Build a Better Boulevard
2015 North Carolina Marvin Collins Planning Award - Outstanding Comprehensive Plan/Multi-jurisdictional Planning Award
Belmont, Cramerton, Mt Holly, NC
BUILD A BETTER BOULEVARD, HWY74 CORRIDOR MASTER PLAN
City of Belmont, Town of Cramerton, Town of Mt Holly
The Highway 74 Corridor Master Plan covers approximately four milesbetween the South Fork and Catawba Rivers. The three municipalitiesretained Metrocology to create a Corridor plan to re-imagine the non-descriptstretch, regarded as an eyesore by local residents.
Metrocology determined that only focusing on the aesthetics of the corridorwould not solve other more pressing issues brought up during communitymeetings including traffic congestion. Metrocology’s analysis revealed thatsignal timing was to blame for the congestion experienced by locals trying toaccess the Boulevard. The signals are timed to favor the Corridor trafficbecause the facility serves as the emergency relief system for I-85 whichparallels the Blvd within the study area
The Corridor Plan identified and illustrated improvements to the streetsection of Boulevard, as well as intersection improvements on and off thecorridor. One major improvement involved an interchange with I-85, at itsclosest to HWY 74. The interchange was a bottleneck for traffic exiting andentering the Interstate as well as the intersection of N Main St and HWY 74.A new interchange layout and land redevelopment plan was prepared. Thisplan was adopted by the NCDOT and is part of the widening plan for I-85.The Plan also established an alternative street signalization program to helpalleviate the congestion caused by signals not synchronized to handle thegreater volumes of north-south traffic across and onto the Boulevard alongthe segment between the two rivers
