Cap over Belk Freeway (277)

[Madison Parkitect]

19 hours ago, RANYC said:

I'm wondering if the leadership frustration issue is really a structural one relating to governance.  In a nutshell, in Charlotte, the buck never stops.

City-Manager is an Operational Excellence Role, not a Visionary Leadership One

There's this bureaucratic machine over which Marcus Jones is CEO, although I'd liken Marcus to more of a COO than CEO as there appears to be little requirement for visionary leadership in his seat.  The machine appears largely rudimentary in the majority of its preoccupations (I don't want to knock rudimentary as many of those tasks are essential to operating the city and are often taken for granted by the shifty and attention-deficit masses).

This COO gets its sense of priorities and marching orders from a mayor and council, but both the mayor and council fill 2-year terms which seem like hardly enough time to see through both the design and implementation of strategic goals.  Hard for visionary leadership to build any real momentum, and the bureaucracy likely establishes reinforcing feedback loops to sort of do things in the way that they've always been done because that's most comfortable for individuals throughout the bureaucracy who have established their turf and fiefdoms, and see little to no upside in significant change.

UDO got done and was huge - Taiwo was a sort of sacrificial lamb in endeavoring to do it - he positioned himself for a new role elsewhere and even after all that effort here, he barely got the thing to pass - a one vote margin.

2-Year/Part-Time Term Mayorship and Council leave little time for Executive Supervision and Visionary Change-Making

At any rate, the overseers and disrupters of the bureaucracy's inertia, are only in for 2 years and even then, only in those roles on a part-time basis, and are hardly able to exercise real, executive challenge.  I suspect there's lots of glossing over and rubber-stamping.

I saw Braxton Winston, deputy mayor, recording the Hornets-Celtics game a few weeks back.  I pointed him out to my brother-in-law, and we both questioned whether Braxton was working for the hornets, the arena, or a photography crew contracted by either of those entities.  Also, I don't remember him recusing himself from the arena renovation vote, although perhaps there was no conflict there or perhaps he's in a new gig.  Also, for the record, he did vote against the deal with the arena/hornets.  When city council-members are part-timers and paid like part-timers, they've got other jobs and gigs and so the "surface area" for potential conflicts can be quite vast.

Outside Bodies

Changes do happen in this city, but take winding paths to materialization through these government-funded satellite bodies.  Charlotte Center City Partners, for example.  Its CEO makes as much or perhaps more than Marcus Jones, and it receives 60% of its funding from the city.  CCCP thus acts as a type of executive committee for a narrowly-defined yet critically important geography of the city, pushing changes and initiatives meant to build the city's competitive edge and to respond to ecosystem shifts with bearing on the city's future.  But it's not elected and not directly accountable to voters.

100% correct. It's insane that a city the size of Charlotte has both two-year terms and pays the Council members extremely part-time pay for what should be, and often is, a full-time job. A system like we have ensures nothing big gets done.

[joenc]

Meanwhile over in Hamburg: https://www.vox.com/2015/1/9/7520805/hamburg-highway

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger_Deckel

It's kind of sad that I can't imagine anything like this ever happening in current-day America, much less Charlotte.

Edited January 31, 2023 by joenc

[DonkeyKong]

What is the latest on the construction of the rail trail bridge over 277?  When are they planning to start?

[kermit]

I would like to have this on the Belk River please

 

 

[kermit]

Thrilled to see a story in Southern Urbanism Quarterly on 5 Southern Freeways that need to be removed. The Belk is #2, I am always overjoyed when people other than us discuss this!

Quote

Charlotte, North Carolina | I-277

I-277 is referred to as the “noose” around Uptown Charlotte It completely encircles the Central Business District (known as Uptown) and cuts it off from the booming South End district. Notably, the southern segment of the highway bisected Charlotte’s Black community. There have been some calls to cap the southern end, but that’s not enough in this case. Removing the southern portion while closing some ramps on the northern segment would have transformative effects

https://southernurbanism.org/blog/southern-freeway-removal-phil-veasley

[J-Rob]

I respect that he only calls for closing the Southern portion. His plan seems more practical and approachable than what some people suggest. 

[RANYC]

11 hours ago, kermit said:

Thrilled to see a story in Southern Urbanism Quarterly on 5 Southern Freeways that need to be removed. The Belk is #2, I am always overjoyed when people other than us discuss this!

https://southernurbanism.org/blog/southern-freeway-removal-phil-veasley

I love how the Charlotte photo used in this article really conveys the prominence of our power lines, more so than in any of the other cities' pics.  Power lines are like front and center in this pic.  Such an old pic too.  Appears to be taken before any of Legacy Union was built.

Edited April 11, 2023 by RANYC

[NCMike1990]

1 hour ago, RANYC said:

I love how the Charlotte photo used in this article really conveys the prominence of our power lines, more so than in any of the other cities' pics.  Power lines are like front and center in this pic.  Such an old pic too.  Appears to be taken before any of Legacy Union was built.

