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Traffic Congestion and Highway Construction


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I noticed my tolls on my NCQuickPass sticker are getting posted a lot faster.  You used to be 1-3 days now being posted the same day.  My little 60 cent joy ride today was already on my account tonight.  

I think they need to put larger signs that the all transponders will work and especially the GA Peach Pass and the Florida Sunpass at the beginning of the highways or lanes. 

More and more Atlantans have Peach Passes and you can barely go anywhere in Florida without hitting a toll road and a lot of those people not to mention people from VA and points north all have or mostly have transponders. 

Edited by KJHburg
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1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

More and more Atlantans have Peach Passes and you can barely go anywhere in Florida without hitting a toll road and a lot of those people not to mention people from VA and points north all have or mostly have transponders. 

I believe the NCQuickPass transponder is the only one that can do all the east coast (EZPass, SunPass and Peach Pass) but SC.

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8 hours ago, DCMetroRaleigh said:

That’s good. I need a pass compatible with the DMV (DC, MD, VA). 

Now I have the NC QuickPass sticker which is only good in NC GA and FL but an EZ Pass transponder would be available for use anywhere on the east coast except for SC which is crazy. 

https://www.ncquickpass.com/resources/Pages/nc-quickpass-transponders.aspx

 

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18 hours ago, Scribe said:

First, these are simply inaccurate statements.

Looking from economic impact point of view, roads allow for the most diverse set of uses.

  • Emergency services (would you like your EMT's relying on public transport)
  • All goods based businesses.
  • All time critical businesses.
  • On location service based industries.
  • Roads are the single method of transport that allows the gov't to spend only on half of the infrastructure (just the road - not the vehicle) everything else requires both.
    • they offload the capex, opex and insurance for all private cars on the user.

Can you provide the same services with just light rail and bus service?

In a growing metro like Charlotte, you need a good balance of different modes of transport.  There are some on this forum (not limited to @kermit ) that are anti-road to the point that they are blinded to all other economic factors that are in play.

I think you misinterpreted my statement, and I do not think any of your points demonstrate an inaccuracy in my statements.  I completely agree with the points you are making.  Roads are cheaper, period (particularly if we use cleaner fuels).  However, the cost of using a road is more than simply the cost of building a road.  For example, we subsidizing parking costs by requiring too many parking spaces to be built.  The cost to build those parking spaces increases the cost of rent, which results effectively in a tax on people.  If we did not subsidize parking, then parking would be more expensive.  This would likely result in an increased demand from suburban residents for mass transit.  This would keep those cars off the road, which in turn would allow the essential services and other road dependent services to use the existing infrastructure without expansion.  We simply need to be aware of the total cost of using both types of transit when comparing which to build.  See below for a plethora of studies that explain the costs and impacts of parking on a city.  These are direct costs of road use. 

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2014/07/how-parking-spaces-are-eating-our-cities-alive/374413/

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2018/11/20/the-many-costs-of-too-much-parking

https://journalistsresource.org/studies/environment/transportation/parking-environmental-impacts-development-policies-research-roundup/

https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/parking-spacescommunity-places

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Just now, kickazzz2000 said:

What crackhead designed the 485 to 85 south ramp on the west side?  All lanes merge into one and then a high speed, short merge onto 85.  

I heard or read something the state DOT is studying a new answer to that.  It is bottle neck that could have been avoided so easily when it was being built. 

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Multimodalism is a good thing.   I'm just frustrated though that NCDOT Plans for widening I-77 from Uptown to the SC Border have been pushed back until a start date of roughly 2029.  

That's obscene to not do or start anything (toll lanes or free lanes) until then.  I understand Governor McCrory administration changed the way NCDOT prioritization works (for the better) but this is ridiculous.  Lack of funding is partly the issue too.  

Edited by Hushpuppy321
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9 hours ago, Hushpuppy321 said:

Multimodalism is a good thing.   I'm just frustrated though that NCDOT Plans for widening I-77 from Uptown to the SC Border has been pushed back until a start date of roughly 2029.  

That's obscene to not do or start anything (toll lanes or free lanes) until then.  I understand Governor McCrory administration changed the way NCDOT prioritization works (for the better) but this is ridiculous.  Lack of funding is partly the issue too.  

NCDOT does not care about I-77 (Kanye voice). 

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Sorry if I missed this, but why all the signs at every exit on 485 (from at least South Blvd to Monroe Rd) that have a 485 Shield with "ALT" above it and "DETOUR" below it?  I mean, I know the toll lane construction is going on.  But what is meant by ALT 485 DETOUR?  There aren't going to be closings, are there?  And either way, where exactly are the detouring 485 traffic?

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They just released the new tiers for counties in NC. The reason the NCGA is focusing so heavily on building interstates or limited access/upgraded highways out east is to try to help boost the economies of these poorer performing areas. Charlotte really doesn't get a fair amount of attention from the state when it comes to highway funding but this map pretty much directly explains why the money goes where it does.

