The view from south Charlotte: Lots of traffic, with worries there’s more to come
Chris Soderberg can remember when N.C. 51 was nothing but trees, cows and barbed wired. It was the mid-1980s and the south Charlotte road was two lanes.
“It was country,” Soderberg said. But over the past several decades, a story familiar to many parts of a growing city like Charlotte has played out near Soderberg and thousands of others.
More development, especially along corridors like N.C. 51 and its north-south equivalent, Providence Road, has meant more cars on the road.
For Soderberg, 54, who lives by the decades-old Arboretum Shopping Center at the intersection of Providence Road and N.C. Highway 51, it’s become harder and harder to get around by car.
His wife, who commutes daily to uptown, makes sure to leave the house before 7 a.m. She tries to leave work by 4 p.m. to ensure a 12-mile, 20-minute trip doesn’t become a nearly hour-long commute.
When he goes to run his errands, Soderberg makes sure to do it in the morning because anytime after 11 or noon on N.C. 51 going west toward Pineville is, in his words, a madhouse.
“Our daily lives are completely being affected, our day to day routine is impacted by all this traffic,” Soderberg said.
More construction, more traffic
And it’s potentially going to get worse: more development is on the way.
A 2019-approved rezoning for Charlotte developer Proffitt Dixon Partners will bring a 200-unit, active adult retirement apartment community. The site plan also calls for up to 41 townhomes.
The 20-acre site sits on the west side of Providence Road at Hamilton Mill Road.
In 2021, City Council approved a petition on six acres, also off Providence Road at Alexander Road, for 44 more townhomes.
South Charlotte residents fight rezoning
Five years ago, Soderberg and other residents fought a rezoning petition to bring a grocery store to the busy intersection of Providence Road and N.C. 51.
Many people use the main thoroughfares to commute to and from work in uptown, leading to backups around traffic signals in the morning and afternoons.
The addition of the Publix, which is under construction, would only add to the traffic headaches at a spot that’s already besieged by cars, residents argued.
Some residents were disappointed in the City Council’s approval of the rezoning petition despite voicing opposition and gathering hundreds of petition signatures.
For Soderberg, he realizes growth can’t be stopped. He just hopes something can be done to mitigate the traffic so roads like Providence and N.C. 51 don’t become completely clogged up.
He worries a part-time City Council doesn’t have the time to fully investigate the cumulative impact individual rezoning petitions can have on neighborhoods. “That’s the other concern I don’t think the City Council takes into effect is future growth,” Soderberg said.
Charlotte’s work on traffic mitigation
City Council did debate the Publix petition before its approval.
During a 2017 meeting, councilman Ed Driggs said residents’ concerns about traffic were becoming a steady drumbeat in south Charlotte. Driggs, who represents the district where the Publix is going, said at the time that the council has to look at each rezoning petition critically.
Council members have to decide whether they think any added vehicle trips from a development is tolerable.
Another council member, former mayor Patsy Kinsey, said at the meeting that traffic problems are happening all over the city. “I don’t know the answer but we better try to get a handle on it or it will be gridlock,” said Kinsey, who represented district 1 at the time.
The city is working on the problem. The Strategic Mobility Plan, adopted last June, focuses on expanding transit options and ensuring more Charlotteans have ways to get around other than the car.
The city is also using $14.3 million for a congestion mitigation program.
One of the target areas is south Charlotte. The program is intended to mitigate congestion and improve traffic flow through “small-scale, quick infrastructure projects.” That could include adding turn lanes at intersections, extending existing lanes or making new road connections to enhance the street grid.
The city’s website doesn’t list an active project in south Charlotte; it lists one in Steele Creek.
City officials have been tackling the issue like taking a trip to Austin, Texas, last year to look at its transportation system. In 2020, voters in Austin approved a $7.1 billion transit plan that calls for 27 miles of light rail and bus rapid transit lanes, among other things.
County Commissioner Laura Meier, who represents a south Charlotte district, was on that trip with other officials.
Meier’s takeaway was that the Charlotte region and leaders need to educate the public about the importance of public transportation. “When you get cars off the road, you won’t have congestion,” she told The Charlotte Observer.
She pointed to discussion about getting a train out to different parts of Charlotte, and that it needs public support.
A traffic nightmare?
Soderberg worries about the potential for more development, including growing towns further south along Providence Road like Weddington and Waxhaw in Union County. There’s also newer development happening in Waverly and over in Ballantyne.
The future of Providence Road, he worries, is a complete traffic nightmare.
This story was originally published January 13, 2023 at 5:55 AM.
