Traffic Congestion and Highway Construction

[Urbanity]

While I admit I love the way finder signs for their listings of attractions and places of interest, I too, hate the fact they tried (unsuccessfully) to reinvent the way that one finds. In other words I agree that the signs should have been of the four quarters which was special to Charlotte and is something that could be marketed to success (if we had marketers who knew how)

I think this was more than a missed opportunity, I think it was a damaging mistake.

[dubone]

The sad thing is that this has now been institutionalized.

I remember talking to the CCCP people who helped make this ridiculousness reality. They were so certain that this was best way to help visitors get around. The sad thing is that EVERYTHING else about their plans has worked really well. It probably all comes back to probably one stupid meeting where the people with doubts got swindled by some smooth talking consultant who didn't know crap about the city. So now we've erased a very easy to understand aspect of the city.

[southslider]

News this morning was reporting the section of I-85 between NC-73 and Rowan County is now funded. Combine this with the Concord and Yadkin River widenings, and I-85 will finally be 6 lanes or more across the NC Piedmont from Kings Mountain to Durham.

[DCMetroRaleigh]

So, I-85 will be expanded throughout Salisbury too?

[jednc]

News this morning was reporting the section of I-85 between NC-73 and Rowan County is now funded. Combine this with the Concord and Yadkin River widenings, and I-85 will finally be 6 lanes or more across the NC Piedmont from Kings Mountain to Durham.

I was just talking about this last week and how annoying it was that they were going to widen I-85 up to NC-73 and then widen the Yadkin River Bridge but leave the stretch in between China Grove and NC-73 only 2 lanes in each direction. This is great news. Was there any indication what the time-line would be for widening this final stretch?

[tozmervo]

The Charlotte City Council has approved a $204m bond package to go on November's ballot.

"Of the $200 million bond package, about $32 million will go for neighborhood improvements like curbs and gutters; $15 million for affordable housing; and the rest - some $157 million - will be spent on road improvements. " [wfae]

Until I see more detail on the projects this package is intended to fund, I'm inclined to vote this one down. "Road improvements" is too broad a description, and "curbs and gutters" would ideally read "sidewalks, curbs and gutters." And $15m is a paltry sum for housing, I'm not sure what they expect to do with that.

[uptownliving]

Digging through City Budget documents here are the roads projects on the 2010 Bond:

Oakdale Road Farm-to-Market Upgrade (Brookshire to Peachtree)

Johnston-Oehler Road Farm-to-Market Upgrade (Prosperity Ridge to Mallard Creek)

Ballantyne Commons/Elm Lane Intersection Improvement

Scaleybark Road/South Boulevard Intersection Improvement

Beatties Ford Road Widening (Capps Hill Mine to Sunset)

Brevard & Eighth Street Improvements

Idlewild Road Widening (Piney Grove to Drifter)

NE Corridor: Access Improvements

[Spartan]

^ It's also how the city funds street resurfacing.

[dubone]

I wonder if the economic shift is going to hurt the track record of getting these bonds approved. We'll see I guess.

It is good to see that the city is including the 8th and Brevard project which is a prerequisite for the 1st Ward Park to progress. I'd like to see other projects on the center city transportation plan to be included but for a lean year these projects seem worthwhile, especially the farm to market improvements.

[cowboy_wilhelm]

So, I-85 will be expanded throughout Salisbury too?

It has already been widened through Salisbury.

I was just talking about this last week and how annoying it was that they were going to widen I-85 up to NC-73 and then widen the Yadkin River Bridge but leave the stretch in between China Grove and NC-73 only 2 lanes in each direction. This is great news. Was there any indication what the time-line would be for widening this final stretch?

According to the Draft 2012-2018 State Transportation Improvement Program, construction will begin on Section A (N.C. 73 to Lane St. [Exit 63]) in F.Y. 2017, and Section B (Exit 63 to U.S. 29-601 Connector in China Grove) in F.Y. 2020.

[jednc]

According to the Draft 2012-2018 State Transportation Improvement Program, construction will begin on Section A (N.C. 73 to Lane St. [Exit 63]) in F.Y. 2017, and Section B (Exit 63 to U.S. 29-601 Connector in China Grove) in F.Y. 2020.

Yeah, there's something fishy here. I heard a story on the news the other night where they "announced" the widening of 85 from Concord Mills up to Hwy 73. I thought this was much further along than they indicated. I still haven't found much about the widening from 73 on to China Grove (other than the post here and I did find an article from a Salisbury Newspaper from the day the grant was announced. That story said the grant to widen was between 1 and 2 Million dollars. That won't widen much, so that can't be the whole story). I think my excitement was premature. =(

[cowboy_wilhelm]

Yeah, there's something fishy here. I heard a story on the news the other night where they "announced" the widening of 85 from Concord Mills up to Hwy 73. I thought this was much further along than they indicated. I still haven't found much about the widening from 73 on to China Grove (other than the post here and I did find an article from a Salisbury Newspaper from the day the grant was announced. That story said the grant to widen was between 1 and 2 Million dollars. That won't widen much, so that can't be the whole story). I think my excitement was premature. =(

NCDOT AWARDS CONTRACT TO WIDEN I-85 IN MECKLENBURG AND CABARRUS COUNTIES

It says in their news release that construction will begin in 2011 and is estimated to be completed by November 2013 for the widening project to N.C. 73. This is apparently a few years sooner than originally scheduled.

