CHARLOTTE — People who live in one west Charlotte neighborhood are fed up with the traffic, which they say can get unbearable at rush hour, but the city and state says they’re working on solutions.
People who live along Old Dowd Road say they go to Belmont for healthcare, food, and shopping because it’s a lot closer than Uptown Charlotte. But in the last couple of years, the quick drive has turned into bumper-to-bumper traffic -- that’s because people are using the road as a cut-through to get to Gaston County.
Josh Porter says he can’t go anywhere from 3-5 p.m. He said everyone stuck on Interstate 485 or anywhere near the airport ends up following a shortcut on the GPS. They get to Old Dowd Road and end up creating more traffic.
“It actually slows you down,” Porter told Channel 9’s Ken Lemon.
Porter and people who live in the area watch the cars snake by, while trying to make a left-hand turn out of a subdivision.
“It would take me 15 minutes to turn onto the road, and maybe another 15, 20 minutes to get down to anywhere near Wilkinson Boulevard,” Porter said.
That should be a five-minute drive in normal conditions.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson with the North Carolina Department of Transportation said they’re working with the city of Charlotte to put traffic lights at Wallace Neel Road at West Boulevard, and intersections along Dixie River Road and Old Dowd Road.
John Kennedy wants changes here, but it won’t help him. He described the traffic in one word.
“Unbearable,” Kennedy said.
He believes it’s unstoppable because there’s new construction happening all over this part of the county. That means more cars are coming. He has lived in the area for 70 years, but he’s already working with a realtor.
“It’s just more than we can deal with,” Kennedy said.
NCDOT said they don’t have an estimated time of when the traffic lights will be installed.
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