Charlotte developer’s Exit 3A game turns stress of city’s infamous highway into video game
Drivers looking to decompress from the stress of Charlotte traffic have a new option: a video game based on the stress of Charlotte traffic.
Exit 3A to NODA is exactly what it sounds like — a video game where players drive a truck filled with local items from Charlotte on Interstate 277 and try to carefully navigate their way to exit 3A near uptown without crashing or spilling their precious cargo.
CharlotteFive readers listed the infamous exit as one of their biggest pet peeves in Charlotte in a choice poll last July.
“Exit 3A, with the chaotic lane merging, and the murderous drivers coming right at you while attempting to get off on exit 3A. Yikes,” said reader Ren Maravich in the CharlotteFive reader poll.
Footage posted by the developer, Michael Ramirez, on the game’s Instagram page has garnered over 72,000 likes and nearly 1,200 comments. It shows a truck weaving in and out of traffic, bumping into other vehicles and going off road, its cargo spilling out and the vehicle often rolling over.
It’s circulated on other social media websites, including the Charlotte subreddit, where people have made comments ranging from excitement to sharing their own war stories from driving on I-277.
“Don’t forget to include unexpected objects on 277,” wrote one Reddit user, shadowsipp. “I’ve seen gas tanks, furniture, ladders, large pieces of car. I was in a multi car accident when the people beside me hit an axel on 277.”
A release date hasn’t been published on social media. On Ramirez’s GitHub page, where he’s posted other games he’s developed, Exit 3A is labeled a “Work in Progress.”
But while the game may not be complete, Ramirez says it does have an end point. Players will not be able to continue zooming through the streets of Charlotte after making it to the exit.
Ramirez posted on Reddit that “it’s going to be you take the exit and then make that first right toward NoDa.”
This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 12:29 PM.
