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UNC Charlotte Campus Master Plan


jb4563

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I just noticed a rather ugly church being put up near the entrance to UNC Charlotte. It has sides of metal and looks like something that belongs in the mountains. I wonder who in the hell approved the design for such a tacky looking building. Isn't zoning supposed to prevent such a mess of a building?

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  • 5 months later...

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It would be wonderful if the campus was more integrated to the city but its engulfed by sprawl on all sides. I went to The College of Charleston which is in the heart of the peninsula and going to school in a real urban setting is invaluable. The best thing UNCC can do is craft new development on campus to enhance a "college town" feel. Meaning less buildings that look like mental institutions and better pedestrian connectivity.

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I know there are current plans to make US 29/Tryon Street more pedestrian friendly as the light rail approaches. There are projects that include street level retail near mallard creek ch road. Being a student at UNC-C I have always wondered why there is no interest to turn University City Blvd into UNC-C's "Franklin Street"? It could be lined with high rises for students along with mid to low rise offices, clubs, resturants, and even a small movie theatre. The boulevard would also have trees, sidewalks, and art work. This would create a "downtown" university city. Every morning around 6:30 AM as i go to work I see commuters I assume from the Harrisburg area traveling around 60mph toward Charlotte. I guess this is due to the fact the speed limit fluctuates between 45 and 55mph and the road resembles a freeway. Anythoughts on this? I know NC 49 is the main route from Harrisburg so maybe I'm wrong for wanting this.

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Indeed. I think they should do with University City Blvd what they do with Tryon St downtown. Reroute the highway portion to Highway 29 while making the section in front of the university pedestrian friendly, landscaped, and very nice.

The Chancellor said that one of his goals is to bring a LRT station to UNC Charlotte and he has (or will be) working with CATS leaders to make that happen.

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I realize its a lopsided comparison demographically and population wise but anyway! UNCW is very disconnected from downtown Wilmington in a similar manner to UNCC. The sprawl surrounding UNCW has been controlled somewhat better in regards to appearance and connectivity. Although that be more of a function of the areas smaller population than anything else. The Wilmington area is growing rapidly though and UNCW will likely face the same growth issues down the road that UNCC is currently grappling with. I hope they do a better job!

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As a student of UNCC, i would like to see pedestrian bridges being built across Tryon, University City, and John Kirk Rd. There is alot of traffic that crosses over all three of these roads. I think it would be a whole lot safter. Also, i heard from someone that police are giving Jay-Walking tickets to people/students who cross over University City and not cross at the cross walks of the main entrance intersection...is there any truth to that??

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The police can ticket for jaywalking, and have in the past. Whether they are now, I don't know. A pedestrian bridge is a great idea, but it's one that's been nothing more than just a dream. I've been at UNCC for three years, and it's come up every year, for good reason. It seems like a no-brainer to have a walkway to get to and from campus, especially considering that students have been injured and killed crossing University City Boulevard, and even John Kirk Drive. I don't know who's in charge of the funding for such a project -- whether it's the DOT or the University. It seems to me though that if the costs were split among the University and the places that would benefit most from it (Gray's Bookstore, University Walk, College Station, and the other apartments back there), that it might be feasible. Personally, I thought that before they reopened John Kirk, some sort of traffic calming devices should have been put in to slow traffic down. I know that they plan on eventually tying it into the loop road around campus, but until then, it's not very easy to cross.

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  • 1 year later...

I was looking at the college this weekend since I am considering transferring there next fall, and the first thing the city/state should do that probably won't get done for a long time is curb, gutter, and sidewalk along Univeristy City Boulevard and surrounding roads. Add some landscaped medians and encourage new growth to front the street. I think the pedestrian bridges are a good idea as well, but you need the sidewalks in place first. I think the infrastructure is one of the things holding University City back - the lack of curb, gutter, and sidewalk is pretty sad.

By the way does anyone have any updates on the new sign for the front entrance? It is pretty outdated, I mean Charlotte Latin has a nicer entrance sign :lol:

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To answer each and every one of your questions: yes, yes and yes. They are going to redo the entire entrance, including the roadways on and off campus. That includes landscaping, curb, gutter, and sidewalk all along University City Blvd in front of the campus as part of the school's newest master plan. The plan is to build the entrance in three phases. The first phase should start either this Summer or Fall. It will be moved from its current location further down UCBlvd. Phase one will include further building the loop road around the school and building the main sign, crosswalks, pedestrian lights, traffic signal, and entryway lights. The second phase includes adding the rest of the columns and sidewalks along UCity Blvd. The sidewalks aren't going to be flush against the road, but a few meters back. The third phase will include curb, gutter, and road improvements mostly funded by the city (depending on the rate which it is pushed through.)

