GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Leaders are looking at a new plan that could bring relief to the bumper-to-bumper traffic from Gaston County to Charlotte.
Leaders are considering a new bridge that would run over the Catawba River from Belmont to the I-485 area.
While thousands of people move into Gaston County, there are still only a few options to commute to Charlotte.
Mark Cramer, executive director of the Greater Gaston Development Corp., said the area must be prepared with new roads and bridges.
“It’ll overwhelm you. You can’t stop it and so what you need to do is plan for it,” Cramer said.
Cramer’s organization and transportation planning leaders are pushing for a new route called “Catawba Crossings” over the Catawba River to the south. It would run from South Point Road and connect with West Boulevard near I-485.
“It’s highly important, we think, both to the Charlotte community and certainly the Gaston County community to open up that connectivity,” Cramer said.
But Catawba Crossings isn’t currently a high priority for the North Carolina Department of Transportation. It would cost tens of millions of dollars to build the bridge, and it’s not funded yet.
Leaders are currently trying to get an analysis of how the bridge could affect drivers in the area in order to get the funding to make it happen.
Leaders said if they do get the funding, construction is still years away.
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