Traffic Congestion and Highway Construction

[nyxmike]

Or we could figure out that street lights on the interstate aren't that important and move on to more pressing issues.

I think the lights are a very important issue. All the dead lights puts a bad appearance on our city. The poles are there, the lights don't work, and it just looks bad. I have traveled to a lot of other cities and have never seen a light problem like this. It is just way too dark.

About the tamper proof boxes, the article says they used them but the theives figured out how to break through them, so they didn't work.

Question: Do they have to use copper? Do other cities also use copper? I've just never heard of this problem before, and from seeing other places that have pretty much all there lights on, they haven't either.

Edited July 26, 2008 by nyxmike

[DCMetroRaleigh]

I think street lights are critical, basic to any urban area, particularly on major thoroughfares.

[Raintree21]

I thought NCDOT was going to use "tamper-proof" locks of some kind? I swear thats what I heard on the news the last time this happened.

The only thing locks keep out are honest people. Thieves will get into ANYTHING. Nothing is tamper-proof.

[monsoon]

It really sounds like some kind of excuse to me. There are cameras up and down that road and patrols on it all the time. While we are on the subject of lights, I have also noticed that of the lights that do work on I-77 there are many of them burning in the middle of the day wasting energy. I points out to me an agency that has grown so large and unaccountable for its actions that it is now too incompetent to do something as simple as make a street light work and work properly.

[JerseyBoy]

There are cameras up and down that road

I was going to post the same thing; however, I looked at the DOT's traffic page, and they are primarily based at the interchanges. I would assume people in this kind of business are smart enough to know there are cameras at each interchange and do "their job" in between them. How are they getting the copper in the first place? Isn't it located beneath the concrete median? One would think that after the first incident local police or highway patrol would scan the road nightly.

[Spartan]

The lights are located along the edge of the highway, so they are probably jumping the fences.

[JayGee]

While we are on the subject of lights, I have also noticed that of the lights that do work on I-77 there are many of them burning in the middle of the day wasting energy. I points out to me an agency that has grown so large and unaccountable for its actions that it is now too incompetent to do something as simple as make a street light work and work properly.

My thoughts exactly. These are LIGHTS. They need to turn ON at night and OFF during the day. Wow. What a concept.

I've been out of town for a few days, but last week all of the lights at the 485/S. Tryon interchange were burning bright as can be in the middle of the day. These are the ones on the tall poles that were only put in a couple of years ago, max.

[nyxmike]

Just some new info on the I-85 widening in Cabarrus/Rowan. I-85 from Concord Mills to 73 will start construction in August of 2011. It will be widened to 8 lanes using the existing median and Exit 52 (Poplar Tent Road) will be rebuilt. The next section, north of 73 to the recently widened section in Salisbury, is in the planning stages and will start construction in the summer of 2014.

[PlazaMidwoodGuy]

I always did and still do find it beyond belief that Charlotte is the copper theft capital of the world. I've never been to or heard of any other city that had such an issue with keeping streetlights functioning along its highways from the theft of copper wiring - or any OTHER reason for that matter! Is it too much to expect that NCDOT could check into how other states manage to handle this problem and then, just perhaps, do the same thing here?

[Charlotte_native]

I always did and still do find it beyond belief that Charlotte is the copper theft capital of the world. I've never been to or heard of any other city that had such an issue with keeping streetlights functioning along its highways from the theft of copper wiring - or any OTHER reason for that matter! Is it too much to expect that NCDOT could check into how other states manage to handle this problem and then, just perhaps, do the same thing here?

Is it too much to post a cop at the recycling places (there can't be that many) and watch who brings in rolls of copper that are the same gauge that disappears all the time?

[Raintree21]

Surprise, Surprise. The opening for the next section of 485 is delayed another month due to rainy weather....

[JayGee]

Surprise, Surprise. The opening for the next section of 485 is delayed another month due to rainy weather....

And their excuse during the drought was. . . . . .

[Spartan]

And yet you will hear little, if any, public outrage over the continual delays, cost increases, etc. People here are too jaded about NCDOT's inefficiency- even though a rain delay is a legitimate excuse.

[Andyc545]

And yet you will hear little, if any, public outrage over the continual delays, cost increases, etc. People here are too jaded about NCDOT's inefficiency- even though a rain delay is a legitimate excuse.

I'm sure this has been answered and discussed before, but is there a reason why this project isn't on contract and that the contractors aren't fined for every day going past the contract end date? Often, if a project is finished early, then they get awarded some money in return. It's amazing, but when $ is flashed in front of peoples eyes, things begin to abruptly move. Why it seems to have not worked on 485 at all, I don't know...

[nyxmike]

Some more news about the lights, or lack of them...

Thieves have stolen more copper wiring and now none of the lights work along I-77 between 277 and I-85. This is the fourth copper theft in a little over a weeks time. They also stole large amounts of copper wiring from the message board that has been sitting along I-77 in that same section. They have apparently figured out how to get around the "tamper-proof" coverings the DOT supposedly installed. The DOT says they will abandon that section for now and move on south down I-77. The lights on 85 apparently won't get fixed and there is a big chance the section of 77 that they abandoned won't be fixed again either. So we were supposed to have all the lights on 77 and 85 fixed by the end of September and now it looks like all we will get is a portion of 77 from 277 to 485 (unless they steal from those too).

http://www.wbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=877...;nav=menu1434_3

With that said, most of the other lights on 77 are in the concrete median. Do you think they will try and steal the wiring from those too? That has to be a lot harder than the lights along the side of the road. These people are obviously stupid and nuts, so it wouldn't suprise me if we see even more of this. What really irks me is why did they keep wasting money fixing that section if thieves have stolen the wiring 7 times from that section since this past March! Very, very frustrating.

