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Eastern NC / Coastal Plain Region


Mr. N

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I think that the Eastern part of the State is lagging behind the rest, but is slowly starting to gain back some momentum in some areas. I really like the Coastal Plain...there are a lot of hidden gems around here. And there are some really good historic districts.

I'd say in general, however, that people probably think of the Eastern part of the State as being behind the times.

There is an existing thread about Eastern NC if you want to check that out...

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I wonder what people in other regions of North carolina or other places think of this region, good, bad, or something? I wonder why because I notice interesting things people said about my home region of this state.

Please comment?

Well most people have a negative view of the region. I do understand since this is a discussion forum about urban developments and there arern't many urban cities in the east. I for one do not underestimate downeast as it is home to most of my mothers family. The NC coast is very underated and needs more publicity. The only hope for the interior counties, cities and towns is to recover from the losses of the traditional manufacturing base. However we need eastern NC to remain the ag-based economy. That is what makes NC a economical powerhouse. Diverstiy is the key to sustaining progress. I will be satisfied if the Wilmington, Rocky Mount-Wilson metros densify and grow. Fayetteville it seems is stuck in a rut and federal jobs will always rule.

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Well most people have a negative view of the region. I do understand since this is a discussion forum about urban developments and there arern't many urban cities in the east. I for one do not underestimate downeast as it is home to most of my mothers family. The NC coast is very underated and needs more publicity. The only hope for the interior counties, cities and towns is to recover from the losses of the traditional manufacturing base. However we need eastern NC to remain the ag-based economy. That is what makes NC a economical powerhouse. Diverstiy is the key to sustaining progress. I will be satisfied if the Wilmington, Rocky Mount-Wilson metros densify and grow. Fayetteville it seems is stuck in a rut and federal jobs will always rule.

I would argue that Greenville could do a fair bit of growing as well. It's more centrally located in the region than Rocky Mount is, with a major university.

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Yeah how could I forget. I did consider going to ECU.

I went to ECU for a summer (organic chem--UGH), and I have to say that while it's not my ideal city, it is one with potential. I haven't been there in years, so I'd love to see how it's grown. And after living in Columbia, I'm especially interested in how much ECU is encroaching upon the surrounding areas. In Columbia, it seems as though USC is taking over the southern part of downtown; I wonder if ECU is branching out that way as well.

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I think a lot of people in the western part of the state think Eastern NC is backward politically. I don't really think so, but it seems like a lot of the Pork barrel projects (especially highways) are in the eastern part of the state. I also think that instead of "the state of mecklenburg" it is the eastern part of the state against Mecklenburg. I don't think there has been a NC gov. from the Charlotte area since Morrison and even further back Vance largely b/c the eastern part resents the "big city" of charlotte. Just my thoughts on Eastern NC politics.

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I think a lot of people in the western part of the state think Eastern NC is backward politically. I don't really think so, but it seems like a lot of the Pork barrel projects (especially highways) are in the eastern part of the state.

Eastern Carolina represents a large chunk of real estate in the state. I dont have a problem with our politicians coming from eastern carolina because even though a lot of highways are being built out there, many cities are getting beltways and boulevard extensions being built so from a highway point of view, the cities are not being totally neglected by rural politicians that run the state.

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I don't think you build new four land highways based on where the land is. You build roads where the people are. Fayetteville doesnt need an outerbelt and every town in eastern NC doesn't need an interstate road to every other part of the state. How many roads do we need between Wilson and Kinston. Our state has too many roads as it is where maintnance costs are extremely high. The amount of highway projects should reflect the amount of people in an area. Charlotte and Raleigh two places with a combined pop. greater than all eastern NC with a much more pressing need. I think its our state's legislature problem. The leg. is so skrewed up.

:angry: (I'm obviously not mad w/ yall but I just am fed up with all those guys up there in Raleigh.) :w00t:

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Fayetteville doesnt need an outerbelt

Fayetteville NEEDS an beltline. Nothing big like the Raleigh beltline though.

-The military operations at Ft Bragg and Pope are expanding. Many military bases are closing across the country but Ft Bragg are collecting all of the eggs from other baskets

-The sprawl is out of control. Everyone just cant be using US 401/Raeford Road & Skibo Road for north/south access and then Bragg Blvd for east-west access to get to the other side of town

-Theres no direct limited access connection to Ft Bragg from I-95. If anything, All American Freeway to Owen Drive(<--a boulevard) just serves traffic from the south.

