Concord in the midst of major changes?

[AuLukey]

If 85 were widened, the Poplar Tent interchange reconfigured and signaled, and Pitts School realigned to Shelton, then I could support this development a lot more. As it is right now, I just feel like it's setting up to make a bad situation worse. I'm not even going to evaluate the site plan itself yet.

I agree, and there would be no way that this developer would get away with building this development without getting road improvements done. This complex would not be successful if it was surrounded by 2-lane, already-congested, and poorly configured roadways. I have no doubt in my mind that this project would help the county rationalize expediting at least the realignment of Pitts School/Shelton and the preparation work for the interchange work done when the state widens the interstate and reconfigures the interchange. Perhaps the developer will help pay for these improvements much like the new mixed-use development (I forget the name) being built along 77.

If the necessary road improvements are implemented, this site would actually work really well for Concord with its proximity to Afton Village and the airport. It is just far enough away from the Concord Mills area to not have a large impact on traffic patterns there, it would preferably draw more cars away from that area. It is good to see that Concord is drawing the attention of more mixed-use development. If only the city had demanded Afton Ridge been more pedestrian friendly and include residential and office, this area of Concord could have actually turned out really well.

EDIT: one part I just realized I don't like about this development is that it will be taking out the baseball field I used to play on when I was ten to about fourteen years old next to Woodhaven Lane. Oh well, I guess it's all part of progress.

Edited July 25, 2008 by aussie luke

[nyxmike]

Actually, I-85 will be widened from Concord Mills to NC 73 starting 2010. They are using Garvey Bonds to speed up construction.

[ellifyno]

Actually, I-85 will be widened from Concord Mills to NC 73 starting 2010. They are using Garvey Bonds to speed up construction.

I knew Cabarrus County was tired of waiting for the state to widen it, and was wanting to get it done as fast as possible. I definitely remember reading about the use of GARVEE bonds to get the construction going in 2010 to 2011, but wasn't sure if that was still on track. Regardless, it'll be a couple of years after that before the widening and interchange redesigns - including the one for Poplar Tent - are complete. I just hope that this site is developed with the infrastructure to handle it. I'm curious as to what sort of retail they expect to have with Concord Mills and Afton Ridge just a couple miles away.

[Neo]

I'm curious as to what sort of retail they expect to have with Concord Mills and Afton Ridge just a couple miles away.

Take it with a grain of salt (considering it is Independent Tribune) but they had a write-up on this today and mentioned retailers *like* Gap and Ann Taylor: http://independenttribune.com/servlet/Sate...d=1173355957795

I can't imagine who would locate there considering the close proximity to Concord Mills which has most retailers that one would imagine in a Birkdale type development, but who knows.

[AuLukey]

I was driving down Bruton the other day and noticed a sign for one of the new hotels being built, this one was on the side of the Convention Center. The sign didn't actually say which hotel it was, it only had the words "Upscale Hotel" written in bold across the top with contractor info below. What gives?

To answer my own question, they updated the sign. The hotel is a Hyatt Place and the rendering actually looks pretty cool. It looks as if it will be about the same height as the Embassy Suites considering it starts at a higher elevation.

[tozmervo]

I couldn't figure out where else to mention this, but the new CMC tower is hilariously awful.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/100/story/196111.html

[atlrvr]

I hope that is a place holder design......I can't really think of anything witty to describe how truly horrible that looks

[AuLukey]

It's nice to see that this part of Concord is still sprouting a little more density, even if it is part of the hospital. Parts of that hospital are like night and day. Parts of the hospital are new and spotless and rival the quality of CMC. However, parts of the facility like general are also dingy and dated. I am glad that those are some of the sections they are replacing.

I used to work in the ER there in high school and was there while they were renovating that facility. Needless to say, the construction took some getting used to but brought some much needed changes.

This design is a bit awkward, but I like it in that it is a bit confusing and different than typical Doric design.

[Guest]

I hope that is a place holder design......I can't really think of anything witty to describe how truly horrible that looks

OOO a high rise Parthenon, I don't think the ancient greeks have been prouder since they saw the designs for 615 E. Morehead back a few years back. But seriously, what an awful design. The neo-classic psuedo faux colonialism is already a terrible design, but it is definately only effective to the point the doric columns are still in the correct proportion. If you have to stack a second level of columns on top of the original columns to effectively create your design, you are doing something wrong. Neo-classic pseudo faux colonialism must stop.