2020-Tiers-Map_v2_736pxX283px.png.8ea8b77d311040e1a0b59509d2b7529c.png

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On 1/21/2020 at 9:04 PM, Nick2 said:

They just released the new tiers for counties in NC. The reason the NCGA is focusing so heavily on building interstates or limited access/upgraded highways out east is to try to help boost the economies of these poorer performing areas. Charlotte really doesn't get a fair amount of attention from the state when it comes to highway funding but this map pretty much directly explains why the money goes where it does.

2020-Tiers-Map_v2_736pxX283px.png.8ea8b77d311040e1a0b59509d2b7529c.png

 

On 1/22/2020 at 5:08 AM, southslider said:

And looking at this map, we can see 421 hasn't saved Wilkes, 321 hasn't saved Caldwell, and 74 hasn't saved Cleveland. So if multi-lane, expressways haven't saved the economies of these Tier-1 pocket counties in Western NC, then how will such highway projects even begin to reverse the economic fortunes of the larger swaths of Tier-1 counties in Eastern NC?!

If NCDOT was serious about reinvestment in rural areas, it would fund more small-town streetscapes than hinterland expressways. But until then, at least the big-city folks can bypass the eastern low lands and western foothills faster to their respective beach and mountain homes.

 

On 1/22/2020 at 9:10 AM, KJHburg said:

I am not sure how much this map is used in DOT planning for highways.  This is the economic tiers which gives great incentives to the lower tier counties and less incentives  to the higher ranked counties like Wake and Meck.  When a company gets incentives in a rich county like Meck or Wake some of the funds are transferred back to infrastructure improvements in the lower tier counties like water and sewer projects, sometimes roads, industrial park development etc. 

 

Eastern North Carolina has historically had better representation in Raleigh than other areas of the state due to population and economics. That is of course changing. The 2020 Census will likely paint a grimmer picture for Eastern North Carolina and representation.

Most people also don’t realize how large and spread out Eastern North Carolina is. The counties intersecting or east of I-95 (excluding Harnett) make up 43 percent of the state’s total land area. That’s a lot of area to serve with highways.

But speaking of incentives, highways are also incentives. North Carolina (and other states) hand out hundreds of millions of dollars worth of tax incentives to private companies to get them to locate here. And it’s a competition now. If you don’t offer incentives, the company goes elsewhere. It’s the same with highways. If there isn’t a highway (often times an Interstate highway), the company looks elsewhere, whether that’s in another state or within the same state. At least highways are an incentive that serves the entire population versus tax breaks for massive corporations.

Let's take U.S. 74 and Cleveland County for example. There is lots of new industrial development on the western end of the Shelby bypass that hasn’t even opened yet. The Walmart distribution center was built there in the mid-2000’s because of the promise of a bypass. Will these “save” the county’s economy? No. Would they have built there without the highway? Probably not. At least they're jobs.

Then again, it’s amazing that any company takes North Carolina or the NCDOT seriously when it takes nearly 50 years to go from concept to completion of an 18-mile highway bypass.

1979: U.S. 74 bypass concept added to 1979 Thoroughfare Plan for Shelby
1991: Feasibility Study recommends southern bypass
1994: Shelby Thoroughfare Plan recommends northern bypass
1998: Draft Environmental Impact Statement
2008: Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision approved
2013: Construction begins on interchanges and realignment of existing U.S. 74
2014: Construction begins on bypass
2019: Two eastern sections delayed three years; preliminary engineering is suspended
2020: First sections scheduled to open
2022: Middle section scheduled to open
2024: Last sections begin construction
2027: Estimated completion

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On 1/20/2020 at 4:59 PM, cowboy_wilhelm said:

Has anyone else noticed that the reflectors are being dislodged along the newly widened stretch of 85 through Kannapolis? They're all over the road. I was expecting one to come flying into my windshield yesterday.

Yep.  Also noticed that the striping around the recently-replaced bridge over a creek on NC 49 just east of Mount Pleasant, looks like a drunk was in charge of the lane-marking operations that day.

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Quote
UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/ubc-study-links-living-near-highways-to-risk-of-neurological-disorders

Quote

Researchers at the University of B.C. have found a link between living near highways and an increased risk of several major neurological disorders, including dementia and Parkinson’s disease.

The study, published this week in Environmental Health, found proximity to major roads may also increase the risk for multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s diseases, likely because of exposure to more air pollution such as nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter.

Lead author Weiran Yuchi, and a team of researchers at the UBC school of population and public health, analyzed data for 678,000 adults between the ages of 45 and 84 in Metro Vancouver. The subjects were interviewed from 1994 to 1998, and again during a follow-up period from 1999 to 2003.

 

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