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Traffic Congestion and Highway Construction


monsoon

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1 hour ago, jthomas said:

I’m not normally one to defend a road project, but this particular project does complete a missing link in the I-73/74 route.

And I can say from  personal experience that on a summer Saturday with beach traffic, those lights in Rockingham (plus the single light in Laurel Hill) cause 30-45 minutes of delay.

Fair enough - I've only driven that stretch off-times. 

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1 hour ago, jthomas said:

I’m not normally one to defend a road project, but this particular project does complete a missing link in the I-73/74 route.

And I can say from  personal experience that on a summer Saturday with beach traffic, those lights in Rockingham (plus the single light in Laurel Hill) cause 30-45 minutes of delay.

It is not the lights but the increased traffic that causes the delay?

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3 hours ago, jthomas said:

Well, it's both. The traffic is so heavy that the normal cycle of the light is not long enough to process all of the traffic passing through. This eventually causes backups at each light that are multiple miles long. The Rockingham bypass will fix this issue by bypassing the choke point (at least in that spot - the other problematic traffic lights will remain).

Tangential, but the summer traffic really is something to behold. I-73/74 is like a funnel collecting traffic from many northern states and delivering it to the beaches between Wilmington and Myrtle. A summer Saturday feels like rush hour, and NC plates are greatly outnumbered by those from Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

I can vouch for this as I have seen it as I whizzed by heading westward to the Charlotte region.  But have seen the backups on the off ramps. 

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Man o man - Traffic Congestion is really beginning to Rebound in Charlotte post COVID even though I don’t believe that Center City is back to the old normal as far as the Work From Office personnel.  Anyone care to guess what’s going on with Traffic?  The dang Census is saying that CLT\Mecklenburg County hasn't gained too many new residents.

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10 hours ago, Hushpuppy321 said:

Man o man - Traffic Congestion is really beginning to Rebound in Charlotte post COVID even though I don’t believe that Center City is back to the old normal as far as the Work From Office personnel.  Anyone care to guess what’s going on with Traffic?  The dang Census is saying that CLT\Mecklenburg County hasn't gained too many new residents.

Dunno but I am happily celebrating 3 years WFH come March. This is my soundtrack:

 

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2 hours ago, Reverie39 said:

I thought it's still growing like crazy?

 

I think Hushpuppy was referring to the 2021 US Census Bureau estimates, which estimated Mecklenburg County grew a modest .6% from 2020 to 2021, significantly below the state growth rate of 1%. Durham County’s once redhot growth declined during the period, if the estimates are accurate.

https://amp.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/development/article259721140.html


 

 

Edited by DCMetroRaleigh
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 Anyone else out there a little happy to see growth cool off a bit in Mecklenburg?  I know growth is a good thing and certainly don't want to see the city and county stagnate, but the local population has exploded over the last twenty or so years and I've been feeling for a couple years now that we're due a tiny bit of breathing room.  I feel like the beginning of this unprecedented swell of growth was handled fairly well (relative to some other cities in a similar situation), but as the years have gone by and the choices local leaders have had to make have become exponentially more expensive and consequensial it seems like we are getting worse at this.

I can't help but feel like much of the city's current leadership just isn't equipped or willing (due to broader political aspirations and just using Charlotte as a stepping stone) to make the important, and often controversial, decisions needed to propel this city forward like they used to.  Many of them just don't have what it takes to move a city of a million people to the next phase effectively. 

If the growth really is slowing to a trickle instead of a flood then I really hope this moment isn't wasted and the powers that be take a step back to look at the broader picture and assess where the city is and what the next phase truly looks like and start a debate on the tough and transformational decisions that are going to have to be made to get it there, something that I don't thing has been done comprehensively and effectively for quite a while. 

I've grown disillusioned watching a flurry of ideas, proposals, and aspirations over the last several years brought forth and dangled in front of everyone with almost nothing to show for it.  Charlotte was doing a respectable job meeting the years of consistently high growth head on, but I can't help but feel like she's starting to buckle more and more under the pressure as of late.  She needs to get back to being fearless. 