[ellifyno]

Though I have not seen the actual plans for the realignment of Bruton Smith Blvd but in reading the description of the realignment I mocked it up in Google Maps:

I don't think this has been posted, but Concord's website has a section dedicated to the improvements around the speedway. It includes videos modeling traffic conditions with and without the proposed improvements, and an aerial overview of everything that's proposed.

Links are at the bottom of this post, but a few items of note:

• The proposed realignment of Bruton Smith Boulevard is close to your mock-up - it veers from its current path at the entrance to Toyota of Concord and aligns with Morehead Road just west of Morehead's intersection with US 29.
  
• According to the overview, the new road will keep the name Bruton Smith Boulevard; the existing road, from Toyota of Concord to the speedway entrance, will be renamed ... Speedway Boulevard.
  
• Both roads, along with 29 and Morehead, will be superstreets. At most intersections, left turns will be permitted from these roads, but not onto them. Traffic on intersecting roads will have to turn right and make U-turns (there are frequent signalized intersections just for U-turns).
  
• The intersection of Morehead and 29 will be the only one that allows traffic on all sides to go straight; however, no left turns will be allowed from either road.
  
• Morehead and Speedway will be four lanes (two in each direction) in most places, with additional lanes at intersections. Bruton Smith Boulevard and 29 are at least six lanes in their entirety.
  
• Bruton Smith Boulevard will be a superstreet all the way to 85. Traffic wanting to turn left from Weddington Road towards the speedway (coming from the hotel area) will have a signalized U-turn lane at the intersection with the 85 North ramps. The existing right turn lane for the 85 South loop on-ramp will become a combination through/right-turn lane. An additional through/left-turn lane will be added on the 85 North off-ramp as well.
  
• As I hoped, traffic on Gateway Lane at its intersection with Weddington (by Quaker Steak and the KFC/Taco Bell) will only be allowed to turn right. Traffic turning from Bruton Smith Boulevard onto Weddington will also not be allowed to turn left onto Gateway at this intersection. Instead, traffic will be routed to Gateway's second intersection with Weddington (by the hotels).
  
• Also as I hoped, traffic will not be allowed to turn left from Lyles Lane onto Weddington on the other side of Bruton Smith Boulevard (by Jack in the Box and the Shell station). Instead, cars will be directed behind Cracker Barrel onto Sossaman Lane. Traffic will still be allowed to turn left from Weddington onto Lyles.
  
• The split for Speedway Boulevard from Bruton Smith Boulevard will be fairly complex. I'm not sure I can accurately describe it.
  
• Speedway will have a new intersection with 29, slightly north of the existing one. This eliminates the somewhat awkward intersection that currently exists. However, as part of the superstreet design, traffic will be forced to turn right on 29, eliminating the possibility of "splitting" traffic heading towards Concord from that headed towards the University area.
  
• A "public multi-use path" is shown as running from the Embassy Suites down Speedway Boulevard to its intersection at 29.
  
• A new pedestrian bridge is shown over 29 at its intersection with Speedway Boulevard, directly in front of the main entrance to the speedway. The pedestrian tunnels that have been discussed before are not shown on this. There also do not appear to be any pathways specifically for pedestrians around the intersection of Morehead and 29.
  
• Morehead will be slightly realigned east of its intersection with 29, "dipping" slightly to the south where it is currently directly next to the speedway. The portion of the loop road around the speedway in that area will be relocated onto existing Morehead. A new bridge for the loop road will go under Morehead, and another new bridge for the loop road will go over 29 - with an on-ramp to 29 - near the dirt track.
  
• The bridge over the Rocky River, on 29 just north of the speedway, is listed as "future bridge widening."
  

All of that is from the aerial overview (direct link to PDF). The videos are also interesting. They have a video showing the entire area with and without improvements, as well as videos showing smaller areas (Morehead/29, 85/Weddington, Gateway/dealerships) with and without improvements. Supposedly they model traffic in 2017. According to those projections, rush hour traffic will clog Morehead for nearly a mile, Weddington for over half a mile, Bruton Smith Boulevard in its entirety (85 to 29), and prevent cars at the Embassy Suites from ever leaving the parking lot. Anyone interested in watching the videos can do so here. (The overall, non-improved video is here and the overall, improved video is here for anyone who prefers direct links. Those videos are each about six minutes long; the others are a minute or two each.)

