I lived in Pineville when they began 485. We used to go fly kites up on the graded areas on weekends. We noted that it looked as though it was only being built four lanes wide and thought whoever made that decision must be the dumbest group of planners Charlotte could have possibly found. And I was right! It was too crowded from the first day it opened.
checked TransparencyUSA.org and would you believe the "Carolina Asphalt Pavement Assn PAC" gave Mr. Moore the maximum campaign cycle contribution of $6,400 in December 2023?!
Ole white boy😳For him to talk about roads😡He represents Shelby,NC and for 10 years a bypass has been under construction and no end in sight😳The same will happen in Charlotte. He's terrible 😡😡
Great article and all true. I was an urban planner for a short time and can absolutely tell you the ONLY way to improve mobility is to invest in public transportation and build dense, multi-modal developments around the stations.
Legislators think that they have greater medical expertise than doctors so they make laws about treating patients. Legislators think they have greater education expertise than teachers and principals, so they make laws about schools and curriculum. And legislators think they have greater expertise about urban traffic problems than transit planners, so they make decision that highways are the answer to all congestion problems.
Put $$$ into mass transit -- get cars off the road-- and figure out a way to divert traffic going through Charlotte (trucks going through to South Carolina) off of I-77 -- the original reason for I-485 -- and Charlotte traffic will be more tolerable. But that would involve thinking, and that takes legislators out of the equation.
Adding more lanes and building more highways hasn't worked yet - anywhere. (I moved here from California.) But good luck getting folks out of their cars. As you said, if it were an easy problem to solve, we wouldn't be talking about it. (And BTW, Mr. Moore, the 485/85 fix is many years and worse than ever traffic congestion away.)
Great article. Years ago I was part of the Charlotte Urban Forum, not sure they still exists, but this was a major concern back then and the impetus for support of light rail. It does seem to me that part of the issue for extending light rail toward Mooresville was Mooresville voting - or maybe their council - deciding not to participate.=, not so much the rail right of way... but you'd have to fact check that. Mary Newsom wrote a lot about this at the time.
I lived in Pineville when they began 485. We used to go fly kites up on the graded areas on weekends. We noted that it looked as though it was only being built four lanes wide and thought whoever made that decision must be the dumbest group of planners Charlotte could have possibly found. And I was right! It was too crowded from the first day it opened.
checked TransparencyUSA.org and would you believe the "Carolina Asphalt Pavement Assn PAC" gave Mr. Moore the maximum campaign cycle contribution of $6,400 in December 2023?!
Ole white boy😳For him to talk about roads😡He represents Shelby,NC and for 10 years a bypass has been under construction and no end in sight😳The same will happen in Charlotte. He's terrible 😡😡
Great article and all true. I was an urban planner for a short time and can absolutely tell you the ONLY way to improve mobility is to invest in public transportation and build dense, multi-modal developments around the stations.
Legislators think that they have greater medical expertise than doctors so they make laws about treating patients. Legislators think they have greater education expertise than teachers and principals, so they make laws about schools and curriculum. And legislators think they have greater expertise about urban traffic problems than transit planners, so they make decision that highways are the answer to all congestion problems.
Put $$$ into mass transit -- get cars off the road-- and figure out a way to divert traffic going through Charlotte (trucks going through to South Carolina) off of I-77 -- the original reason for I-485 -- and Charlotte traffic will be more tolerable. But that would involve thinking, and that takes legislators out of the equation.
Adding more lanes and building more highways hasn't worked yet - anywhere. (I moved here from California.) But good luck getting folks out of their cars. As you said, if it were an easy problem to solve, we wouldn't be talking about it. (And BTW, Mr. Moore, the 485/85 fix is many years and worse than ever traffic congestion away.)
Great article. Years ago I was part of the Charlotte Urban Forum, not sure they still exists, but this was a major concern back then and the impetus for support of light rail. It does seem to me that part of the issue for extending light rail toward Mooresville was Mooresville voting - or maybe their council - deciding not to participate.=, not so much the rail right of way... but you'd have to fact check that. Mary Newsom wrote a lot about this at the time.