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On 12/9/2022 at 5:12 PM, go_vertical said:

 Anyone else out there a little happy to see growth cool off a bit in Mecklenburg?  I know growth is a good thing and certainly don't want to see the city and county stagnate, but the local population has exploded over the last twenty or so years and I've been feeling for a couple years now that we're due a tiny bit of breathing room.  I feel like the beginning of this unprecedented swell of growth was handled fairly well (relative to some other cities in a similar situation), but as the years have gone by and the choices local leaders have had to make have become exponentially more expensive and consequensial it seems like we are getting worse at this.

I can't help but feel like much of the city's current leadership just isn't equipped or willing (due to broader political aspirations and just using Charlotte as a stepping stone) to make the important, and often controversial, decisions needed to propel this city forward like they used to.  Many of them just don't have what it takes to move a city of a million people to the next phase effectively. 

If the growth really is slowing to a trickle instead of a flood then I really hope this moment isn't wasted and the powers that be take a step back to look at the broader picture and assess where the city is and what the next phase truly looks like and start a debate on the tough and transformational decisions that are going to have to be made to get it there, something that I don't thing has been done comprehensively and effectively for quite a while. 

I've grown disillusioned watching a flurry of ideas, proposals, and aspirations over the last several years brought forth and dangled in front of everyone with almost nothing to show for it.  Charlotte was doing a respectable job meeting the years of consistently high growth head on, but I can't help but feel like she's starting to buckle more and more under the pressure as of late.  She needs to get back to being fearless. 

The GOP-led NCGA is blocking a lot of proposals. Also remember that some CoC bureaucratic officials are still snakebitten from the HB2 thus they advised caution.  Currently the Charlotte City Attorney is proof of this over-cautiousness paranoia.

On 12/9/2022 at 11:34 AM, Reverie39 said:

I thought it's still growing like crazy?

There's a lot of questionable things related to US Census estimates as proven by the prior count in 2010 showed.  Mecklenburg County is still rapidly growing. 

Edited by kayman
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/25/2022 at 11:04 PM, Take2 said:

The live traffic cams installed by NCDOT are so sad and embarrassing compared to other states. Specifically Georgia.  Atlanta seems to have traffic cams every exit facing both directions of traffic AND most are in real time... as in they are live streaming cams.

 Then you have Charlotte. The cams are sporadic at best. NONE of the cams in Charlotte are live streaming and very often the angle in which they are placed isn't even on the freakin traffic... some are facing the ground... some the sun... and the ones that don't work at all... far to many. 

  It's just shocking to me. Are traffic cams obsolete now and I just didn't get the memo, or is the NCDOT obsolete ??? 

 

 


I believe they are streaming, just not publicly streaming.... WRAL used to have links to live camera feeds around Raleigh on their website, but they don't seem to be working anymore. See the 7-year-old video below showing the NCDOT Traffic Operations Center.
 

You can also cite the "limit use to 30 seconds" warning for this camera on I-26.

spacer.png


A lot of NCDOT's camera are simply old and outdated analog cameras. Some rely on a cellular modem for uplink, and others only have solar panels for power. Those are all limiting factors.

New camera installations tend to be lumped in with bigger projects. For example, the I-77 express lanes. The camera below on I-77 has dedicated power, is full HD and has a fiber connection. I would expect new installations along I-85 through Gaston County during the upcoming widening project.

spacer.png

Fiber lines are currently being installed along I-26, I-85, I-95, US 70 and US 74 under this contract (locations listed in this addendum). Those are crucial for fast and reliable data, especially if you want constant streaming. There's also a big project that just got underway for ITS upgrades and maintenance across the state.

Statewide ITS Resilience Project

With all that said, it is lame that all we get is a static image refreshed approximately every 15 minutes. Even SCDOT does better than that. Hopefully we will see some improvements in the not-too-distant future.

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