Looks like the pic was taken in 2010. They couldn’t find a more current photo?

[willdarden]

Interesting last couple paragraphs in this CBJ article about the Queensbridge development... Anyone want to speculate??

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2023/05/25/queensbridge-collective-official-groundbreaking.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_23&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s

"Dodson said Queensbridge Collective will serve as something of a bridge between uptown and South End. And it seems the development may not be Riverside's only foray into Charlotte. Dodson joked that she wanted the developer's next project to cover Interstate 277 to "truly bridge the gap between South End and uptown." 

"Are you up for it?" she asked.

To which Scacco replied, "We might have some ideas."

 

[RANYC]

6 hours ago, willdarden said:

Interesting last couple paragraphs in this CBJ article about the Queensbridge development... Anyone want to speculate??

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2023/05/25/queensbridge-collective-official-groundbreaking.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_23&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s

"Dodson said Queensbridge Collective will serve as something of a bridge between uptown and South End. And it seems the development may not be Riverside's only foray into Charlotte. Dodson joked that she wanted the developer's next project to cover Interstate 277 to "truly bridge the gap between South End and uptown." 

"Are you up for it?" she asked.

To which Scacco replied, "We might have some ideas."

 

Yes, I read that as well and was intrigued.  Glad to hear that our economic development guru appears to be an advocate for capping, or it’s at least on her radar.  Perhaps it’s working its way into the 1.2 billion stadium renovation?  At one point a while ago just before she left office, Julie Eiselt posted about the creation of a civic gathering “stadium district,” leveraging  a partially capped 277 for some of it.  

[kermit]

Austin gets $1 million federal grant to study capping I-35. 

https://www.kxan.com/traffic/traffic-projects/1m-federal-grant-awarded-to-austins-i-35-cap-and-stitch-program/

Buffalo gets $55 million for cap construction

https://www.wivb.com/news/local-news/buffalo/kensington-expressway-project-gets-55-million-federal-grant/

Even Fresno gets $600k for a pedestrian bridge study.

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article272626266.html

Meanwhile in Charlotte…

Edited July 9, 2023 by kermit

[kermit]

Some discussion of the lack of carmageddon following the Philadelphia I-95 bridge collapse.

If severing the primary east coast interstate artery didn’t cause traffic disasters then removing the Belk will barely be a ripple.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2023/08/25/i-95-bridge-collapse-carmageddon/

[Windsurfer]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

Some discussion of the lack of carmageddon following the Philadelphia I-95 bridge collapse.

If severing the primary east coast interstate artery didn’t cause traffic disasters then removing the Belk will barely be a ripple.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2023/08/25/i-95-bridge-collapse-carmageddon/

The traffic apps are definitely a plus; I use google in order to walk out the front door these days;   however, the gist,  to me, of the article seemed to be the rapidity at which the bridge was repaired.

[kermit]

The ‘make it a river’ meme has reached our neighbor to the South

 

Edited February 8 by kermit

[kermit]

I am unable to describe how excited I am that “make that stupid road a river!” Is going viral!!!!!!

 

Edited February 9 by kermit

[kermit]

Buffalo residents push back against a freeway cap plan saying that it does not do enough to repair the neighborhood or improve air quality. Lesson here for Charlotte I think.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-02-14/buffalo-s-1-billion-highway-fix-doesn-t-go-far-enough-critics-say

 

[ArchiCLT]

Even Charlotte FC wants to turn John Belk Freeway into a river!

[CLT Development]

On 2/8/2024 at 8:07 PM, kermit said:

I am unable to describe how excited I am that “make that stupid road a river!” Is going viral!!!!!!

 

Originated on this board in 2005, and it got me banned 

[tozmervo]

On 2/24/2024 at 1:31 PM, CLT Development said:

Originated on this board in 2005, and it got me banned 

Which seems crazy. Monsoons create rivers, after all.

[videtur quam contuor]

iyk,yk

[CLT Development]

26 minutes ago, tozmervo said:

Which seems crazy. Monsoons create rivers, after all.

God I hope he somehow still lurks on this page.

[Boricua]

Monsoon was the father of all contrarians lol. Comeback Monsoon!

[Norm2]

The more I think about it, the more I think that the Belk should be converted into a multi-modal grand boulevard, rather than keeping the freeway as-is and just adding a cap.

[CLT Development]

On 3/9/2024 at 12:56 AM, Norm2 said:

The more I think about it, the more I think that the Belk should be converted into a multi-modal grand boulevard, rather than keeping the freeway as-is and just adding a cap.

I definitely agree, but it'll take a lot to get that highway to grade.

[Crucial_Infra]

2 hours ago, CLT Development said:

I definitely agree, but it'll take a lot to get that highway to grade.

Do we really need Crowders Mountain?