Landscaped Medians

[voyager12]

Nicely landscaped medians add a great deal of beauty to busy city boulevards and encourage traffic calming. The Plaza's median is definitely a great addition although I know that its purely a result of the former streetcar. East Blvd would be a lot nicer with a median. QRW is beautiful. It would be nice to have more in the city.

[dubone]

I agree with you whole heartedly. You are going to get your wish with East Boulevard, I believe this fall they will be adding a landscaped median and roundabouts. Also, there are sections of South Blvd that I think will be getting one.

Personally, I think busy thoroughfares should get medians so that drivers must do u-turns at intersections instead of left turns across the double yellow lines. Stopped left-turning traffic on thoroughfares that are otherwise moving at a consistent speed create a high risk of rearenders. South Blvd is terrible for this.

[discoverdilworth]

I totally agree as well. One of the first things that caught my attention from my visits to Charlotte before we moved was QRW. It distinguishes itself not because of the mansions as much as the incredible tree canopy accentuated by a beautiful median. In my opinion, medians should be added to all the main streets of the older neighborhoods, not only would they enhance the neighborhood feel but, along with the tree canopy, they would give Charlotte neighborhoods a distinct flavor.

[DigitalSky]

Landscaped medians add so much to the roads, along with adding value, they're great.

[atlrvr]

They've started the curb work on East Blvd.....lowering the curbs to put the ADA crosswalks in......next will be restriping then adding the center islands......there will only be 6 I believe so it will not be a true median, but certainly better than what is there now.....unfortunately the city can only afford the Kings to Scott stretch.....the DRW to Euclid portion including the round-a-bouts is probably several years away.

That said, I do like the center medians too, though I would also like some that are a bit wider and more "plaza like" as they have in many Eurpean and especially South American cities.....concrete benches/chairs and water features.....the problem obviously is that there aren't many roads that can be widened enough to accomodate this, and those that could be aren't in an interesting enough area to make the investment.

[dubone]

Oh yeah, I forgot that it is only the section east of Scott. The tax raise will allow for the bond votes that will pay for the rest in a couple years.

[swampfox43]

I am a huge fan of nicely landscaped medians. Sadly, there have been problems within the Landscape Management Division of the Engineering and Property Management Department in Charlotte. The city supposedly has a

maintenance schedule utilizing private contractors to maintain all medians

on a two-week basis according to Operations Supervisor, Quinn Hall. But medians (not all) tend to go unmaintained for many, many months leaving drivers staring at more & more high weeds and trash.

When they replanted the Park Rd. median after the pipeline work, it was beautiful. When the work was completed, that median went for over a year before it was weeded and properly maintained. There were weeds 4 feet high!! In fact, a petition was even started last year (or 2004) by neighbors in south Charlotte with concerns over the Park Rd, Hwy 51, Johnston Rd medians that rarely get the intended TLC. Some of them still look pretty crappy too.

My point is this. I love nicely landscaped medians but we have to remember that these lavish landscapes have to be maintained regularly to continue looking good. The QRW medians gets regular attention because, well, it's in the heart of old money Charlotte and Myers Parkr's wouldn't have it any other way.

Whenever I go and visit my friends in Marietta, GA I often admire the long beautifully maintained medians of Sandy Plains Rd. The ends of the medians (for many miles) are capped with a beautiful red stamped brickwork which looks very nice. They are always clean and well maintained.