[AuLukey]

Ok, so some of these changes are great, like what they are doing to kill the bottleneck at Gateway Lane/Weddington, but some of these changes encourage U-turns? Why? Since when was having double-u-turn lanes a good thing? And as if planning for one of those wasn't enough, they have planned as many as eleven (or more, I got tired of counting them) of these twin u-turn lanes. How will drivers understand this? And let's not forget the driving prowess of tourists.

Another change I can't agree with is killing the Weddington intersection. Granted this intersection did need some work, but denying access to go straight (on Weddington) through was a horrible mistake. That cuts a major residential road off from everything south of Bruton Blvd including gas stations, restaurants, grocery stores, and other daily commodities. I don't live in this area anymore, but my parents live down Weddington, and this change is not going to benefit them or any resident living on Weddington in the least. Then to deny a left turn headed North into that intersection from Weddington onto Bruton (towards 85) is really going to create issues with the businesses there. Drivers will all have to drive down Bruton towards the speedway, then make a u-turn back onto bruton to head back towards Weddington/85/Concord Mills. As I said before, this intersection did have issues, but they are only creating new, much worse, bottlenecks further down the road.

And as for the Speedway/Bruton split, I'm at a loss for words. I can't rationalize in a million years what they plan for that.

How? How does this make sense?

Edited October 30, 2008 by aussie luke

[ellifyno]

Ok, so some of these changes are great, like what they are doing to kill the bottleneck at Gateway Lane/Weddington, but some of these changes encourage U-turns? Why? Since when was having double-u-turn lanes a good thing? And as if planning for one of those wasn't enough, they have planned as many as eleven (or more, I got tired of counting them) of these twin u-turn lanes. How will drivers understand this? And let's not forget the driving prowess of tourists.

Another change I can't agree with is killing the Weddington intersection. Granted this intersection did need some work, but denying access to go straight (on Weddington) through was a horrible mistake. That cuts a major residential road off from everything south of Bruton Blvd including gas stations, restaurants, grocery stores, and other daily commodities. I don't live in this area anymore, but my parents live down Weddington, and this change is not going to benefit them or any resident living on Weddington in the least. Then to deny a left turn headed North into that intersection from Weddington onto Bruton (towards 85) is really going to create issues with the businesses there. Drivers will all have to drive down Bruton towards the speedway, then make a u-turn back onto bruton to head back towards Weddington/85/Concord Mills. As I said before, this intersection did have issues, but they are only creating new, much worse, bottlenecks further down the road.

The focus on U-turn lanes is pretty much the basis of a superstreet. This concept was employed recently on 15-501 in Chapel Hill. I haven't driven on 15-501 since the conversion to a superstreet was completed, but that area used to be a mess. If you look at the pictures from the superstreet proposal for 15-501 (I haven't seen any real pictures of the finished product), the new design is a lot cleaner, particularly from the side streets. I imagine this what Concord is going for, and I think we can all agree that that area could use some aesthetic - as well as functional - improvements. As you pointed out, one of the major challenges with this - and a major difference from Chapel Hill - is the number of intersections this affects. The only other superstreet example I know of in NC is on US 17 in Wilmington. Again, I haven't been on that stretch of road since its redesign, so I can't speak for its effectiveness, but that particular design incorporates multiple intersections. Still, this is a fairly new concept for NC, and a pretty radical design.

As for Weddington Road, I still think the road itself is a mistake, with its proximity to the interstate ramps and the proximity of its intersections to Bruton Smith Boulevard - not to mention the sheer volume of crap that's been built there over the years. But I stand by my statement from several months ago that the best way to fix the problems is to actually do something about them rather than just call it a lost cause. I am ecstatic about the proposed changes to Weddington/Gateway and Weddington/Lyles (though I still wish they would extend Weddington to Old Holland Road, and connect Old Holland across 85 to Quay Road). I recently made the mistake of taking Weddington to that area from Pitts School Road. I wanted to turn left when I got to Bruton Smith Boulevard; however, it took me several minutes just to get from Gateway to the turn lane because of people blocking the intersections. I'm not sure that turning right and making a U-turn - when it's legal - would really take much longer. To be honest, if the intersection of Weddington and Bruton Smith Boulevard allowed for drivers to go straight on Weddington, it would end up creating longer wait times and creating more backups, particularly since it would have to be a full-movement intersection (there's nowhere near enough room on Weddington to add the U-turn lanes like at Morehead and 29). That change could render all of the rest useless.