-It can also serve as a bypass for NC 87 traffic for people coming from Greensboro or Sanford going to the beach

-Theres talks of closing down portions of Bragg Blvd (NC 24/27) so traffic must use Murchinson Road to the north

You build roads where the people are.

Thats a good thing the state of NC recognizes rural areas and not just the cities. Take at some eastern Carolina populations:

Important cities and towns (According to Wikipedia)

Asheville

Burlington

Cary

Chapel Hill

Charlotte (largest city)

Concord

Durham

Fayetteville City Pop: 121,015

Gastonia

Greensboro

Greenville Metro Pop: 148,000

Hickory

High Point

Jacksonville City Pop: 66,715

Raleigh (state capital)

Rocky Mount City Pop: 55,893

Wilmington City pop 75,838

Winston-Salem

Other Eastern Carolina towns not listed: (Source: Wikipedia for population figures)

Wilson: city pop 44,405

Kinston: city pop 23,688

New Bern: city pop 23,128

Some can argue that Raleigh is or is not eastern Carolina but 64 and 264 take you there. Fayetteville is sorta eastern Carolina but immediately east of I-95 is but again, NC 24, NC 87 and US 13 are the gateways to the east. Many of these bolded locations are geographically in the eastern part of the state.

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^^

I think it's more than just building roads through the countryside for no reason. NC 11, for example, can be dangerous on the way to VA. It's a small two lane highway with a lot of traffic. Four laning it would make it safer and easier to use, plus would facilitate economic growth.

I agree, building roads for no reason is senseless, but there are areas in Eastern NC that should see road improvements (not necessarily new roads).

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^^

I think it's more than just building roads through the countryside for no reason. NC 11, for example, can be dangerous on the way to VA. It's a small two lane highway with a lot of traffic. Four laning it would make it safer and easier to use, plus would facilitate economic growth.

I agree, building roads for no reason is senseless, but there are areas in Eastern NC that should see road improvements (not necessarily new roads).

I agree. NC 11 and US 13 are two highways that spring to mind when I think of improvement. And let's remember that, just because there aren't a lot of people living in an area (as compared to the larger cities) doesn't diminish their economic importance--or the traffic. There's a lot of freight that travels the highways of eastern NC, not to mention travelers and tourists. There needs to be connectivity--ESPECIALLY running north-south through eastern NC.

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  • 1 month later...

How long is this argument going to go on. As I stated before people pay taxes in the east just like everybody else. To totally ignore the populace is not only stupid it is political death. I know I certainly would want to see some fruits of my tax dollars. Yeah maybe some projects can wait but the goal of a state government is to empower and nudge the whole state along no matter if is in the middle of nowhere or somewhere that thinks its the middle of everything.

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A lot of wasteful transportation spending goes on in Eastern NC in the vain hope that businesses will locate in the middle of nowhere.

So lets neglect all highway funding to the rural areas east of I-95, great idea! While we do that, we'll have them stop paying taxes too.

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How long is this argument going to go on. As I stated before people pay taxes in the east just like everybody else. To totally ignore the populace is not only stupid it is political death. I know I certainly would want to see some fruits of my tax dollars. Yeah maybe some projects can wait but the goal of a state government is to empower and nudge the whole state along no matter if is in the middle of nowhere or somewhere that thinks its the middle of everything.

It's not an argument. It's the truth. The following link is to a 35 mB powerpoint on the Campo website.

http://www.campo-nc.us/Transportation_Need...03-29-final.ppt

Look at the per capita transportation spending downeast versus the Triangle. (slide 48)

And yes, they pay taxes, but they pay much less than the metro areas do because of the lower levels of economic activity.

So:

1. Eastern NC contributes less to the body of state taxes than the Metro areas.

2. Eastern NC then gets a higher avg per capita investment in transportation, in areas that largely have no traffic problems.

We're currently building a 4-lane freeway (2 in each direction) between Wilson and Goldsboro that when opened, will carry 12,000 cars per day. Main Street in CARRBORO carries 12,000 cars per day, and a heck of a lot more people if you count the cyclists, pedstrians and bus passengers.

I'm not saying we need to stop investing in safety and road improvements in Eastern NC. However, when US 52 (also a 4-lane freeway) in Winston is falling apart and we're building a gold-plated new freeway (through an environmentally sensitive area I might add) between Wilson and Goldsboro to serve traffic counts that a 20 mph speed limit 2-lane road can handle, our priorities are out of whack.

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We're currently building a 4-lane freeway (2 in each direction) between Wilson and Goldsboro that when opened, will carry 12,000 cars per day. Main Street in CARRBORO carries 12,000 cars per day, and a heck of a lot more people if you count the cyclists, pedstrians and bus passengers.