Here's a few pictures from UNCC's website and from older forums on here over the last year:

FrontEntrance4.jpg

FrontEntrance3.jpg

FrontEntrance2.jpg

FrontEntrance1.jpg

ColorRenderingFrontEntrance.jpg

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i still wish the university was closer to uptown, but.....

this is a good step to providing a pedestrian environment around the university. many students, including myself, have complained about the lack of a "Franklin Str./Hillsborough Str./Tate Str. area" where people can gather without driving or going so far to downtown. it gets kind of embarassing esp since this university is a growing university. I am all for the pedestrian bridges to the shopping centers across the street from campus.

Aussieluke-- I thought the new main entrance was going along Hwy 29 where the new Engineering and Optics buildings are? Is the new one now going to be built towards the Alumni House?

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Yes and no, there will be two "main" entrances, but for the two different schools. The 29 entrance will be for the Charlotte Research Institute and the 49 entrance will be for UNC Charlotte. The ones pictured in my last post are for UNC Charlotte.

Here is an older view of the Master Plan (which does not include the columns) from UNCC's facility webpage:

crescent.jpg

Before anybody asks, yes this does mean they are tearing down the highrises in favor of shorter, safer dorms.

I believe the site is under maintenance so I can't get pictures for the CRI entrance, but you can see the future plans for the campus on the main webpage for CRI. It won't be as "grand" as the 49 entrance, but will be relatively close to the road giving N Tryon a little more "street-side appeal."

Many many many many people including myself have pleaded with the school to push for the city to zone John Kirk Dr and other such side streets around campus for more "Franklin St"-like development. I'm not sure exactly what this type of zoning is considered. The school is very aware of Charlotte's dire need for more student friendly walkways and roadways both on and off campus. There is a rather long pdf file on UNCC's website that outlines many of the improvements and studies around the campus dealing with streetscape, traffic flow, pedestrian safety, etc. It's a good read if you're familiar with campus.

Also, I wish that UNCC could encourage a developer to come in and build such developments that are pedestrian friendly around the campus. Whether this will ever be done, I don't know. But, I have heard rumors on campus about development across Jon Kirk from the new Greek Village... but sadly, just rumors. However, if you look at the picture above of the master plan, there is a very tightly bundled group of buildings lining both sides of John Kirk... just sayin.

I was having lunch with my friend from Chapel Hill at University Place the other day and she was pointing out to me the very things that have been discussed all across this forum about UNCC's lack of a college town atmosphere. From an outsider's perspective she was saying how much potential University Place had and how little would have to be changed in order to make it a thriving place for college students to spend their time after or before classes. Example: Franklin Street is not right next to the entire campus, people are willing to walk to where the people are at. If there were a single pedestrian friendly crossing on N Tryon to University Place, this would 100% solve the detachment UPlace has from campus. Second, the types of stores in the shopping plaza do not cater very well to college students. Sure it has Old Navy and a few bars and restaurants, but the majority of that shopping center is big box stores, fast food drive ins, bank branches, and shopping strip retail. These are not the kinds of stores that do particularly well in college "strips."

As these stores close one by one (as is the fate of UCity anyway,) why not only allow shops that cater to college students to enter these vacant spots. This will serve two purposes: A. students will be more likely to walk around the plaza rather than move their car from one parking lot to the next meaning less cars driving up and down JW Clay and B. it will encourage more businesses that cater to the student population to move in. By creating this domino effect and considering that Walmart may move on out, this will leave a lot of open retail space to be renovated into hopefully something other than another big box. In this respect, I want Walmart (and with it maybe Sam's Club) to move to City Blvd, or just further away from the campus in general.

If this all happens, the core of UCity could become the pedestrian friendly college town that every student at UNCC is clamoring for. Moving Walmart alone will significantly decrease the traffic flow through that complex. Best Buy (which has seen better days) and Dick's Sporting Goods cater to college students, so I can accept them staying. It's my opinion that the Old Navy should move into the old Gap space. Sitting off by itself cannot be good business for it or the other businesses in the center. That space could then be made into several smaller shops. Coffee shops, restaurants, small boutiques, a cell phone store (check,) shoe store (check,) a few more small bars/pubs, etc would do that area much more good than anything. The problem with this area is its design by nature that the store fronts face the massive parking lots before them. To this, I am stuck. If it were possible to shrink earth in this segment of the world to do away with the parking lots, it would be a much better area to navigate. However, the area that can be saved is that around the lake and shops tied to that. They already bring in live music during the summer which does draw a crowd, but they have nothing around the lake that keeps people there otherwise. I believe that UPlace should have events for college students around the lake to get them used to going there more often.

And that is my mini-rant turned rant.

