Originally Posted by
drlogik
Because of the huge influx of people moving in from up north the streets in Charlotte have become much more dangerous due to the increased traffic congestion and frustrated drivers. They are moving here because our economy has been booming for the last 30 years unabated. The last ten have been totally nuts. I moved out to Scottsdale Arizona in 2011 and back to Charlotte in 2016 and the change was dramatic. The rural areas and farm lands outside of Charlotte are now sub-divisions and shopping centers. Progress, you know....
The riding in and around Charlotte won't get safer over time, it will become more dangerous unless the City and County start cracking down. The Red Light runner situation is abysmal, so is th e speeding. Scottsdale by comparison was a bike riders paradise as were all of the roads outside of the Phoenix metro area. The difference is that Phoenix got really serious about enforcing traffic violations. Riders are also required to burn lights after dark. I used to commute to work on my bike and although traffic was relatively heavy, the drivers generally very courteous and watchful of riders.
In Charlotte I have been contemplating going to the city to petition some changes. I know other riding groups and clubs have already. More is needed as can be attested by this young rider up at "The Lake" area north of the city.
A lot of corporations are moving to Charlotte with regional offices/manufacturing or a new corporate office (this was the case with my former company). N.C. is/was offering tax incentives to corporations($28M in our case) to move there. At the time when I was considering the move, it was said to move to Charlotte WITH a job as there were no (few) jobs available for those moving there looking for work...beyond lower pay service work. Housing prices were rebounding ahead of other regions as the demand is high..and prices were rising accordingly. In a number of home-development-areas half of the 1(+) hr commute is spent just getting to the expressway as road access out of neighborhoods gets clogged at rush hour(think..roads that many might like to ride). Charlotte is on track to become a mini-Atlanta. The longest MUP I found in the greater Charlotte area was in the city itself and about a mile long. Compare this to my local-ish area(though I live in the country) of Milwaukee with the 125 mile Oak Leaf Trail System(MUP) that wanders all over the city(through a dozen+ parks/parkways) and near surroundings. This connects to other trails that wander through the state.
As an indication of relative bike-culture, I found the two following maps interesting (same scale). They are national trail maps from Traillink. Naturally, as you zoom in more trails appear.