Construction for the project to widen I-85 to China Grove wasn't funded in the 2009-2015 STIP, so it's a good sign that it is funded in the upcoming STIP, considering the state's financial situation. Of course a lot can change in the next several years, and it probably is a little early to be excited.

[dubone]

Nothing fishy other than watching local tv news. It's pretty simple. 485 to NC73 will be widened over the next few years by using bonds to accelerate construction paid back over time. They had looked at including NC73 to the already widened section just past China Grove, but it was too expensive. So now that section will be put is funded for late this decade.

Farther up 85, the Yadkin bridge has been funded. The southern section and the bridges themselves are under construction and will finish by 1/2013. The section north of the bridge will be widened as a separate project, but I'm guessing will finish around the same time since it will not have the complexity of rebuilding the bridges.

http://www.ncdot.gov/projects/i85corridor/

So that stretch around Kannapolis that looks like it will be funded with the next TIP will be last stretch of 85 widening from west of Gastonia to east of Durham. I have a feeling too, that the Kannapolis stretch will get Garvee bond treatment to accelerate it once the funding is in the books.

[tozmervo]

This is kinda nifty. Someone created a google map API that takes 2000 census commuter data and visualizes commuter movement. Would be really interesting to compare this to the 2010 data.

http://hairycow.name/commute_map/map.html#to:28202

[Neo]

NCDOT has a new site for the I-85/Yadkin River project:

[Sabaidee]

I find this, Bruton Smith wants delay in Independence widening project pretty narcissistic again for Bruton Smith. Charlotte has waited for years for Independence to get widen, the entire Independence corridor is moving at a glacial pace and Bruton Smith wants to delay it so his company assets won't be affected. I wonder what is he going to do? Blackmail the city again like with the tree situations a decade ago or like the threatened relocation of the speedway in Concord.

Edited October 8, 2010 by Shawn&Zae

[tozmervo]

Well, given that I'm against the conversion of Independence to freeway, I was actually glad to hear a prominent business owner speak up about it (regardless of what I think about BS otherwise).

[southslider]

Ironically, this next section of Independence will be the first piece built with rapid transit in mind. Previous sections were designed and constructed with median-separated, reversible carpool lanes, later converted for use by buses. The previous sections inside Albemarle Road will have to be retrofitted for rapid transit, especially for stations. But the latest section from Albemarle Road to Wallace Lane will include wider space for buses, including bus by-pass lanes and the physical space for future stations at Sharon Amity and Conference Drive.

Still, I'm sure East Charlotte would rather wait a half-century for transit, if it means sexy trains, so what's another decade delay to Charlotte's oldest planned expressway.

[kermit]

I honestly almost missed my exit tonight when merging from 77 to the Belk. There were working lights!

I have not seen that ramp lit for 10 years.

[grodney]

I haven't verified it myself, but my wife is reporting that Providence Road (Hwy 16) is now fully open, south of 485. I think that makes it 6 lanes from 485 to Ardrey Kell, and then 4 lanes from Ardrey Kell down to Rea. Yee haw.

[cityboi]

Here is my idea. As well all know the I-73/I-74 corridor runs down through the central part of the state (Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point and Asheboro) I-74 then splits on to U.S. 74 to Wilmington. Why not have an I-74 spur to Charlotte along U.S. 74? maybe called I-174 or I-374. That way there would be an interstate link between Charlotte and Wilmington. I-174 or I-374 can begin at I-485 and hook up to I-74 in Rockingham (Richmond County).

Edited November 25, 2010 by cityboi

[cityboi]

NCDOT has a new site for the I-85/Yadkin River project:

Its about time. There definately needs to be a new bridge there. The Yadkin River is the dividing line between Charlotte Metrolina and the Triad. That area is really the last stretch of I-85 between Charlotte and Greensboro that needs to be upgraded

[dubone]

The Charlotte to Rockingham freeway as an interstate spur is a commonly identified gap in the state interstate plans. Right now, the Monroe bypass is imminently to be built as a toll road. The project to go the rest of the way to the I-74 corridor is R-4441 on the state Transportation Improvement Program. Only to "freeway" standards (not even the standards required to badge it as an interstate), is another $400m. The state is actually doing something similar with other stretches of US74 even within the I-74 corridors, only currently aspiring to freeway standards and labeling it as a "Future I-74". It seems certain that once a freeway is in place between Charlotte and Rockingham, that they'd start working on an interstate label for the road just like they've done with US-52 freeway between Lexington and Winston-Salem.

I'd also add that the Yadkin bridge is important, but is not the last section requiring an upgrade. The whole Cabarrus county section is in need of widening and upgrading. The first half will be done in the next few years using bonds, but the rest is not funded yet.

[DCMetroRaleigh]

Why hasn't Anson County/Wadesboro pressed for Highway 74 to be upgraded to interstate standards or an interstate-calibre bypass around Wadesboro/Polkton? Moreover, why hasn't US 52 been expanded from Salisbury to the SC line? Anson County really has gotten screwed with its roads.

[JerseyBoy]

Why hasn't Anson County/Wadesboro pressed for Highway 74 to be upgraded to interstate standards or an interstate-calibre bypass around Wadesboro/Polkton? Moreover, why hasn't US 52 been expanded from Salisbury to the SC line? Anson County really has gotten screwed with its roads.

I don't believe traffic levels on 52 between Salisbury and Wadesboro are high enough to warrant a wider road. I used to travel that road once or twice a year to Rockingham and Darlington to photograph races and there was hardly any traffic.