DOT has plan to ease traffic on Community House Road

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Each morning, cars back up at a three-way stop on Community House Road at Bryant Farms Road.

The DOT came up with a new plan to ease traffic when it found out the road will be continued across Interstate 485 in the next few years, increasing traffic from 15,000 cars a day to 18,000 by 2015. By 2025, that number could increase to 30,000.

Now, the DOT plans to build a roundabout.  It said the roundabout will create a continuous flow of traffic, but that’s exactly what some neighbors don’t want.

“If the traffic doesn’t stop, we will never be able to get out,” Ellen Bacon said.

Bacon said it's already hard to pull out of her neighborhood. She wants a stoplight.

“It would stop the traffic so people can walk through and we can get out of our communities,” she said.

But project manager Joe Frey said a roundabout is the most logical solution. He gave Eyewitness News a sneak peek of the plans, with two turn lanes and increased capacity.

“Roundabouts are safer,” he said. “You have fewer accidents and less serious accidents.”

The project will also complete sidewalks near Community House Middle School.

Eyewitness News told that to Alex Brinkman when we found him walking his dogs in the grass.

“I feel uncomfortable,” he said. “I see tire tracks go into the dirt.”

There will also be more improvements later this summer -- extra turn lanes on Community House at Ballantyne Commons and Ballantyne Commons at Johnston to help drivers get to I-485 more quickly.

Work on Community House Road will start sometime next year. For more information, click here.

WSOC