Crucial_Infra

Tampa is able to reach down into Ft Meyers/Cape Coral

One advantage Charlotte has over Nashville for MLB potential is population within 100 mile radius. Last I checked, Charlotte had 7.3 million compared to Nashville’s 3.3 million. Raleigh, fwiw, has 5.6 million. Nashville has one of the smallest 100 mile radius populations in the South. The only major cities with smaller populations are Jacksonville (3.2), New Orleans (~3) and Memphis (2.6). Select southern cities 100 mile radius pop Orlando 8,062,244 Atlanta 7,942,852 Dallas 7,720,460 Tampa 7,487,905 Charlotte 7,269,861 Houston 6,938,672 Miami 5,950,850 Raleigh 5,584,991 Louisville 5,289,221 Austin 5,012,963 San Antonio 4,173,352 Nashville 3,323,964 Jacksonville 3,169,401 New Orleans 2,979,683 Memphis 2,595,837 And here are my random notes on 150 mile radius population from 2020. Nashville fares better here but it’s still not great compared to its potential expansion competitors, though it can take solace in being just behind Houston and ahead of Miami (note: half of Miami and Houston’s radius population is fish)

Around the crown 10K

I’m loving the new dramatic warm filter NCDOT is using at I-85 and Concord Mills

Question: How many flag poles are there? With ACC expansion rumors, might be relevant. Nevermind: I just counted. It’s 20. So plenty of room!

File this one under “Big, if true” https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/report-austins-population-could-hit-22-million-by-2100-third-largest-metro-in-the-us/amp/

But we could’ve used it as an excuse to build another urban loop up there. (I do get a kick out of looking up traffic in the Triad during rush-hour. All green in Greensboro.)

This is old news but I rewatched the video last night and I see we’ve grown some palm trees in Charlotte! https://www.cnbc.com/video/2023/07/11/americas-top-states-for-business-2023-is-north-carolina.html

Some days I like to peruse the traffic cams in Charlotte and Raleigh to compare and contrast the vibes. Yes, we should not celebrate traffic and yet, it’s a good sign for a bustling city P.S. When I become governor, I’m updating all NCDOT traffic cameras.

I actually think Raleigh might be the best market of the three. It’s farther from the Braves sphere of influence than Charlotte and Nashville and its got serious baseball pedigree and connection to baseball crazy — and totally untapped — eastern North Carolina. TV market comparable and metro growing faster than Nashville and Charlotte. Also Nationals don’t have nearly the interest in Raleigh as the Braves do in Charlotte and Nashville. Nashville’s biggest issue imo is its relatively close proximity to three other MLB markets: Atlanta, Cincinnati, and St Louis (all within about 4 hrs). Raleigh is closer to DC and Baltimore but only DC is within ~ 4 hrs. And Charlotte is only close to Atlanta (~4 hrs). But as has been pointed out, market is only so important when billionaires are willing to step up.

These suggested names somehow missed the most obvious and correct choice: Greensboro/Winston-Salem Intl Airport!

Speaking of PTI and boom, what ever happened to this bust? https://flyfrompti.com/airport-authority-votes-to-change-airport-name/

Also, don’t sleep on Raleigh for MLB. Yes, it’s a longer shot for a number of reasons but the market is just as big. https://mlbraleigh.com

Nashville boosters seem pretty gung-ho about MLB too. Is there enough room for both cities to get a team? Doubtful. If either get it, the other will be on the outside looking in for a long time imo. Look no further than the Triangle and MLS.

I almost always use airport codes when I’m *writing * about an airport. When I’m saying it out loud, it’s a mixed bag. I always say “R-D-U” but never say “C-L-T.” Does anyone actually say C-L-T or do you just say Charlotte? I never say A-T-L either.

Has anyone noticed that there appears to have been a style guide change with state DOTs for airport signage? Not long ago there used to be highway signs spelling out the full airport name “Charlotte/Douglas Intl Airport” and same for signs in Triangle and Triad. Now these signs all read “CLT Airport” or “RDU Airport.” In Greensboro, the new signs are “PTI - GSO Airport.

I’m not a robot. (in case anyone wants to adjust the aggressive captcha for this site)

Forgive me if this is common knowledge but will the diagonal runway be closed once the fourth parallel is built or will CLT keep that as a fifth option? Also, will CLT build a fifth parallel someday? I believe there are only 5 airports in the world with 5 parallel runways today: ORD, ATL, DFW, Shanghai, Istanbul.

Those three parallel runways on the west side are gonna be in a super tight configuration (something like 4460’). Flying around on Google earth, only O’Hare has as narrow a set-up for 3 runways (~4500’). The next narrowest configuration I could find were: Detroit, Miami, Atlanta, Frankfurt — all around 1.1 to 1.2 miles and all except ATL are staggered runways so not truly parallel like CLT will be. Just found it interesting. Also feel free to check my work which I doubt would stand up to peer review. Edit to add: when it comes to 4-parallel runway configurations: CLT will have about 1.79 mi between the four. That’s comparable to DTW (1.7 mi), and DFW (1.7 mi) and not nearly as tight as LAX (1.18 mi), ATL (1.26 mi) and Istanbul (IST) with 4 parallels within 1.1 miles. IST, ATL, and DFW have 5-parallel runways of course but was just trying to compare the narrowest 4 runways.

Hoping it’s still at least 500’ for skyline analytic purposes

Can someone explain why this was found in Cary? Why would LH’s plans for a development in Charlotte be filed in Cary?

Orlando is still a much larger CSA

I remember when the RTP census tract finally showed up on Twitter’s @evertract and the urbanists lost their minds. They’d never seen such an abomination but Apple saw that and was like “Yes please!” edit: yes I know this isn’t the tract apple is located in

That guard house is gonna be epic

I wonder if Apple plans to petition to have a new interchange built nearby because as it is today, I don’t see a real direct path off of 540. The buildings will be mere feet from the highway but it looks like you’ll need to traverse a bunch of roads to get to the campus. I guess the plan is to exit 540 at NC-55 and circle back to Little Drive where I assume there’ll be a entrance to campus.