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Nearly 3 in 4 people surveyed in Mecklenburg County say the area's top transportation priority should be to finish Interstate 485, while 21 percent believe planned improvements on Independence Boulevard are the most important, according to an Elon University poll of 422 Mecklenburg adults.
The overwhelming support for finishing the outerbelt comes after months of debating whether to shift money from Independence Boulevard to I-485, as Gov. Bev Perdue has suggested. In February, Perdue pledged to start construction on the last five miles of I-485 by the end of this year, but the state didn't have a plan to pay for it. It then said the Charlotte area could use money budgeted for a planned widening of Independence Boulevard from Albemarle Road to Conference Drive.
Though I-485 is a priority among the public, construction isn't likely to start soon. The Mecklenburg Union Metropolitan Planning Organization has decided not to vote on Perdue's plan, effectively killing it.
The poll also asked people how they would relieve congestion and what transit line should be built next, if any.
When asked if traffic congestion is a problem for them on an average day, 50.5 percent said no. Only 42.6 percent of those surveyed said congestion was a problem.
Those answer surprised Bob Cook, MUMPO's secretary.
“I thought it would have been a lot higher (for people saying congestion is a problem),” Cook said. It's possible some of the people who dismissed congestion moved to Charlotte from larger cities such as Miami or Washington, where congestion is worse.
The survey found wide support for relieving congestion by building more roads and building more transit. Just under 77 percent said building more roads would ease congestion, and just under 64 percent said the same for building light rail.
A little less than 32 percent said they strongly support expanding light rail and 34.5 percent said they support it.
When asked which transit line should be built next – light-rail to the northeast or a rail line to Lake Norman – 44.8 percent favored the Lake Norman train. The Lynx extension to the northeast was favored by only 36.5 percent.
When asked whether they would support a new quarter-cent sales tax for mass transit, 28.1 percent said they strongly oppose it and 20.2 percent oppose it. Thirty-three percent said they would support a new tax, and 16.5 percent said they would strongly support it.
