Go slow: Charlotte-area road construction ahead

While it might sometimes seem as if the world is disorganized and chaotic, there is an orderly type of comfort to be found in the design details and precise plans of road construction projects. Planners often include improvements to existing streets and highways, such as roundabouts and bicycle lanes, in addition to brand-new ribbons of concrete designed to ease congestion and make commutes shorter.

For people who live next to planned road construction – or worse, directly in its path – the projects can mean noise and disruptions, and in cases of eminent domain, upheaval and the mandated move of a business or family home.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation has hundreds of projects – some large and some small – going on across the state, including the first phase of the Charlotte Gateway Station. Described by the state as a “multi-modal station that will consolidate public transit and intercity transportation modes at Trade and Graham Streets in Uptown Charlotte,” the project is slated for completion in 2023, though that date has an asterisk next to it on the DOT website. “*Future dates subject to change,” can be found in tiny print elsewhere on the page.

Some of the other projects include:

• The I-485 express lanes project, which includes the addition of an express lane in each direction between I-77 and U.S. 74, as well as a general-purpose lane in each direction between Rea Road and Providence Road. On top of that, the project includes the Ballantyne Commons Parkway bridge widening, a new Weddington Road interchange and improvements to the John Street interchange. (Project completion: fall of 2022)
• The I-77 express lanes project stretches from Mecklenburg County’s Brookshire Freeway exit to N.C. 150 (exit 36) in Iredell County. The project includes the already completed express lanes on I-77 from Hambright Road to N.C. 150, which opened last summer, and the southern section from I-277 to Hambright, which opened a year ago.

More details on these projects and others can be found here.