not to move to Hampstead because of the traffic. The delays to get to Corrolla are legendary they are so long.
And every time I'm on the beltline in Raleigh or 485 in Charlotte it pretty much moves like its supposed to.
Makes Rocky Mount or Wilson look like they are growing
Without knowing anything about Goldsboro I would assume that limited job opportunities is probably the leading cause. Also, being only an hour or so from Raleigh probably has an effect.
DMA should not be viewed as a guide for metro population - one can use the Census metros for that.
DMAs are strictly for media market attribution. How they are determined depends on things outside of anyone on this forum would care about. For example, Salt Lake City's DMA is pretty much all of Utah.
Why is that? Well there are not any markets of their own for a massive distance, so those far outlying areas are "assigned" to SLC.
DMA should not be viewed as a guide for metro population - one can use the Census metros for that.
DMAs are strictly for media market attribution. How they are determined depends on things outside of anyone on this forum would care about. For example, Salt Lake City's DMA is pretty much all of Utah.
Why is that? Well there are not any markets of their own for a massive distance, so those far outlying areas are "assigned" to SLC.
DMA's are used by pro-sports to identify potential markets for new teams. When you count
CLT, GSO, and RDU metros, NC is far and away the biggest market without an MLB team. I believe only the Portland, OR DMA is one of the biggest without MLB.
Without knowing anything about Goldsboro I would assume that limited job opportunities is probably the leading cause. Also, being only an hour or so from Raleigh probably has an effect.
Also, when you see good job opportunities evaporate, you typically see an influx of drugs and crime into those areas.
Makes Rocky Mount or Wilson look like they are growing
As some else said Goldsboro doesn't have the job opportunities. Another thing to keep in mind is that Goldsboro is a military city so people getting transfered to other bases also count as population that is leaving.
For fun, I added the top zip codes in density (that connected to each other) in Charlotte in terms of density from censusreporter.org.
Charlotte-- 478,396 people in 146 sq miles (including the airport)
Raleigh-- 474,708 people in 145.9 sq miles. (according to website)..
The rest of Charlotte is around a 2500 ppsm.
I've been on City-Data for some time just lurking. I know people on this thread have repeated the very things I'm about to say many times, but the Charlotte has a denser 30-40 square mile core than Raleigh does. What brings the density down are areas like far South Charlotte and North Charlotte where most of the neighborhoods have big houses on big lots or endless subdivisions. I remember reading a study that said Charlotte homes had some of the biggest lots in the country.
I've read back on very old threads and new threads. I noticed Heel82 had always said that Wake communities are densifying faster than Charlotte. SouthEnd and Uptown Charlotte have 30,000 people in 5 square miles and still have tons of area to grow. Uptown still has a good amount of parking lots and SouthEnd still has endless development opportunities. Uptown's density is actually around 7500 and not 10000+ like I thought, but the fact that most of it is office makes me believe it can easily get to 10,000-15000. SouthEnd and Uptown can easily hold 50000-60000+ in that 5 square mile area. Charlotte's growth is also more concentrated along the Blue Line. NoDa and North Charlotte will continue to grow and areas like South Charlotte won't grow at all when it comes to density. Everything is already built out which is why Mecklenburg's is starting to slow down.
Think of it like this, you have five circles. The inner most is in the inner city/downtown areas, the second one is the neighborhoods directly adjacent to the downtown, the third one is the areas within the city limits, the fourth one would be the cities and towns in the county outside of the city limits (in Charlotte's case this may be in the city limits), and the last circle would be the farther out cities and towns. Cities and towns like Wake Forest, Durham, Fuquay-Varina or Concord, Fort Mill/Rock Hill or Union County. Charlotte would win on 1, 2 and 5 in terms of the densification. (1) Center city is densifying faster, and the areas around uptown (2) are literally transforming all thanks to our light rail line. (3) Outside of the core neighborhoods, Charlotte's growth is mixed, meaning some areas are declining while some areas are growing. (4) Outside of Raleigh, areas like Cary, Apex or Morrisville are growing faster than places like Huntersville, Matthews, or outer Charlotte. (5) One thing we do know is that Charlotte's MSA is growing more in raw numbers than the Triangle. Areas like Union County, Cabarrus County and York County are red hot. Fort Mill grew by more than 100% in the past decade. The Charlotte area suburbs are what make the Charlotte area grow more than the Triangle in raw numbers. Cabarrus and Union county areas that directly touch Mecklenburg are growing like crazy. As Mecklenburg counties to run out of room to grow, outer counties will grow...
Add Concord Mills or Union County areas to Meck and you get an additional 260,000 people in 260 sq miles still less than the 300 sq mile advantage Wake has over Meck.
The moral of the story is that while the Wake County cities and towns that add up to around Charlotte city population are probably densifying faster than the city of Charlotte, the core of Charlotte is densifying faster than Raleigh and a 20-25 mile radius around Charlotte is also densifying faster. Outside of the 20-25 mile radius, Triangle wins. Metrolina outside the radius is very stagnant in terms of population growth, while the areas around the Triangle aren't. Look at any NC percentage growth map and you will find that there are a lot more counties around Wake with large percent population increases than counties around Mecklenburg. Charlotte's growth is very centralized, it seems the farther you go from uptown, the lower the growth is.
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