Thank goodness a student at Providence High was not seriously injured after being struck by a car along Highway 51 this morning.
But damn the pretentious crap flowing from CMS and Charlotte DOT about fixing the situation. There is no fix. There is no fix because Charlotte DOT and all official Charlotte-dom was complicit in allowing the General Assembly and the trained monkeys at NC DOT to nickel-and-dime 485 down to four-lanes across Southeast Charlotte, thereby guaranteeing that 51 would have to remain a major commuter artery as 485 locks down each AM and PM.
Not a peep was heard as NC DOT declared that stretch of 485 to be a “rural bypass” rather than the urban commuting pipeline. Then again, NC DOT gets bonus points in Raleigh for paving every cow path in North Carolina in the name of “economic development.” Bless their hearts, they just don’t know no better.
Yet rather than press for a fix once that choke-point became obvious, what did official Charlotte rush to do? What did they press the General Assembly for?
Let’s see, a $44 million UNCC building Uptown, new taxes for a $150 million NASCAR Hall of Fame and the $160 million Wachovia Arts Tower for starters. Official Charlotte could have stood behind guys like John Rhodes, who were fighting the Down East kleptocracy in Raleigh for Charlotte’s fair-share of road-building money. Instead, Official Charlotte chose to support Jim Black and take-out Rhodes with a RINO cipher.
So, yeah, reduce the flippin’ speed limit along that stretch, sparky. That’ll magically up road capacity.
No thanks. I’ll just wait for the special signage when the beltway is all done — “I-485 — The Crackhead Beltway: Killing and Maiming Citizens Since 2010 2013 2015 2025 2030.”