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I agree that pedestrian improvements need to be made, but disagree on the implementation. Pestrian bridges are, largely, viewed as an obstacle and seldom used. For some reason, unknown to me, people prefer to run across lanes of traffic than ascend stairs or a ramp to a safe crossing.

Here is my partial list of suggestions for quickly improving pedestrian friendliness at UNC Charlotte

- Install a traffic light with crosswalks at John Kirk and Van Landingham road so cars, and pedestrians crossing from U Terrace, can easily enter/exit campus. (This will take CDOT's cooperation as John Kirk is managed by the city)

- Install a 4-way intersection with crosswalks at Van Landingham and the enterance to the parking lots/ramp 3.

- More clearly mark, and incrase the alloted time for, the crosswalk at the main entrance (Univ. City Blvd). To cross now one has to RUN.

- Signalize, with crosswalks, the CRI entrance.

- Partner with CATS to run the CRI shuttle all the way to the Shoppes at University Place.

These will provide a great 1st start to improving the campus community at UNC Charlotte. For those interested, University City Partners has a meeting coming up on a Tuesday night (I believe next tuesday) at the Hilton on W WT Harris. The future of the N Tryon area will be a portion of the meeting. I will post the exact time and room when I know more.

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I believe if Johnson C smith can have a pedestrian bridge over that narrow, slender, four lane section of beatties ford rd, then UNCC needs to get with the program and build a bridge already. That way, the people who don't want to die can use the bridge, and the others that could really care less can take their chances on university city.

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I agree that pedestrian improvements need to be made, but disagree on the implementation. Pestrian bridges are, largely, viewed as an obstacle and seldom used. For some reason, unknown to me, people prefer to run across lanes of traffic than ascend stairs or a ramp to a safe crossing.

Here is my partial list of suggestions for quickly improving pedestrian friendliness at UNC Charlotte

- Install a traffic light with crosswalks at John Kirk and Van Landingham road so cars, and pedestrians crossing from U Terrace, can easily enter/exit campus. (This will take CDOT's cooperation as John Kirk is managed by the city)

- Install a 4-way intersection with crosswalks at Van Landingham and the enterance to the parking lots/ramp 3.

- More clearly mark, and incrase the alloted time for, the crosswalk at the main entrance (Univ. City Blvd). To cross now one has to RUN.

- Signalize, with crosswalks, the CRI entrance.

- Partner with CATS to run the CRI shuttle all the way to the Shoppes at University Place.

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I definitely agree with the extension of the CRI shuttle to University Place, but only if they increase the number of shuttles running. Otherwise a round trip could easily take an hour during peak traffic hours.

When you say 4-way intersection at VanLan and the entrance to the garages, do you mean the first entrance or the second? The first already is a four way, although it is only a two way stop to increase traffic flow on VanLan. The second entrance (closer to Fretwell) can't be a four way because of Bonnie Cone's memorial plot lies just a couple hundred feet deep into the forest there, otherwise known as Van Landingham Glen.

They do need a light at VanLan and John Kirk, although I'm not sure how well that would work with incoming traffic turning left off of University City Blvd. Seems like it would block up traffic a little if the lights weren't timed just right. It would however fix the backup on VanLan around 11 and 12:30.

There is a plan to put a signal up for the CRI campus although it probably isn't what you have in mind. The intersection of JW Clay and N Tryon will eventually become a four way intersection once the next phase of CRI is finished. The road down the center of the CRI will actually have three branches to N Tryon of which only one currently exists, the "main" entrance. There will be another entrance built to the north and to the south. The northern entrance will be like the entrance that currently exists although I have a feeling it will serve more as a northbound exit. The southern entrance will be a "grand" entrance that will intersect at the light with JW Clay. This, of course, means that this intersection will receive a vast improvement.

CRIFinal.jpg

You can barely see the road that goes to JW Clay, but it is there in this rendering from CRI's website. I've seen an actual drawing of the future intersection which has crosswalks of brick with columns and landscaping on the sides of the campus and UPlace. For the life of me I can't remember where I saw it... I'll keep digging.

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Aussie_luke -

I am referring to the first intersection. I believe some form of fully-controlled intersection needs to be constructed there, such as a 4-way stop. During peek periods, it is near impossible to make a left onto van Lan from the parking lots to exit the campus, or a Left off of Van Lan into the parking lots coming down from the circle. Many times I have noticed two of the shuttles coming one after the other (no headway) as a result of having to wait for turns.

You are right, though, that any attempt at further control in these areas would have to be well timed, otherwise the backup would just be shifted onto Kirk and U City. Perhaps the University should have only one entrance on to John Kirk, somewhere between where Cameron and Van Landingham currently meet Kirk. Yeah, they'd loose the parking lot, but the light could be brought further back from U City Blvd.

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