nicholas

Couldn't grab a pic from my motorcycle but demo has started. A good chunk of the building at the corner has come down.

Semi-monthly rant incoming... Do new cars not come equipped with turn signals anymore? I rarely ever see anyone use them, and obviously I can't read minds. I propose a mandatory 72 hr jail sentence for anyone not using turn signals, and also a 72 hr jail sentence for people driving in the left lane when not actively passing another car. Also, why are there SO MANY damn trucks in South End? I parked next to a new Silverado 1500 at Harris Teeter, and its windowline was literally at about the same level as my car's roofline. Predictably, there was not a single scratch anywhere and it had an obligatory bed cover to display how infrequently it is ever used as a truck.

The reality is that it's going to be spotty for a while because we're really far behind on bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. It's (very) slowly getting better, but unfortunately there's relatively little money going towards these projects, and the general public pushback makes it hard to reach the tipping point of widespread use due to the slow rate of construction. We have to take what we can get, and continue pushing for more. I suspect a couple branches off of the Rail Trail, especially down Summit and Tremont, would generally garner widespread support (and maybe even some corporate funding) because everyone sees how active those streets already are. But most people see Matheson as it currently is (an automotive sewer) and until people walking/biking becomes a ubiquitous sight, it is hard to shift the mindset of people along that corridor.

The Model Y is a much smaller vehicle than pretty much all of the other vehicles you listed. The Model X is moderately closer in size and weighs around 5,200 lbs depending on trim level. The base Cybertruck is just over 6,600. Body-on-frame ICE vehicles such as F-150s, Silverado/Sierras, Tahoe/Suburban/Yukon/Escalades, etc will always be heavier than unibody vehicles like the Equinox. Unfortunately, EPA regulations encourage these larger heavier vehicles because their emissions requirements are less stringent at that level.

Also. If the plan all along was to run the trail up Jordan Pl, along Matheson, and over to Kaleido, I don't really understand why it was designed to head back towards Brevard before turning onto Jordan Pl. Probably should have just stayed on N Davidson till it got to Jordan Pl. Especially since it doesn't even go directly past the 25th St station (although the regular 25th St sidewalks provide a more than adequate connection).

Isn't that spur basically just used to turn around the Amtrak?

There has definitely been some cleanup at that corner in the past day or two. And the McLaren showroom next door hasn't had any cars visible the past few times I've driven past.

On that subject, I wish more people rode. Especially for trips that don't require cargo space. I've put 10k miles on mine since Feb last year, and it's so much easier to park and get through traffic on it than in my car. Plus there are more options than ever in the motorcycle world, especially for entry-level bikes.

Not OP but the obvious answer is to stop catering EVERYTHING to cars. Whether a car is EV or ICE doesn't really matter because both still push a car-based lifestyle. There are differing negative effects, but the ones from ICEs are much more in your face than EVs. And since cars are absolutely everywhere, people feel less guilty driving an EV than they do an ICE. Automakers will follow the path of least resistance. Producing EVs reportedly requires a lot more minerals per car (about six times as many) than ICEs, and if the only way for automakers to survive going forward is to build EVs, they will source the necessary materials and metals from regions where it is easier to exploit environmental and human protections, which obviously creates different problems that are much less visible to most consumers. Corporations have shown repeatedly that they will not do the right thing, particularly when something is way off the radar of the average person. I will always argue that many people (probably a noticeably large majority of people) largely view driving as a chore and cars as appliances, but are largely trapped in a car-based society, and the automotive industry certainly wants to keep it that way...

Who is going to slow down when the road looks like this? That looks like 65+ mph would be a more than comfortable speed to drive at.

Other than not continuing the facade up to the top floor (or being a bit taller), I don't hate this. Especially since the storefront will be preserved/rebuilt. The other existing buildings aren't really architecturally interesting and are also in difficult spots on the lot. If the landscaping really does look like the rendering, it will be much more inviting to for pedestrians and cyclists than what's currently there.

Are we ever going to start enforcing basic rules of the road again? (Other than "speeding" on 485 where enforcement benefits absolutely nobody). I grab a drink and sit on that patio once a month or so, and it is astounding how many cars pass by at night with no lights on (or highbeams on at all times), dented body panels from crashing into other cars, etc. Last Thursday I saw a Cadillac Escalade crash into a Mercedes crossover on Caldwell St across from the Midnight Diner. The CMPD officer literally parked across the street was slooooooooow to react, even as the Escalade driver attempted to escape through the gravel parking lot across from the Hyatt House. I had also just witnessed the same Escalade crash into the median a block before at the 4th St intersection.