I'm not saying we need to stop investing in safety and road improvements in Eastern NC. However, when US 52 (also a 4-lane freeway) in Winston is falling apart and we're building a gold-plated new freeway (through an environmentally sensitive area I might add) between Wilson and Goldsboro to serve traffic counts that a 20 mph speed limit 2-lane road can handle, our priorities are out of whack.

You have never driven US 117 between Wilson and Goldsboro. It is a busy 2 lane road, passing through many towns along the way. As the years go by, it will not be able to handle future traffic volumes (half are at least thru-travelers/the rest are local) . The chief reason behind the 117 freeway is to improve connectivity to Wilmington and the SENC coastline from I-95 to avoid the backtracking towards Benson to hop onto I-40 east.

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It is the taxes from the large metro area funding most of these roads.

If the large metro areas that are short change. If it goes on too long, it could hurt the whole state. It will take more money than the state has and nothing will be done to fix the metro areas. In the metro areas, the cost of not fixing the problems now will cost many times more when they get around to them.

When I go to Raleigh, you can see the need for better roads.

In Charlotte, it is going to take over 40 years to rebuild 8 miles of Independence Blvd. They do 1 mile every 5 years.

Wilmington some times looks like big parking lot. Hope the new bypass well be open soon.

The Triad, Asheville and Fayetteville I do not know as much about their traffic problems, but I am sure they can tell us what they are.

Metro areas:

Triangle

Triad

Charlotte

Smaller cities hurt

Wilmington

Asheville

Fayetteville

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I wonder what people in other regions of North carolina or other places think of this region, good, bad, or something? I wonder why because I notice interesting things people said about my home region of this state.

Please comment?

I once lived in Charlotte for years. I always loved the coast. My opinion was that nothing really happens there, it is exceptionally secluded. I-95 didn't help, it was too far inland. To get to the beach was a day trip, not because the milage, but for the roads. All two lane at the time. I have been gone 15 years, and I am returning this June to live. I looked at Asheville - pretty area, but didn't seem livable, Mt Airy- cute but nohting gonig on, Charlotte - OMG, just like LA, sprawling and congested. Roads are poorly thought out there( City roads), Raleigh-Durham... not muhc to look at. sorry, Wilmington - what a town. Quiet, but busy, streets nice, downtown was wonderful, old yet upkept well. Easy to get around. Price, very nice.

We bought a house there. It is reasonable price like everywhere in the state. People were very friendly as I had remembered.

Looking forward to being on the east coast. Currently live on the west-coast California.

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Wilmington has a nice dense downtown area but the rest of it is just typical sprawl...in my opinion the two ugliest roads in town are Market (the non historical portion of course) and Oleander, once you get east of the mall. College Road is kind of bad too but it seems as though more of the developments along College appear to be newer so it doesn't appear as bad from a visual standpoint imo. I could barely handle the traffic when I lived there though....especially on summer holidays or weekends during the summer when the roads were clogged with tourists who didn't really know where they were going. Not to mention the summer months, especially on say Friday afternoons during rush hour when all the tourists are piling into the city combined with rush hour traffic. Talk about alot of auto accidents and road rage!

When I lived in Wilmington I kind of missed the highways of the Triangle because no matter where you went in the city you had to drive on congested city streets with tons of oddly timed stoplights although there are shortcuts but only so many viable ones. Smith Creek Parkway helped a tiny bit although it was rather out of the way for me to use. I think thats the way I-140 will be, it will be good for the thru traffic but it's kind of far out of the city for any of the locals unless they live in the semi distant cul de sacs...

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Driving through eastern NC is a real treat compared to the traffic and road rage in the Triad where I live. I like seeing the farmland and small towns instead of the sea of big-box parking lots and miles of McMansions. I also love the Wilmington area and Pleasure Island. Sometimes I feel more at home there than in the Triad. Maybe it's time to move. :)

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Wilmington has a nice dense downtown area but the rest of it is just typical sprawl...in my opinion the two ugliest roads in town are Market (the non historical portion of course) and Oleander, once you get east of the mall. College Road is kind of bad too but it seems as though more of the developments along College appear to be newer so it doesn't appear as bad from a visual standpoint imo. I could barely handle the traffic when I lived there though....especially on summer holidays or weekends during the summer when the roads were clogged with tourists who didn't really know where they were going. Talk about alot of auto accidents and road rage!

College Rd looks almost identical to East\Westchester Dr in High Point.

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