June 7 meeting seeks citizen input on long-range plan to relieve traffic

Town planners this week are revisiting an idea that has been on planning maps for years: A “parkway” around Davidson that would link N.C. 73 east of town with N.C. 115 north of town, in southern Iredell County. A public planning workshop is scheduled Monday, June 7, at 7 p.m., at Town Hall, 216 S. Main St.

Town officials will also be meeting privately with owners of properties that could be included in the planned route.

Planner Lauren Blackburn said the renewed look at the so-called North Davidson Parkway is not coming because of any immediate plans to build the road. Instead, it’s part of local and regional long-range planning,

First, there’s a need to reconcile proposed routes for the parkway on the town and regional planning maps.

Second, it’s part of the town’s ongoing two-year effort to develop a new comprehensive plan, now being called “Plan Davidson.” The comprehensive plan is a vision for Davidson’s future that will guide for future policy decisions.

“This is definitely not an imminent construction project,” Ms. Blackburn told DavidsonNews.net. “In fact there’s no funding identified for building it within at least the next 30 years, presuming public funding.”

“Like with any road project, we anticipate private development would be the main catalyst for it, and we don’t have any indication that anythings going to be happening any time soon,” she said.

In discussions over the past couple of years, citizens expressed a desire to preserve the town’s rural character. At the same time, there’s a need to plan for better regional road connectivity, so existing roads don’t bear the brunt of future growth in the region.

“Traffic passing through Davidson is not just local traffic,” Ms. Blackburn said. “There are a great number of regional visitors who use our roads every day.”

She said town officials would like to have an idea of what the proposed parkway might look like and where it might go before they adopt the comprehensive plan later this summer. Meanwhile, there’s also a need to reconcile different versions of the parkway proposal on town, regional and North Carolina Department of Transportation maps.

According to Davidson planners, regional planning maps, including the 2004 Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization (MUMPO) Thoroughfare Plan in recent decades have shown a series of proposed roads between north Charlotte and the Mecklenburg-Iredell County line. The NC DOT officially recognizes the MUMPO Thoroughfare Plan when determining the route for state-funded road projects.

But locally adopted plans such as the town’s own 2003 Circulation Plan, are don’t match what’s shown on the MUMPO Thoroughfare Plan. Town staff is working with the MUMPO to reevaluate proposed routes shown on the regional plans.

“There was a series of road alignments shown in the 2003 plan,” Ms. Blackburn said. That proposal shows a new road heading north from Concord Road and follows the edge of the McConnell neighborhood. But MUMPO’s map shows abroad arc, extending from the new Davidson-Concord/ E. Rocky River roundabout north, hitting N.C. 115 at the county line Road.

“We need to rectify that situation before it gets solidified in another (MUMPO) thoroughfare plan, and contrary to what we want,” Ms. Blackburn said.

The stated purpose of this week’s private and public meetings is to “plan and confirm” the best route for a future road.
“We hope to identify a route that creates the least amount of environmental impact, the greatest benefit to local and regional traffic, and the best quality of life for Davidson residents,” the town said in announcements about the meetings.

LINKS

See the town website for more information about the workshop and parkway plan.

Download a map showing routes on the MUMPO plan and the town circulation plan (PDF), CLICK HERE>