Having said that, I agree with you that this design could be very problematic for tourists, particularly with the abundance of hotels in the area. The biggest problem I can see - aside from the confusion at the Speedway split - is that the speedway itself is to the left for people staying in the hotels on Weddington. If these people choose to drive to the track, every one of them will be forced to turn right onto Bruton Smith Boulevard and then make a U-turn at 85. I'm not really sure the U-turn lane will be able to effectively handle that amount of traffic. Living near the track, I've never stayed at a hotel for a race, so maybe they offer some sort of shuttle service to the hotels? If not, that would likely be beneficial, to limit the number of cars in the area on race days (not to mention helping inebriated folks get back safely). I know that having two roads - Bruton Smith and Speedway Boulevards - to disperse race day traffic will be helpful, as will the new direct connection from Morehead to 85, but I still think it's going to be utter chaos right around the hotels and the interstate. Of course, if that's the limit of the backup, that's already an improvement...

And as for the Speedway/Bruton split, I'm at a loss for words. I can't rationalize in a million years what they plan for that. How? How does this make sense?

Thanks for including a picture of the split. I really couldn't figure out how to describe it, so I didn't even try. Watching it in action on the videos didn't increase my faith in that part of the design at all.

[AuLukey]

I see what you mean about the Weddington intersection; but while the Gateway/Weddington change is 100% necessary, I'm definitely not convinced that the straight lanes have ever caused an issue from day one. Those straight lanes have never caused a bottleneck on the hundreds of times I've driven through that intersection. It's the turn lanes on Weddington and the proximity to side roads that have caused all the issues at that intersection IMO.

As for the hotel patrons, those hotels aren't that much further from the speedway than some of the speedway lots, so it wouldn't really benefit them to drive to the speedway on raceday as they could walk there faster (given raceday traffic) for free.

[ellifyno]

As for the hotel patrons, those hotels aren't that much further from the speedway than some of the speedway lots, so it wouldn't really benefit them to drive to the speedway on raceday as they could walk there faster (given raceday traffic) for free.

From looking at Google Maps' walking directions, it's about a 1.9-mile (or 39-minute) walk from the hotel area to the closest speedway entrance. For comparison, the edge of the furthest official lot (the Rock City lot) is about 1.2 miles, or 23 minutes. Walking from further back in the lot would likely add distance and time, but you could also walk diagonally through the lot (which Google Maps finds unacceptable) to negate some of that. The far edge of the lot I usually park in, on Morehead, is also about 1.2 miles from the nearest entrance. The lot I used to park in, on the side of Morehead where it turns into Mallard Creek, was about a half-mile (10-minute) walk. I agree that it doesn't necessarily save time for people to drive from the hotels, park, and then walk, but it does save them from lugging coolers a little bit further and allow them to tailgate (which is a bit harder to do without a vehicle). It also allows them to walk in the heat a little less before the Coke 600, and in the typical cold following the BoA 500. Again, I've never stayed in the hotels, nor driven past them on race day, but I would think there's a pretty good amount of people that drive to get as close as they can and then park. Honestly, the best way to handle them would be to route them down Weddington to Pitts School, and then send them south on 29, but that requires upgrading Weddington in that direction, as well as upgrading Pitts School and 29. Of those, I've really only seen 29 as listed for being upgraded any time in the foreseeable future (as part of the incentives for the speedway).

I give Concord (or the firm that came up with this idea) credit for thinking somewhat "outside of the box," but I'm still a bit skeptical as to how well this design would work in this area. Still, I'm not sure much can be worse than the mess that currently exists there. I do not look forward to when (if?) they begin construction. The slight realignment of Morehead Road by the speedway won't be too bad, since existing Morehead can still be used during construction. The realignment of Bruton Smith Boulevard shouldn't be terrible since it's a new road, and the existing road can be used in the meantime. When the new portion is completed, what will become Speedway Boulevard (again) can be focused on since the new road will provide a reasonable detour. However, the portion of Bruton Smith Boulevard from the Speedway split to 85 is going to be a disaster while this is going on, particularly since there are no convenient alternate routes around that area.

