No left turns at Torrence Chapel?
Photo by Jason Benavides
March 21. Updated. By Dave Vieser. At tonight’s Town Board Meeting, commissioners will discuss eliminating left turns at the Catawba Avenue and Torrence Chapel Road/Liverpool Parkway intersection.
Background
In May of 2017, the town struck an agreement with NCDOT that these turns would remain after the completion of the triple roundabout projects planned in the area. They would only be phased out over time as average daily traffic volume increased.
Greater efficiency
The NCDOT is asking the town to take another look. Their reasoning according to Deputy Town Manager Wayne Herron:
“Removing the left turns now would increase efficiency and the intersection’s level of service and the cost would be significantly less now than in the future.”
Costs
Thing is, the town will foot the bill. NCDOT estimates it would cost the town approximately $10,000.
Opposition
When this issue first arose in 2017, there was considerable opposition to removing the left turns. However, over the past four years, it has become clear that the time it takes to handle the left-turning traffic creates additional congestion for Catawba Avenue traffic, particularly eastbound motorists seeking to access I-77 or travel crosstown.
How to watch
The meeting begins at 6 pm in Town Hall on Catawba Avenue. It will also be live streamed on www.cornelius.org. Access the link “watch meetings online.”
UPDATE: Here’s the agenda item
“NCDOT has asked the Town for one last consideration regarding removing the left turns now versus in the future. Removing the left turns now would increase efficiency and level of service (LOS) and the cost would be significantly less now than in the future. The costs to remove the left turns would be the Town’s responsibility. At this time, NCDOT estimates it would cost the Town approximately $10,000 to remove the left turns in association with the construction of the overall project.”
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I’m sorry but this is just plain stupid! They want to eliminate left turns BEFORE the infrastructure is in place. What kind of mess is this going to cause? Do we cross Catawba then cut through Truist/BB&T? Do we go down Knox to One Norman? That would surely become a bottleneck.
Stick to the plan. Build the roundabouts, upgrade intersections, then stop left turns. I hope I’m out of here by the time any of this nonsense happens.
Here’s a thought; Why not just put an interchange to I77 at Westmoreland? That would effectively take nearly 50% of the traffic away from the exit 28 bridge. Unfortunately this solution seems too simple for NCDOT.🙄
Chris – You are absolutely right and stupid may have been too kind an adjective.
Yeah, I know. But if I said what I really wanted to I’m sure it would not have been posted. We all need to encourage our Cornelius Commissioners to bat down this insane idea.
How can they even consider this as an option? Knox rd will be a parking lot instead of torrence chapel. This is beyond ridiculous. Stick with the original plan.
Agree,makes no sense whatsoever. I do not expect any support on our board for changes to our current plan. We need to keep this critical left turn movement for as long as possible, and I believe in perpetuity
You are absolutely correct Dave. The BEST solution for Catawba/Exit 28 is a North & South interchange at Westmoreland.
In fact I would entertain that 50% of the traffic on the Exit 28 bridge would be eliminated with Westmoreland Interchanges.
That would actually make all these ‘Roundabouts’ unnecessary. No left turn off Torrence Chapel is going to be a large problem. PLEASE!!!
Don’t vote for this unless the stupid circles and Knox road improvements are completed.
This is going to be a nightmare , can people just have common sense
I’m sure NCDOT would agree to that, with land purchases coming in 2028 and construction in 2032, and completion in 2040.
The main problem is the diverging diamond does not work well with such a short span. The fundamental flaw being that it only allows 50% flow across the bridge at all times and the queue space in the middle is too small. As currently implemented the free flow right turn onto I77 ramps are also choked early by backups of the cross bridge traffic, negating one DD design benefit.
I hope the town listens to the testimony of the last town hall over this issue. Ignoring that, Knox cant handle this now without the knox improvements.
Also the dot still hasn’t made going south from exit 28 any better. The short turn off at wendys could be extended to the light at torrance with minimal expense and significantly improve east bound flow over catawba .
The “deal” was a back room deal. It was announced days after the board promised, in the town hall meeting, that they would not eliminate left turns.
Improve the intersections and follow the plan.
How would all the people who live down Torrence Chapel get to i77. Are you kidding me? This is ludicrous. We live in Blue Stone Harbor and between BSH and Captains Point, there are about 250 houses (only entry point is Knox Road). Knox road would be come a parking lot and we would effectively be trapped in our neighborhood.
I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Conroy. Dah! Do you know how many people live ON Liverpool Parkway? Have any of you driven down the street? Do you know what exists on that street. The bottleneck will really be stupid when the hotel/conference center is built on Sefton. The idea is ludicrous.
No left turns is not the solution, because it is not the main cause of the issue on Catawba.
Don’t waiver from the current plan just because the state wants it done right now. Do what is right for the commuters in. Cornelius.
Eliminate left turns off Catawba to Liverpool, if you want to increase flow. Most of those turns are people trying to take a short cut anyway.
Left turns off Catawba onto Liverpool Parkway provide access to the Cornelius Post Office, which varies from somewhat busy to extremely busy during business hours, and lightly busy after-hours; to the shopping center that includes restaurants, a busy salon, other businesses, and a gym; to the Comfort Inn and Clarion Inn; and to multiple other restaurants and businesses accessible from Liverpool. I believe from a couple of decades of experience living here that the generalization that most traffic is “taking a short cut” is inaccurate.
This is the wording on the Town Board agenda: “NCDOT has asked the Town for one last consideration regarding removing the left turns now versus in the future. Removing the left turns now would increase efficiency and level of service (LOS) and the cost would be significantly less now than in the future. The costs to remove the left turns would be the Town’s responsibility. At this time, NCDOT estimates it would cost the Town approximately $10,000 to remove the left turns in association with the construction of the overall project.”
If there is to be a roundabout, is the implication that the roundabout would not allow exiting onto Liverpool?
The DDI does not have appropriate stacking distance to optimize flow due the the traffic lights that are in close proximity to exit 28.
You can exponentially improve the volume of traffic the DDI can accommodate with greater efficiency by eliminating the traffic lights at both ends of the DDI.
Cornelius has rerouted roads along this corridor a number of times over the years. People forget they were even done over time.
The appropriate location for the closet traffic light on West Catawba would be installed at the Bojangles. Chance St should be extended in both directions between Knox Rd and Sefton Park Rd. This would increase North South connectivity and give the DDI the much need distance for optimum stacking/traffic flow.
People will hate this idea until it is implemented, then wonder why we did not do this years ago.
People on Torrence Chapel will fight it now and love it later.
I have had these conversations with NCDOT for sometime, including recently.
Folks, you have a development problem that isn’t going away. The more you add to Catawba, the worse it will be. I moved away from Westmoreland area for fear it would become the next Catawba. Widen Knox, create better exit from Knox onto Catawba, and eliminate left turns from Torrance onto Catawba may work. But since I’ve been here, Catawba has been a nightmare and the Cornelius development needs to stop. And widen Rt 73 corridor now. Respectively
Solve the problems further east on Catawba before you mess with our left turn lane. It’s a disaster to use alternate routes now. Can’t imagine what it will be like in the future. Perhaps if the east Catawba expansion project would get back on track to offload more Peninsula traffic to 73 this could be considered. Vote no the change!