Edited August 3, 2008 by nyxmike

[monsoon]

I'm sure this has been answered and discussed before, but is there a reason why this project isn't on contract and that the contractors aren't fined for every day going past the contract end date? Often, if a project is finished early, then they get awarded some money in return. It's amazing, but when $ is flashed in front of peoples eyes, things begin to abruptly move. Why it seems to have not worked on 485 at all, I don't know...

Because the contractors have contended the delays were caused by the NCDOT not them. They have said the NCDOT was very slow securing the land and they can't do work until the state actually owns it, they missed some utility work in the design, and then they submitted a bunch of changes that delayed the project.

[Spartan]

It seems CDOT is looking for opinions about I-277.

[voyager12]

The NYT had an interesting article concerning cities across the country planning streetcar lines. Relevant snippets :

"Cincinnati officials are assembling financing for a $132 million system that would connect the city

[Sabaidee]

It seems that our local division of the NC DOT has some extra money in the sum of $180 millions! That money was suppose to fund the Monroe Bypass if the NC General Assembly didn't fund it, but the state agreed to fund that project $24 millions annually so that freed up the $180 millions on Charlotte area projects.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/100/story/131634.html

I think whole length of I-85 in Concord should be widen with that money, I-485 can wait in University City. Finishing I-485 before I-85 is widen it would be bad IMO as it dumps extra traffic onto I-85.

[dubone]

This is great news and raises some interesting questions. I really want to know, though, why they would even be talking about doing the 485 section. That is funded with loop money, which can only be spent on loops. If we spend general money on the loop, then we lose that loop money forever, as we won't have any other eligible project to spend it on. The NE section of 485 is already funded, albeit a bit later than people want it be. We should absolutely spend the money on an unfunded project that is important to region. To me, there isn't a burning need to build the NE section of 485 before its currently planned date because Harris is a quasi-freeway and carries the traffic in the corridor fairly well.

In my view, they absolutely need to spend that money widening 85 in Cabarrus and Rowan. They already found the money to widen 85 from 485 to NC73. But that leaves 13.5 miles of 85 as a very obvious bottleneck, and the only stretch of 85 that would be unwidened between Gastonia and Durham. (The section around the Yadkin bridge will be fixed within the next few years because the bridge is about to expire its lifespan.) So by funding the last unfunded section of 85 widening, we can have a fully widened 85 connecting the three major metros in the heart of this state. That is a worthwhile endeavor. It is clearly a bottleneck that affects a significant percentage of people in the Charlotte region and people driving through the city. It has long been a symbolic absurdity that the freeway gets narrower as you get closer to the largest city in the state.

If they can leverage this money to find a bit more budget to do both 85 around Kannapolis AND the widening of the southern section of 485, which has been a hot button in this city, then this money will be used for arguably the most important projects in the region.

This article begs two questions, though. Why in the world has the legislature not funded 85's widening, as that is important to the entire state (certainly much more than the 74 bypass in Union County). It also highlights our odd situation of having a guy in Albemarl dictating our region's road building funds. "Moose was prepared to build it himself".

[AuLukey]

My question is why engineering studies haven't been done for I-85 when the city and the state both know this is a project that will happen one way or another eventually. It is necessary for state commerce and transportation. It seems like every time I drive north towards Concord, Greensboro, or Raleigh, the only major traffic I encounter along the way is a standstill from exit 49 to exit 55 or 58. And there is never a reason for it outside of volume. If it were rush hour that I was talking about, it might make sense, but I'm talkin noon, 3pm, 7pm, almost every daylight hour past noon seems to get backed up in the last few years.

Southern 485 can be argued as well, but while it does have major congestion during rush hour(s,) that seems to be the only time traffic gets horrible unless there is an accident.

Northern 485 is really a non-issue since it doesn't exist yet. Sure it would save me about ten minutes on my drive up to Lake Norman, but that seems like a necessary sacrifice if it means saving an hour on a north-85 commute or southern-485 drive home.

I'd rather see the entire 85 project completed in a more timely manner and the excess funds used to begin widening of S-485. If the city helps foot the bill, would the state be more willing to hasten the funding of their part of the widening project? Or am I assuming too much of the eastern half of the state?

Edited August 17, 2008 by aussie luke

[monsoon]

There are two other contenders for this money. Widening I-77 North of Charlotte and widening I-485 around Ballentyne. Expect some fights over this.

[nyxmike]

There are two other contenders for this money. Widening I-77 North of Charlotte and widening I-485 around Ballentyne. Expect some fights over this.

If the developer of The Village at Lake Norman gets things sorted out, won't they be widening I-77 (to exit 28)? Things seem to be moving along with that project. I get newsletters in my email.

[monsoon]

I don't think they are willing to 8 lane it all the way back to I-485.

[nyxmike]

I don't think they are willing to 8 lane it all the way back to I-485.

It will be 3 lanes on each side like the rest of 77. The only 8 lane portion is in SC (I'm not counting the HOV lane that only lasts for a couple of miles in North Charlotte).