Anyone who has ever been near this area knows that major improvements are needed. Here are the results of their study: http://www.crabtree-valley-transportation-study.com/

Proposed superstreet improvement: http://www.crabtree-valley-transportation-study.com/pdfs/8sept2010/crabtree_valley_future_rendering.pdf

Looks pretty cool, I'm reading through the study (I am a masters CE student in Transportation). Basically there is a 4 lane bridge over the intersection in the Glenwood direction. I would say that it is somewhat similar to US-70 and Lumley/Westgate in design.

Construction will make things worse in the short term but this looks like a viable long term solution.

9/11/2010 10:16:12 PM

looks like a lot of $$$

I wonder if this money could be better used in the Wake County School System?

9/11/2010 10:26:46 PM

i'd be all for it

9/11/2010 10:30:14 PM

^^I agree WCPSS needs more money, but thats a huge slippery slope right there.

anyway, I haven't heard much in the news or anything so thought I would spread the word.

[Edited on September 11, 2010 at 10:30 PM. Reason : .]

9/11/2010 10:30:34 PM

^^^i don't know. do you wonder or not? only you can tell us that.

^^^^seems like a good idea to me. SOMETHING needs to be done over there, and adding another access off the beltline to the back side of crabtree sounds great.

[Edited on September 11, 2010 at 10:31 PM. Reason : ]

9/11/2010 10:30:45 PM

it's an interesting solution, but christ almighty it'll suck while they're working on it. i wonder if they factor the construction into their projected delay times...

9/11/2010 10:54:39 PM

I live off Ridge Road near this end and I hadn't heard of this until now. Increasingly there has been more and more traffic dumping out onto Ridge Road in the mornings and it looks like this might stop some of that. At one time Ridge was a nice quiet road but with all the people using it to cut through in the mornings and evenings it has made it the opposite. I need to read more into this though. Crossing my fingers.

9/12/2010 12:28:54 AM

my plan is simple

yankees must pay more taxes for the roads that we build simply because they move here.

9/12/2010 8:34:39 AM

it looks like they plan on closing most of the Glenwood ave exits on/off of the beltline? that will be terrible.

9/12/2010 9:41:18 AM

^ yeah i noticed that too. What is the parallel road to the right of Glenwood? Looks like there are putting the on-ramps there?

[Edited on September 12, 2010 at 9:47 AM. Reason : a]

9/12/2010 9:46:51 AM

looks like ridge road is going to sweep down and connect to glenwood.

9/12/2010 10:58:30 AM

man. I would move to the crabtree area right as they start something like this, I doubt I'll live here long enough to see it completed.

9/12/2010 11:11:47 AM

I looked at several of the proposals in more detail... some of them do have some of the exits changed at glenwood/beltline, but others keep it essentially the same. closing off that exit would defeat the fucking purpose of this and make it even more of a clusterfuck.

9/12/2010 11:22:21 AM

I think they should do smthg similar to Crossroads in Cary where they blocked off 1 entrance to Walnut on 440. They made it so you could either go right into Crossroads or turn off onto Buck Jones road,
which made it so you avoided the already crowded Walnut/Crossroads/BuckJones cluster. They added an extra exit that spit you out further down the road on Walnut between Cary Town Center and Crossroads. Maybe they could work BlueRidge Rd into the mix.

9/12/2010 1:41:17 PM

huh?

9/12/2010 1:45:32 PM

he's just talkin out his ass until someone who's actually put the time in thinking realistically chimes in and he can say yeah that's what he meant

i know because i, too, am a bullshitter.

9/12/2010 1:49:58 PM

just out of curiosity, what is the plan for the raleigh area greenway that runs behind this? i used to run that stretch quite often, and judging by the plans, i cant really tell what the impact will be.

9/12/2010 2:02:42 PM

Yeah not really sure what parts you guys are seeing (there are different alternatives) but in the picture I linked there is an exit for Glenwood still, and then the current ridge road exit would be expanded to a ridge road/mall exit. The way Glenwood is redesigned, it is very difficult to take that exit and then go to the mall so that all the traffic going onto Glenwood just to turn left into the mall is moved off of the main street and to the back of the mall, making a right into the back of the parking deck.

^http://www.crabtree-valley-transportation-study.com/pdfs/31aug2010/cvts_aerial_%20ped-bike.pdf
They list that they plan to "complete blue ridge greenway" as a task.

