182 replies to this topic

[Neo]

I'm not even going to bother posting the article, but maybe worth noting is the fact that I'm getting ticked off that they keep delaying the opening of I-485.  I should be able to get on Lawyers and get off at Hwy. 29 right now, but rain has delayed construction.  I really don't understand what's holding them up right now and I heard a representative say that they're working around the clock to get the project completed...riiiiiight.  It hasn't rained as much as previous weeks yet they continue to blame rain as the culprit.  I swear...if they don't open that sucker up next week I'm gonna be one mad papa.  Now that Cabarrus County schools are in full swing I get stuck in traffic miles long each morning on my way to work traveling 601N.  Hopefully they're predictions are true this time and it will indeed open up from Albermarle Rd. to Hw. 49 next week, but this is becoming like the boy who cried wolf.  

[dubone]

Spartan, on Oct 18 2004, 08:26 PM, said:

Plus 85 has only two lanes heading towards that area. They need to finish that crap soon. Also, what is the deal with 485? Are they ever going to open the section that connects to 85 west of Charlotte?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They opened SW485 today. I drove it for kicks today. I know most of us agree on the negative aspects of beltways, but luckily this one section seems to be built with few interchanges.

the NE section of 85 is getting closer and closer to completion. It is still on schedule for the end of this year,  and they say they are close to opening a third southbound lane this month.  

Even if all the plans for all the highway expansions for the next 25 years were opened tomorrow,  I'm sure you could still take a photo like the one above at rush hour. Hopefully more and more of  those drivers realize that and will vote for more rail lines and move uptown or closer to their workplace.  

I'm not a democrat, but there is no way I'd vote for Ballantine given his stance to ban transit funding.

[Spartan]

Finally! I just heard about this a while ago. Would someone please post the article from the Observer? I don't want to give them all that info for one article

[pinky]

I saw it on the 11pm news on Channel 3 while I was at my parents' house.

[Spartan]

pinky, on Oct 20 2004, 12:29 AM, said:

I saw it on the 11pm news on Channel 3 while I was at my parents' house.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is slightly off topic, but it reminds me that I can usually pick up NBC6 from Charlotte (Channel 36 for some reason) at my parents house in Spartanburg better than I can pick up our local NBC 4 out of Greenville. Its very odd. (We have satellite, but not in every room)

[pinky]

no Spartan I was talking about how I saw that 485 opened...you posted that you had just heard about it...but that's because i told you on my way home...

besides I think about things but generally don't say everything I'm thinking...so if I'm not making sense that's why.

[monsoon]

[ElGobernador]

Does anyone have pics of the new 85/485 interchange?  I know it was a huge one, size-wise, but I don't know many levels it is.

Edited by ElGobernador, 08 November 2004 - 12:16 PM.

[Noneck_08]

Hi I just got back home from Columbia this pass weekend. On the way down passing threw Charlotte I noticed that signs to Rock Hill were posted along the I-485 exit. I didn't try it but does anyone know if it;s quicker on the 485 loop from I-85 to the southern I-77 interchange or is the 85-77 route faster? By the way i'm traveling south from the triad area.

[atlrvr]

Probably depends on the time of day........it's probably better to just go 77-85 unless you are driving between 3pm-5pm....then I'd go 485.....after 5pm you are kinda screwed either way until 7pm.

[DigitalSky]

Yeah i mean yes, you can go to Rock Hill that way but it's a little misleading because 85 -->77  (non-rush hour times) gets you there too.

They REALLY should have put 'MATTHEWS' and 'MINT HILL' on that sign.

Edited by cantnot, 22 February 2005 - 08:32 PM.

[StevenRocks]

I wonder why they chose Rock Hill for the 85 sign onto 485 instead of Columbia, like the one at the 77 intersection downtown.  85 will take you to 77 headed towards Rock Hill, but it doesn't actually take you there.

If they weren't going to use Columbia, Matthews would have been a little more accurate.  Or this:

Inner 485    To South 77          
Matthews
Columbia

Edited by StevenRocks, 22 February 2005 - 11:47 PM.

[norm21499]

They have has put Pineville on the sign.

[Raintree21]

Widening of 485 loop could come sooner, delay highway completion


Widening the 485 loop in South Charlotte could happen sooner than expected, but it would come at the expense of delaying the completion of the highway in the north, according to a Charlotte Observer report......




This is definitely needed but it's gonna piss off a lot of North/Northwest Charlotteans. But the state screwed up with their planing and needs to fix it, especially since it is the most heavily used section of the loop.

[cooperdawg]

Poor destination choices for signs nominees

I-77 South just across state lines at the I-74/77 split, follow I-77 south to Statesville.  Yeah, I'm guessing Statesville is the destination for most travelers heading down this road.

I think the worst though, and they may have changed it recently, but going through Richmond, VA, you'd see signs for Rocky Mount, NC and then on to Miami, FL.  Are you kidding me?  I always got a laugh at that one.

[moonshield]

2010 is still too far in the future.

[skysdalimit]

cooperdawg, on Apr 7 2005, 10:27 AM, said:

Poor destination choices for signs nominees

I-77 South just across state lines at the I-74/77 split, follow I-77 south to Statesville.  Yeah, I'm guessing Statesville is the destination for most travelers heading down this road.

I think the worst though, and they may have changed it recently, but going through Richmond, VA, you'd see signs for Rocky Mount, NC and then on to Miami, FL.  Are you kidding me?  I always got a laugh at that one.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm pretty sure in NYC there are signs on 95 south to Miami as well.

The state screwed up here, this road should have been an 8 laner to begin with.

[spectacle21]

Well...this just goes to show you that 485 won't be finished until 2025...and they've been building this interstate since I was like....a year old! It shouldn't take this long. I understand that money tends to influence matters like these, but if the state really wanted this completed, it would have been done 5 years ago. This kinda has nothin' to do with the subject, but the Russian's built the Trans-Siberian Railroad in just ten years! This railroad spans the length of Russia and given the technology they had 100 years ago and the conditions in which it was built, the project really makes 485 look a waste of time and money.

By the time they actually complete 485, they're gonna have to go back over it add more lanes to it. I live right @ the Harrisburg Rd. Exit and its only 3 lanes on both sides! The mininum lane count for all of 485 should be 8 lanes!

[monsoon]

Haha, the centrally controlled, inept Soviet system, that eventually failed, did a better job  than the NCDOT.

[moonshield]

really. What is so hard about laying down a road. You think it would take like a few months.