I think the article hits it on the head. We need to get off fossil fuels and onto electric cars, okay great/all for it/much needed/etc.…but one of the main components to making electric cars run is something else we’re gonna need to dig out of the Earth. I think @scotchman correctly assesses it too aka ‘all for it unless it’s in my direct backyard.’
This seems like it would be a major economic win for NC but I see lawsuits for a long time tying this thing up in the courts too.
2 posts were merged into an existing topic: State Government
Five miles outside Chatham County and therefore in the Triad, not the Triangle, but Toyota has announced a $1.29B, 1,750 employee battery factory in Liberty, NC
There is a mega site in eastern Chatham, between Apex and Sanford. Look for US 1corridor to Sanford and on to Southern Pines to continue to fill in. Lots of green space with Harris Lake, Jordan Lake and Duke Harris plant lands, will buffer Wake growth from Lee and Moore counties. Sanford is up next.
With the upcoming I-685 along US-421 from Greensboro to Sanford to Dunn/I-95 (in the US Infrastructure Bill that was recently signed, per WRAL), I could definitely see that growth for this area (Sanford/Lee County/Moore County)
Map from “NC Carolina Core” marketing for I-685 that shows the megasites
Are other states still being this cavalier with reckless highway expansion, or is it just NCDOT? The Triad is basically flat-lining in growth, but they’re building new freeways in and around Greensboro/W-S like their life depends on it.
I assure you it’s still happening everywhere. An example from where I came from:
This project just got $360M from the infrastructure bill.
To be fair, the Winston-Salem Beltway has been in the works for decades. I went to several public meetings with my grandmother about this b/c some of the proposed routes would have taken her house. Growing up in the greater WS area, my mom commuted to downtown Winston every day and US-52 was a parking lot every morning and afternoon. They have since closed several exit/entrance ramps to ease the merging traffic through downtown. The bypass around will take a lot of the North/South traffic out of the city center.
Save for the little stretch from Sanford to I-95 most of this route is already a highway. it’s just giving it a number and standardizing shoulders. It’ll also keep freight traffic out of going through Raleigh which we should be very happy about.
40 years to complete? These guys make the people working on 540 look like they’re working at lightspeed…
52 miles broken into phases - 40 years isn’t too bad. 540 will be going on 40 years (70 miles 6 Phases) when they finish the SE leg.
Well when it’s broken down like that, it sounds like it’s moving at the same speed. One wonders if it might take longer as it sounds like it has had previous funding issues and who knows if that funding will always be there in the future.
@roguejam One has to wonder if the I-685 plan might be sped up now with the big Toyota announcement. The site of their new factory is going to be the Greensboro Megasite (orange star).
I would say it’s necessary considering what was there. I mean, the interchange known as “Death Valley” in Greensboro was one of the most stressful driving experiences of my young life.
But also, Winston and Greensboro still are major manufacturing areas, with massive truck presences – thus indicating a need to make transporting goods more efficiently.
The area is seen as a major manufacturing crossroads. That’s why they’ve seen a big focus on making sure there’s a healthy freeway grid. There’s a lot of misconceptions out there about highways these days.
Being I drive thru WS and GB quite often, I can say the traffic from WS to Raleigh is really congested. It’s not WS and GB growth that’s creating the traffic, it’s the fact that I-40 and I-85 are the major east/west route thru NC. I-685 would divert a lot of that traffic away from the Triangle area.
Isnt 685 redundent though? Replicating what 73/74 are doing, connecting the Triad to 95 & the coast?
I feel even more important is connecting Charlotte to the coast instead of the rigamarole of going through a high arc through the Triad and the Triangle.
This road has to cross several mountain ridges north of B’ham. It will be a big help to relieving traffic in Downtown 'Ham, especially at disfunction junction. (65 & 20/59) and connect 22 from Memphis with 20 without going downtown. All these roads are thick with truck traffic and 65 is a massive midwest beach artery.
73 / 74 are funneling to / from Savannah ports. 685 will be more so funneling from the Northeast / Kinston and ENC
I’ve always thought that they should totally re-route I-40 along US 74 all the way from Wilmington to Asheville.