allthingsplanes

I will too. I don't think 85 is the right highway for this point though as it feels very much "city" while driving down it. Even the burbs - from Kannapolis to Concord and then down at Gastonia area - feel like what you expect in a city. But I would agree with this assessment for 77 except for uptown and a little bit south to the state line. And especially for 485 in many stretches (though that's probably a different consideration). The nice tree coverage we have here masks a lot of the urban feel from the highway. And I think that what the above post is referencing is much more about larger office buildings and/or residential complexes. I know many on here like to argue this point, but I routinely drive through cities that are either the same size as Charlotte or even smaller and think that they feel so much more urban. Nashville (poking that bear) is one of them. So is Austin. And while Atlanta is obviously so much bigger, they started somewhere and we feel behind them in this regard - anywhere you drive around Atlanta you'll see some 10-20 story buildings. We really don't have that. I also think that IF city leaders cared about this and wanted to do something, they would focus on building up the area by the airport on 85. Most airports that are even smaller have a clearly marked interchange sending traffic to the airport without stopping at the underpass. We barely have any signage, especially with airport information (terminals/concourses/airlines/etc.).

That is weather dependent. Or I should say wind. A south wind - they were going the direction you saw. Go there on a day when the wind is from the north and they’ll come the other way. I prefer the way you saw them. Going the other way they mostly stay farther away.

I'm not sure I fully agree with this assessment - IF everything gets built out and they get some good interest from retail/commercial. Even Birkdale Village has a ton of residential homes attached to that development. Farmington looks to me like it has about the same amount of retail space as Birkdale, if not more, when you throw in the medical offices and what looks like it could be another grocery store... But I truly hope I'm right and it's not just super heavy residential (think Vermillion in Huntersville).

I wonder if it's just difficult to have enough staff this time of year to operate everything at full staff. We don't have season passes this year but have been regulars over the last 6 years and it wasn't usually like this. The only part that was normally inefficient was food service. Some of the rides do load and unload slowly - not sure why they can't match the model of Disney or Universal (though Fury and a couple of others are pretty efficient).

What project is that? I'm not seeing it...

New 680 bed residence hall.

Definitely my favorite coaster. I just love the speed!!

I'll never forget about 10-12 years ago I attended a conference in Boston at the convention center. I was surprised to find I-90 running directly beneath a huge complex, including the convention center, Copley Place mall, the Prudential Center, and several hotels. Reading up on it the air rights are available over much of that highway in order to reconnect parts of the city that were cut off by the highway...

^ I've said the same thing numerous times. Never gotten a good answer as to why...

And why is that?

RDF21 - please do not stop giving us good info. Same for KJHburg! Even if it's from a slightly different perspective...

Does anyone know the latest on the new TopGolf location? I haven't seen any construction beginning on that yet...

They route all of that traffic through JFK or Chicago. Other traffic goes through LAX. Dallas has it just from volume of flights they have.

1) Ceiling heights are the exact same 2) The bathroom changes did NOT tighten the hallways - the hallways are essentially untouched in terms of walls. The only thing was moving some doorways for the new bathrooms (Scott). In Holshouser 2 of the hallways were removed to create the new suites. 3) Definitely did NOT remove the second floor Not that I disagree with your sentiments but wanted to make sure the record was straight.

Finally something... So I wonder if after the county approval they'll actually move forward with construction...

No - it looks to me like it's on the northwest side of the interchange there. On google maps there's "Lake City Church Langtree Campus" on that plot. But I could be totally wrong.

Cool. That's a pretty nice temporary solution (though I know "temporary" could be years).

So I saw this when I was at the airport a couple of weeks ago. Is this the new "canopy" that is taking the place of what was in the renderings?

Fair point. And I'm okay with them there (to stop the cheating that happens with people weaving in and out) as long as they're replaced regularly. But I don't understand why they weren't put in right before these open?

Yeah, but look at a) how ugly those posts look in the Katy photo and b) how much more space they have around them separating them from the cars...

I'd love a concrete update as well. I have seen some activity - including what looks like soil samples and coring. And you can clearly see where vehicles continue to go down deep into the woods regularly. But yes, it seemed like more should be happening by now. Along with the development itself I wonder if anyone has updates on the widened interchange there with 485. That work was supposed to have been done by the developer of one of the other neighborhoods in that area, but it seems like they've somehow shed that responsibility.

^ Wow. I am not surprised about the rapids ride, though it does surprise me a little that they're getting rid of it totally vs. improving it. Makes me think they have something big planned for both plots. The Dinosaurs Alive thing is not a surprise. Honestly, once you've gone through once, there's almost no reason to go through again...

Ahh okay. I haven't been to Vegas in about 14 years!

I was on 77 last weekend and saw a lot of reflectors already installed. They are much needed - our roads are horrible to drive on during rain - can't see the lane markings at all. And especially given the fact so many areas have little lighting.

That's so impressive. It's crazy to me a few of the states with really tall buildings! I'm from Oklahoma so I knew about Devon Tower, but places like Des Moines and Little Rock have higher towers than some more "cosmopolitan" states. And there are some other really fascinating ones: Wyoming - the university residence hall being the tallest building A couple of state capitol buildings Virginia - tallest being in Virginia Beach Nevada - honestly I've never heard of the Palazzo resort (yeah shame on me) and had no idea it was the tallest. Also, there's a taller one that's been on hold since 2009. And I didn't realize that most of the casinos on the strip are actually in "Paradise"