What's going to happen to traffic? (Raleigh, Durham: transplants, homes, neighborhoods)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It's inevitable with population growth that someday Raleigh will have the same problems. The state has a hard enough time keeping up with existing infrastructure to be proactive (roads need to be repaved, bridges need to be replaced etc..) and build infrastructure for the future. Unless people stop moving here and people stop having babies, it will only get worse
Public transit will help if we get more serious about it but let's get real. The US is a car-centric country and we'll be doomed someday because of it.
NC actually had a reputation for good roads if you wanna see bad look at SC they are in revolt over it
Compared to most places, NCDOT is in very good shape. It is worrying though that not enough money is being put towards maintenance as opposed to construction here in NC. They are laying off maintenance workers left and right at the county level. Construction projects are flashy and easy to sell to the public but usually people don't worry about maintenance until a bridge collapses like in Minneapolis or someone dies.
It's kinda depressing when folks move here and are like "Traffic is not as bad as [Insert terrible traffic place]"
I mean that may be true but I think for those of us who don't come from those places the quality is obviously degrading
Are we just on a race to the bottom to Atlanta traffic?
Will we get more serious about public transit?
Can it do anything but get worse?
It will only get worse. The population in the area really is not all that high. You have yet to see anything. Wait until it doubles, then triples. THEN you will be up there with some of the bigger boys in traffic. You are getting there, but are not there yet. Now of course for people who have lived there a long time, they have already seen it change a lot. However, you have a lot of transplants coming from places where it is much worse, so it is nothing for them.
The best thing anyone can do, other than having a crystal ball, is either buy in an area already built out so they know what they are getting or buy around protected areas. I can give an example as my area is exactly where you are headed. We live in a peninsula county which is pretty much built out. They are doing new building to the northeast in a county to the north. So there is traffic EVERWHERE, but with bad drivers to go along with it. So we bought in a neighborhood that is on the banks of a huge lake on the west side, with a big protected county park to the south and a vast protected wildlife refuge to the east. There is one major two lane road each side of a wide median going down the middle for traffic to get through on this side of the lake (think Cary Parkway or 55) and the rest are all single lane each side country roads wrapping through all the neighborhoods. But the key thing is, besides having our own neighborhood business, retail, shopping, dining areas, the back roads dump you further down the main drag toward the main business districts. So there is no need to go onto the main road to get around town, thus no need to clog up the road for others. Just stay on the slower paced, easier, nicer back roads.
So for y'all up there, it can be the same thing. It is in both how things are developed and where one buys. If they develop only homes with just roads leading to elsewhere, then there will be even worse headaches for people. BUT, if they develop nodes where people have everything they need for daily life in their own neighborhoods, then they will be less likely to be out on the main roads. And they need to design the roads in such a way that drivers can stay off the main drags as long as possible. If you are not going into the main business districts, then the roads should be designed in such a way that you do not have to go on them in the first place.
With all that said, it comes down to the buyer making a wise choice. Pick areas that are likely to be safe in the long run, like against lakes, protected wildlife areas, parks etc. Location, location, location. And that does NOT mean JUST about where one works, especially if BOTH people work. It means where do you play, where do your kids go to school, where does your family live, etc, etc. You need to figure out how your daily life will flow, then pick the best OVERALL location for that. Picking a location based solely on where you work is probably the worst idea if you are BUYING, as jobs change all the time and there is much more to life than just work.
There is a lot to consider, when trying to figure out how to minimize the effect of traffic. However, we managed to move to a heavily populated area and have more options around us than ever, yet have almost zero issues with traffic, as we thoroughly thought through the process and it worked out beautifully.
Last edited by The Villages Guy; 05-07-2016 at 12:04 PM..
Reason: Fixed some of the typos
Hmm, I can't agree with traffic isn't bad here. I realize it's relative, and we need to compare apples to apples, but my, and my co-workers commute on 540 and the Durham freeway has gotten really rough. What used to take me 40 minutes now takes 50minutes on a rare good day, to average of 1 hr. one way to 1 hr. 20 minutes coming back from Durham. My coworkers who live in Cary are also upset at how bad their commute had gotten - was 25 minutes, now 45-50.
Thank God we'll have a reprieve when school is out, but come back to school time, it will be hell again. I sometimes have to stop off on Wake Forest Road during rush hour. It takes me 1 hour from downtown Durham to Wake Forest Rd. - same time it takes me to drive to Knightdale if I went via 540. I am beyond sick of all the road construction here, been dealing with it for years. And yes, I know the alternative is that roads would be even more backed up, but it just gets so exhausting.
I am so glad retirement for me is a few short years away. My retirement plan is to do some consulting and set my hours so as not to deal with the ever growing traffic jams here.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