Is the McLaren showroom part of this project? Or will guests be able to visit Charlotte and buy a McLaren next door.

I drive by the Amelie's apartment building several times a week...the proportions do not look good in person. It just goes on and on and on without any balconies or anything to break up the monotony. Maybe the finished product will look better (somehow) but if the siding mostly looks like what's currently on the Amelie's facing side then it will look terrible.

Heading up old US 29 towards Kannapolis, looks like Rogers Lake Rd will be rerouted onto a new bridge over 29 and the train tracks, maybe over Ridge Ave as well. On one hand it is nice to not have to deal with at-grade crossings, but man sometimes it feels like it's getting so much more inconvenient to get around because there are a continuously decreasing number of track crossings.

Pic of the site from yesterday. Didn't realize there was going to be a crane here.

Is there a reason that road projects (or at least, projects impacting roads) take foreverrrrrrrr in Charlotte, or are the people involved just incompetent/wildly inefficient? They've been working on that for like three years. Same for Sugar Creek Rd between N Tryon and the Blue Line. In my neighborhood they had one of the entrances closed for around a month to replace a water/sewer pipe, which they finally completed, but they have not yet came back to repave the street that had been completely ripped up (they did, however, pour new curbs).

Does anyone even really go to the Johnston YMCA? I drive past pretty regularly at extremely varying times and don't see many cars in its parking lot, or people around in general.

Charlotte has the worst traffic signal coordination I have ever witnessed. I also think it plays into the dangerous driving habits we all see regularly because people get annoyed at catching a red light at every intersection.

A few renderings of Project Grace. This will replace the library currently on the block with a newer, nicer one, and add a museum as well. A mixed-use development is slated to be added at a later time on the southern side of the block (where the current library is located). It will replace a few surface lots and a small old office building on this side of the block. This is the current library (on the opposite corner of the block from these renderings. The parking deck in the middle will remain.)

Rivian (and virtually every other non-legacy EV automaker except Tesla) is in an extremely precarious position. It is losing money on each R1T/R1S sold (around $35k per unit if I recall correctly). I think it breaks even on the Amazon electric vans, but unless something changes drastically, scaling up production will just magnify Rivian's losses. Maybe the coming R2 and R3 models boost production enough for supplier contracts to be re-negotiated which could help control per-unit costs to some degree, but aside from a drastic change in per-unit costs (or merging with an established automaker), I don't see how Rivian survives long term. Lucid is in an even worse spot, losing over six figures per vehicle. Even very early on, Tesla was reportedly making a profit (or at worst breaking even) on each vehicle produced even if Tesla itself was still in the negative. Accordingly, as production ramped up, Tesla eventually became a profitable company as a whole. I think landing the Toyota battery plant near Greensboro will end up being the best-case scenario for NC. Subsidies for future EV production facilities should only be pursued if a legacy automaker is involved because too many of these EV startups are going to die off within the next decade.

I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw actual live construction workers on Sugar Creek Rd next to the Tryon St intersection yesterday. I thought they had just closed off a couple of lanes and then somehow forgot to come back.

Is this in regard to the peanut-shaped traffic circle? I think it is probably the most ideal solution for that situation, especially with its completely separate cycle track. Both of those side streets are very very lightly traveled, but the alternative would probably be traditional traffic signals which is extremely annoying when intersecting roads are offset like that. Hillsborough St has several roundabouts in close proximity to each other, and is now much more pedestrian friendly than I remember it being prior to the road diet.

^this. I could not be less of a Tesla fan, but there is no reason whatsoever to buy a Vinfast over a Model Y. I give Vinfast until 2030 before it either goes bankrupt or withdraws from the US market. Still think the most likely scenario is that Vinfast fails, and the Chatham County factory is acquired by another automaker. I've said this before but now that the legacy automakers are gradually rolling out EVs, it will be virtually impossible for a newcomer to survive. Tesla was in an extremely unique situation and is the outlier, but even companies such as Lucid and Rivian that have seen moderate success, are in precarious situations for long-term survival. Both of those companies are reportedly losing money on each vehicle produced, whereas Tesla had managed to at minimum break even (and usually make a profit) on each car produced very early on in its history. Scaling to larger production volumes will obviously amplify the per-unit profit or loss.