Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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The middle child must be the favorite child, because they have the best freeway system in the state, which will be even better once I-840 in G-boro and I-74/I-274 in W-S are finished.
This, plus let's not forget the plans to make US 29 into I-785 going to Danville and convert US 421 to become I-685 running from Greensboro southeastward to Dunn at I-95. Add these two to I-40, I-85, I-40, I-73 and I-840, and Greensboro will have claim to no less than seven interstate highways running through the metropolis. If that doesn't make Charlotte and Raleigh envious, nothing will.
On the contrary, I think the triangle has done well keeping up their infrastructure for development. Is it perfect, could they have done some things better? Of course.
Wilmington IMO takes the cake for "head in the sand" planning. My Wife's friends that only left for college are always make comments to us about Raleigh's traffic. They have no idea. Getting around Wilmington reminds me of getting around NOVA or Chicago suburbs. Except, Chicago or NOVA have the excuse of being tied to a large metropolis.
I don't disagree that Wilmington was slow to react to growth in new areas and revitalization of downtown. But unlike Raleigh, Wilmington cannot grow in all directions. They are set up for bad congestion. There are also floodprone areas to avoid.
Completion of the Military Cutoff Road extension to 140 will help on the northeast side.
But eventually, NCDOT will have to bite the bullet and either replace the Cape Fear River vertical lift bridge or build the Cape Fear Skyway (or something similar)... at an expense of $2 billion or thereabouts. WUAMPO just put replacement of the bridge at the top of its unfunded priority list. Don't look for a second or third big-ticket project in Wilmington until this one is behind us. The only possible exception is a second railroad bridge across the river that would eliminate the traffic problems caused by trains reaching the port.
Charlotte residents are so ticked off about the I-77 deal that it will be a while before NCDOT does anything creative there again.
In fairness to NCDOT, the Triad is getting road dollars. The final segment of I-840 around the north side of Greensboro should open in spring 2023. That's good news for Triangle residents driving to the GSO airport or to towns along US 220 north. The portion of the Winston-Salem loop between US 421 from Greensboro and US 52 toward Virginia should be done by late 2023. That will make a big dent in long-haul traffic that currently has to go through downtown W-S on antiquated roads. I won't miss the 15 mph curve from southbound US 52 to eastbound US 421.
We call it “Beltway” in Winston. :-)
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