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Traffic Congestion and Highway Construction


monsoon

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I am not against toll lanes, but I am again Cintra building and managing tolls on 77 South of Uptown.  One free lane in each direction should be added, or space saved for possibly heavy commuter rail along the interstate.

Edited by norm21499
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Could not NC DOT issue a bond for the cost of these toll lanes and operate themselves and use the tolls to pay off the debt?  if the private sector can do it why can't the state on this project and other projects like the Mid Currituck toll bridge on the Outer Banks?  

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∆ I wondered this as well. 

After all - the nj turnpike authority seems to do a fine job running the garden state and turnpike. 

However, I'm sure this idea is far too complex for our Republican legislators. They're still stuck on whether solar isn't going to use up the sun. 

NJTA financials: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.njta.com/media/6347/njta-2022-budget-in-brief.pdf

So running toll lanes, along with revenue's from making MJ legal (another impossibility in Republican legislature), would be a real boon and hopefully could be spent entirely on schools. 

 

Edited by elrodvt
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I know Cintra has left a lot of ruffled feathers in this region with the I-77 Express Lanes Project but if they can move forward with this in such an expedited manner (Start Mid-Late 2024, Completion Late 2029), I’m all for it.  Those I-77 Lanes in North Meck seems to be operating nicely.  May just need NCDOT to comb through the legal documents better to make sure the people don’t get screwed over the next 50 years.

Dang, forgot to ask this question and seek comments - Why Charlotte?  Why is Cintra so Bullish on the Charlotte Region and do you all think they’ll propose something like this anywhere else in the State?  Seems like they’re focused on Texas and NC.

Edited by Hushpuppy321
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3 hours ago, Hushpuppy321 said:

I know Cintra has left a lot of ruffled feathers in this region with the I-77 Express Lanes Project but if they can move forward with this in such an expedited manner (Start Mid-Late 2024, Completion Late 2029), I’m all for it.  Those I-77 Lanes in North Meck seems to be operating nicely.  May just need NCDOT to comb through the legal documents better to make sure the people don’t get screwed over the next 50 years.

Dang, forgot to ask this question and seek comments - Why Charlotte?  Why is Cintra so Bullish on the Charlotte Region and do you all think they’ll propose something like this anywhere else in the State?  Seems like they’re focused on Texas and NC.

I could see them making a move in the Triad and the Triangle. I-40 could likely be a prime candidate, as it would be expensive to widen with just general purpose lanes. 

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On 8/13/2022 at 12:31 PM, Reverie39 said:

There are a couple sections of 40 near the Triangle that are shockingly narrow for such a busy highway.

I concur 200% with this comment. I've been driving from exit 52 on I- 85, which of course merges with I-40 in Guilford County, to the Duke University exit off I-85 in Durham County. 

  The lanes do seem more narrow then anywhere else on my journey. 85 in the Southern Piedmont from IKEA BLVD ExiT clear to the 40 merger is phenomenal for locals and especially for those traveling from the big cities up North.

I'm STILL perplexed as to why the Triangle refuses to expand its Transit system beyond buses. That area will grind to a halt once all the new jobs announced over the past year or so come to fruition.

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1 hour ago, midtownclt said:

While I am excited to see I-85 through Gaston County get  more lanes, what about I-77?

Why keep I-77 at 6 lanes flowing though a county with a population of 1 million people?

I am sure traffic counts on I-77 from downtown to South Carolina are much higher than I-85 from US 321 to Belmont.

I-77 will be adding 4 addtional lanes all tolled express lanes south of uptown to the state line 

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On 9/17/2022 at 10:34 PM, RANYC said:

I'm sorry, what's the excitement in adding lanes to an interstate?

It’s more relief for me. I drive to Shelby quite often as I have family there. Traffic always bottlenecks in Gaston County, usually past Mcadenville. With more lanes, traffic will flow better for years to come.  And hopefully soon the Shelby bypass will be finished, as Shelby’s traffic causes the most delays on getting to Asheville from Charlotte. 

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23 minutes ago, JorgiPorgi said:

It’s more relief for me. I drive to Shelby quite often as I have family there. Traffic always bottlenecks in Gaston County, usually past Mcadenville. With more lanes, traffic will flow better for years to come.  And hopefully soon the Shelby bypass will be finished, as Shelby’s traffic causes the most delays on getting to Asheville from Charlotte. 

Gotcha

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On 9/17/2022 at 9:03 PM, JeanClt said:


1. Adding more lanes just because traffic is higher doesn’t fix the issue. Cars are inefficient in every way. Space, fuel (unsustainable), energy to motion ratio, etc. adding more lanes will only encourage more driving. I don’t know about that you personally, but I’m going to assume most people want to drive when there’s less traffic. Adding lanes will artificially reduce “traffic” but not really. It’ll bottle-neck again. We can’t keep adding lanes forever.

2. They’re actually just about the same Amount really, not much difference between the difference. So
no, it’s not necessarily better to do I-77 over I-85

Is there a good place to look up weekly or annual traffic metrics for various freeways like this? I'd be curious to see local ones as well as various freeways nationwide.

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23 hours ago, tozmervo said:

NCDOT Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) Mapping Application (arcgis.com)

The highest traffic volume in Charlotte is 141k on I-85 at Sugar Creek.
I-77 south of 85 is generally in upper 120s into the 130s. 
I-85 west of 485 is in the 120s, so comparable to I-77 south. 

Not for nothing, the highest counts in the state are actually on I-40 near 540 in Raleigh (147k and 150k)

Very cool, thank you. 

I wonder how this compares to some other freeways. I see that the busiest freeway in the country is usually considered to be the 405 in LA, which actually has almost 405k cars per day lol (379k in 2019). Would be interesting to see if our peer cities (like Nashville and Austin) have similar amounts of traffic in their busiest stretches. Also wonder how we compare to some of the busier freeways like 95 through the Northeast cities or 85 through Atlanta. Maybe I'll poke around to see if other states have similar maps later.

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1 hour ago, Reverie39 said:

Very cool, thank you. 

I wonder how this compares to some other freeways. I see that the busiest freeway in the country is usually considered to be the 405 in LA, which actually has almost 405k cars per day lol (379k in 2019). Would be interesting to see if our peer cities (like Nashville and Austin) have similar amounts of traffic in their busiest stretches. Also wonder how we compare to some of the busier freeways like 95 through the Northeast cities or 85 through Atlanta. Maybe I'll poke around to see if other states have similar maps later.

Nashville's numbers are definitely worse - often MUCH worse. At a quick scan I found a 171k count on I-24 leading into downtown, just one of six interstate legs going into downtown. 

Transportation Data Management System (ms2soft.com)

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