[Edited on September 12, 2010 at 2:14 PM. Reason : .]

9/12/2010 2:09:28 PM

yes there is an exit off of the beltline onto westbound glenwood, but it looks like most of the other exits (from eastbound glenwood to the beltline) are not there.

9/12/2010 4:23:54 PM

If you look at all the designs (A1-A5), each direction of Glenwood has access to each direction of the beltline. (Like http://www.crabtree-valley-transportation-study.com/pdfs/31aug2010/cvts_aerial_cva_a5B.pdf )

9/12/2010 5:14:20 PM

yes, i mentioned that earlier. but in the rendering you posted, it does not.

9/12/2010 5:15:08 PM

I think I see them but they are very tiny and basically blend in to the background... and I only see them zoomed in.

[Edited on September 12, 2010 at 5:32 PM. Reason : either way I don't think they plan on limiting access to the beltline from glenwood]

9/12/2010 5:31:49 PM

I was just saying I liked the way they enhanced the Crossroads Exit at the beltline/us1/64 junction. It would be nice if they could do something like that at Crabtree.

9/12/2010 5:48:41 PM

are they going to have ferries when it floods?

9/12/2010 6:00:09 PM

This is interesting. I hadn't noticed that it was so bad around Crabtree. I guess you just get used to it and learn your little tricks and stuff.

In the future, I can definitely see the traffic around the mall becoming more and more pressing.

9/13/2010 10:48:04 PM

I honestly never noticed the giant mountain shown in the topography when I take that Crabtree Valley backroad around the clusterfucks at the main intersections. If this area needs a superstreet then Independence Blvd in Charlotte needs a superfuckinstreet.

9/14/2010 12:08:39 AM

$20 says no matter what they do, this all still floods like a bitch the next time a good hurricane rolls through.

9/14/2010 12:24:31 AM

Quote :

"I think I see them but they are very tiny and basically blend in to the background... and I only see them zoomed in."

Looks to me like all the exits are in working order (from the pdf in the original post). South/Eastbound Glenwood to outer 440 is there, but it's hidden behind a hill. Zoom in and look for the yellow turn lanes.

9/14/2010 8:42:31 AM

yeah, i just zoomed in and got a better look. i got bent out of shape over nothing.

As far as the "mountain"... vertical exaggeration.

9/14/2010 12:33:44 PM

Quote :

"$20 says no matter what they do, this all still floods like a bitch the next time a good hurricane rolls through."

Crabtree Valley is a flood plain. So yes, it will always flood if it rains enough.

The transportation study was to inform people that if something isn't done, it's going to get worse. Moreover, if they fix it now, less people will be impacted by construction than if they fix it later.

9/14/2010 1:34:16 PM

Quote :

"Independence Blvd in Charlotte needs a superfuckinstreet"

Independence needs to be demolished

9/14/2010 1:40:57 PM

If it keep on rainin' the levee gonna break
If it keep on rainin' the levee gonna break
Some people still sleepin', some people are wide awake

9/14/2010 2:11:57 PM

^^Every time I visit Japan I can't help but think how efficient (but $Texas) an elevated highway directly over the center of Independence that would pick up right outside CLT downtown and spit out near 485 or further out.

Fuck it, it's a mountain. IT'S IN THE PLANS.

9/14/2010 10:57:55 PM

Shall we take the ferry or ford the river?

9/17/2010 11:18:17 AM

How's that Crabtree ferry coming along?

9/29/2010 8:53:35 PM

When was that pic taken?

9/29/2010 9:18:12 PM

Pretty sure that was the June 2005 super flood! Or 06...One of those years. It was crazy..

9/30/2010 1:09:00 PM

^ Yep whenever it was Alberto came in.

9/30/2010 2:17:08 PM

^ I'm definitely not a civil engineer, but did anyone honestly think building a mall in a what, 50-100 year floodplain without the proper drainage precautions, might have been a bad idea?

9/30/2010 8:52:30 PM

Quote :

"50-100 year floodplain"

You mean like.. 5 year?

Under current codes/laws/whatever you can no longer build in similar areas.

9/30/2010 10:46:49 PM

^^of course they did, but the low cost of the land and the relative wide flat terrain made the occasional flood well worth it economically.

10/1/2010 7:20:09 AM