What NCDOT projects do you think are wasteful

[atownrocks]

Well to top them all Charlotte is the states biggest city and they won't finish 485 (including the widening) until 2030 in my opinion.  For the biggest city that's pretty pathetic.  Why do they put money into the beach areas and Fayetteville?  For me, driving to the beach and going through Darlington and Conway were normal events.  They really weren't all that busy of roads anyway until you got to within 20 miles of Myrtle.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thank you. Someone actully see's the way I do.

[NcSc74]

Thank you. Someone actully see's the way I do.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well if you have been to Fayetteville you would know that the traffic is horendous in the dense retail areas. However I do not agree with a loop for Fayetteville. If anything I would like to see some projects to ease the surface streets of so much traffic. As for eastern NC especially the beaches I think it is high time to open the roads up for them. That is one of the main reasons the coast (except Wilmington) is underdeveloped. I know some people want to beleive that quaint ocean villages are a great alternative to large beach resort cities BUT those large resort towns provide jobs for a lot of the region in season and out. I don't think it would hurt if NC had a rival for Myrtle or Virginia Beach. I think the Outer Banks should and will remain the same. There is a lot of history there that a lot of people don't realize. But NCs south coast is prime for development due to Wilmingtons booming population. I think it is one the fastest growing cities in the Carolinas.

[orulz]

After Katrina reminded us of the devistation that a large hurricane can bring (even in areas above sea level - Biloxi? Gulfport?) Are you so sure that you want to see a huge amount of investment in resorts on NC beaches? If the regional economy depends too much on tourist resorts, the economic impact of a category 4 storm would be all that much more devastating. North Carolina's coast is very vulnerable to hurricanes; if we had a strong one strike in just the right place, all those shiny expensive resorts and all the jobs that come along with them would get washed away with the storm surge.

Beaches are attractive locations, yes, but Katrina has reminded us that they really aren't appropriate at all for building large cities or even big resort towns. If North Carolina's beaches are underdeveloped, then great. Let it stay that way. We're blessed by the fact that the outer banks are nothing more than a massive sandbar, too soft to build anything big or support a significant year-round population. I don't want to be left on the hook when we get our Katrina.

[NcSc74]

After Katrina reminded us of the devistation that a large hurricane can bring (even in areas above sea level - Biloxi? Gulfport?) Are you so sure that you want to see a huge amount of investment in resorts on NC beaches? If the regional economy depends too much on tourist resorts, the economic impact of a category 4 storm would be all that much more devastating. North Carolina's coast is very vulnerable to hurricanes; if we had a strong one strike in just the right place, all those shiny expensive resorts and all the jobs that come along with them would get washed away with the storm surge.

Beaches are attractive locations, yes, but Katrina has reminded us that they really aren't appropriate at all for building large cities or even big resort towns. If North Carolina's beaches are underdeveloped, then great. Let it stay that way. We're blessed by the fact that the outer banks are nothing more than a massive sandbar, too soft to build anything big or support a significant year-round population. I don't want to be left on the hook when we get our Katrina.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with that assesment, but, if the structures are built to withstand such storms then I say go ahead. There are parts of the world that encounter powerful storms 2 or 3 times a year and there is no wholesale damage like the Gulf Coast. I put some blame on the developers for building weak structures knowing the region can be hit by a hurricane. Gtranted it would drive cost up but what is the price if saving thousands of lives.

[MR-2]

The northern Outer Banks are fairly developed around Kitty Hawk, Currituck, etc. The beaches there have moved up to the towns and are beginning to engulf the closest row of houses. The same could be said for Northern Topsail Island close to the inlet. Actually one of the houses was even in the ocean, directly in it, at high tide. No sandbar or anything. You wake up one day and suddenly your house is a pier. Heavy development directly on the barrier islands isn't a wise idea since they're migrating inland, even if slowly. One more hurricane and they're gone.

On the mainland developments are pretty safe when they stay out of floodplanes (Wilmington, for instance).

I doubt we'll repeat what New Orleans did though. It's one thing to build a city on a prominant sandbar. It's another to build one below sea level, surrounded by ocean and lakes on all sides, in a swamp.

[orulz]

There are parts of the world that encounter powerful storms 2 or 3 times a year and there is no wholesale damage like the Gulf Coast.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There is nowhere in the world that sees 2 or 3 storms of the magnitude of Katrina every year. There is only so much you can do to design structures to withstand 20+ foot storm surges and 145mph winds. Maybe you could make the bottom 3 floors of every structure a wall-less parking deck. But that would suck.

I doubt we'll repeat what New Orleans did though. It's one thing to build a city on a prominant sandbar. It's another to build one below sea level, surrounded by ocean and lakes on all sides, in a swamp.

There is no comparison between New Orleans and any city in NC. But in case you missed it in the news, there was massive, widespread damage in places like Gulfport and Biloxi as well - which are both above sea level and both on solid soil. Nevertheless, the storm surge washed a half mile or more inland, destroying nearly everything in its path. The casinos were floating, but the adjoining hotels were not - and both ended up in very sorry shape.

I don't want to costal NC to bet everything on resort tourism. If that happens, and then a powerful hurricane comes, we (the rest of the state!) will be left with the job of helping them rebuild.

Besides, I like how NC beaches and coastal towns don't have the same overwhelming glitzy and commercial feel that you find in places like Virginia Beach and Myrtle Beach.

[Tayfromcarolina]

Couldnt happen here on that scale. Our topography of the land in not a gulf like down there in Louisiana, Miss, Al. Our state does the opposite and juts out into the ocean. There could be small scale areas of massive storm surge in some of the inlets. but over all we don't have miles and miles of terrain that in a prone position to that type of surge. Secondly we have never had a storm quite that powerful come threaten or State like that they always seem to loose intensity, Just before getting to close to do any damage. With the exception of hurricane Hazel, but that storm was moving at like 50 mph. so there was hardly any surge at all. But the wind phew. 110 mph. in fayetteville, and gusts to 99 in Raleigh.

[MR-2]

I'm pretty sure Fran's surge stayed strong over landfall. (1996?, 97?) Fran was a Cat 4 at sea and cat 3 ish after it hit land. It creamed all of the beachfront property on the south shore around Wilmington, cleaved new inlets on a few islands, flooded a lot of the poorer rural areas on the coastal plain and knocked over tons of trees in Raleigh. Our beaches looked a lot like Louisiana's right now do.

Recently Isabel opened an inlet on Cape Hatteras... that they filled in a few days later anyway.

Anyway, those were both cat 4 at their strongest point.

I know we're in a spot that can get hit by storms that strong. We're probably the northernmost state on the east coast that gets hurricanes that bad. The difference is we're not in a gulf, so they usually blow out into the Atlantic instead of hitting us. Doesn't exclude the possibility.

[orulz]

Couldnt happen here on that scale.

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Writing it off with a "Couldn't happen here!" is about the worst thing you could do.

As MR-2 pointed out, we have had bad, damaging hurricanes in the past, and we will have them again.

[urbanesq]

Couldnt happen here on that scale.

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Ummm... Floyd anyone?

[MR-2]

I think Floyd even managed to get a National State of Emergency declaration. That was some bad flooding.

We're already overdue for a hurricane this year. We always get one or two at least. The Gulf has just been irregularly bad as of late.