[AuLukey]

Wow, you know, that thought hadn't even crossed my mind. Construction on Bruton on that stretch will turn a congested road into a roadblock. I don't see how that area will be able to handle that, especially the left turn onto Weddington that is backed up past the turn lane every time I go by. Good luck to all the businesses around that area.

Oh, and as for the hotels, I have driven by there on race day and some people do walk; but definitely not all of them. I seem to recall there being shuttles as you mentioned earlier. However, I do see your point about the distance, I didn't realize it was THAT far to the speedway from the hotels, but I guess I rarely drive that stretch so I never put much thought into it. With all the hotels everywhere (and more on the way,) you'd think they would try to make this road at least a little more pedestrian friendly as part of the improvements. I can't tell from the new map, but do they plan on putting sidewalks and crosswalks in?

[Neo]

The City of Concord has revealed an updated master plan for downtown that includes the renovation of the Concord Hotel, construction of a new parking deck next door and some other goodies. It is all certainly obtainable, but the street level presence of some of these developments are a bit lacking.

The PDF linked below has lots of images to look at of some of the proposed projects:

http://ci.concord.nc.us/Portals/0/Document...0Report2008.pdf

I think converting the Concord Hotel site to condos is a great idea. Downtown Concord is fairly vibrant when compared to other downtowns in the area like Monroe or Rock Hill so cultivating this would be great.

[Neo]

I couldn't figure out where else to mention this, but the new CMC tower is hilariously awful.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/100/story/196111.html

This tower was just approved as was the addition of a second surgery floor. Will be completed in 2013.

[Neo]

This morning Philip Morris announced plans to close their Concord plant completely in July instead of doing so next year.

There has yet to be anything notable on the property and doubt there will be much anytime soon given the current economic climate. It was obviously expected that Philip Morris would leave Concord, but it wasn't expected until next year. This will no doubt push the unemployment rate up a good bit more for Concord at a time when it is already very high.

[AuLukey]

Either work has begun on the George W Liles extension to 29 or the current nub for the extension is being used as a large staging area for something else. There were a lot of workers and construction material around when I drove by last week. Seeing this topic pop back up reminded me to ask to see what was going on down there to anybody in the know.

[Neo]

Either work has begun on the George W Liles extension to 29 or the current nub for the extension is being used as a large staging area for something else. There were a lot of workers and construction material around when I drove by last week. Seeing this topic pop back up reminded me to ask to see what was going on down there to anybody in the know.

This is for pipe being laid along the existing segment of George Liles. The extension hasn't been given a green light yet since the city would need to pony up the funds to build it first and then be reimbursed by the state on the regular construction schedule (few years away).

[AuLukey]

This is for pipe being laid along the existing segment of George Liles. The extension hasn't been given a green light yet since the city would need to pony up the funds to build it first and then be reimbursed by the state on the regular construction schedule (few years away).

Gotcha, seemed like this was a little early to be considered "shovel ready" anyway.

[DigitalSky]

Looks like the speedway might become Charlotte Motor Speedway again, according to the Sports Business Journal Lowe's has decided not to renew its deal... wonder if any other company will step up for naming rights.

[Batou]

Looks like the speedway might become Charlotte Motor Speedway again, according to the Sports Business Journal Lowe's has decided not to renew its deal... wonder if any other company will step up for naming rights.

I wouldn't mind being able to call it Charlotte Motor Speedway again

[Neo]

I wouldn't mind being able to call it Charlotte Motor Speedway again

I have to think that this would be a nice dent in Bruton Smith's pocket however. The teams are having a hard time attracting sponsorship and with the price of oil going up, I'm certain there will be less RV's traveling to the speedway for races in the future. I would imagine any money that is obtained is a huge plus for the speedway and the entire organization. Having said that, I would certainly like to see Charlotte in the name again.

[Neo]

Bev Perdue is scheduled to make some kind of announcement at the Embassy Suites by Concord Mills this morning around 9:30AM. Any guesses as to what the announcement would be?