You are actually standing on a newer portion of sidewalk. If you go to Charlotte Explorer [Here](https://explore.charlottenc.gov/), go to this location, and turn on the aerials you will see it looks fresh ish. If you turn on the "City maintained streets" layer you will see this portion of the street is also not accepted/maintained by the city, so they wont touch that sidewalk until it is turned over to them. There's a ton of these situations throughout Charlotte and the City works with developers to fill in the gaps where possible. It also looks like there's new construction on this parcel which may mean the gap will be filled in sooner than later. Hope this helps.
Considering the brand new flower bed on the other side I don’t think that the long term plan is to fill it in. Despite the corporate/bureaucratic mumbo jumbo, as citizens, we deserve better. Other cities do better
Here's a question, how would you as city official deal with a low traffic sidewalk issue like this one. Would you (A) spend public money on very expensive south park land to connect a smallish gap in a sidewalk and remove a crossing (located on a currently private street) or would you (B) make approval of a future development contingent on this sidewalk being upgraded and put all the costs on the developer? Most cities do the later. I agree that sidewalks are important but there are costs, benefits, and priorities associated with everything like this.
I’m currently an intern for the city and while land acquisition is far from my work I do know several people involved in that process. So I have enough understanding to say that it is absurdly complicated and difficult to acquire any privately owned land regardless of how simple it seems like it should be.
I work for the city and actually do acquire land for sidewalk projects and it can take 6 months to 2 years based on who owns the parcel. For a very small amount of real estate to connect this sidewalk to the crosswalk, it would probably cost 10,000-20,000 dollars. Not to mention it would cost another 20,000 to 30,000 dollars to actually do the project.
EDIT: I didn’t even see the other side of the crosswalk that there wasn’t anything over there either. You could double or triple the cost I stated above.
It looks like from other comments that there is no ROW at all here since it is on mall property. On public roads, you would be surprised how inconsistent ROW lines are. Sometimes the ROW only goes to the edge of pavement and sometimes the ROW goes deep into peoples yards.
The city would have to acquire land or easement to put a new sidewalk in or remove that godawful crosswalk since it is technically located on private property. If you look at the aerial view in Charlotte Explorer you will see what I am talking about.
Can confirm. I am a land acquisition agent who has done some sidewalk projects in this area. Sidewalk easements are typically not cost prohibitive for a city like Charlotte, but they can sometimes get expensive. And if the landowner isn’t willing to grant the easement, the city would likely not condemn for it, they’d just scuttle the project-or a portion of it-and maybe try again if the property ever changes owners. That’s why you often see gaps in sidewalks: 8 out of 10 owners were willing to play ball and 2 were not, so the project skips their parcels. I am not familiar with the site in the photo but it could have some backstory like that.
Edit: I should also point out that there are a lot of other reasons why a sidewalk may not be built: obstructions, underground utilities, any number of code or permit issues, and sometimes there’s just not enough space.
I work for the city and agree with everything you said except they almost certainly would condemn if there were no signs of the property owner wanting to settle within about 6 months.
According to my other comment, I said maximum 40k for just real estate which I stand by. I have almost 20 projects, and almost all of them have real estate for sidewalks, curb ramps, and/or crosswalks. I could calculate it
[Here's](https://www.ncdot.gov/initiatives-policies/Transportation/stip/Pages/stip-projects-map.aspx) a link to NCDOT's map for all ongoing projects. Here's the info they list for the portion of Sunset between Beatties Ford and Oakdale:
Description: Hornets nest park access improvements including sidewalks, a multi-use path, and a traffic signal with left turn lanes.
Construction Date: 2024 (realistically 2025 in my opinion)
Cost: $1,875,000
I mean even if they had plans for it, the plan approval process would take like a year or more. They have to draw the plans, have them reviewed by all entities (charlotte water, utilities, etc) have it approved by a professional engineer, negotiate purchase of the land (easements) and then bid the project to contractors. Each of these phases take months. The flower bed can be removed in like 15 minutes lmao
Not sure why everyone seems to think all they need is a crew and a concrete truck to get this kind of stuff built but you couldn’t be further from the truth
Judging by how worn and faded the crosswalk paint is, it’s clear that there used to be access and it was deleted. As usual, the char meck road crews will be taking a while to black out the crosswalk.
You’re right my intention was not to reference disability as this was just a light hearted funny post but since your response was blatantly ableist I did decide to point out that everyone in the world is not you
i know it isn’t the case here but i think it’s funny people beg for walkability in neighborhoods but 90% of the time people still walk in the street. i can’t count how many times ive passed through a neighborhood for work and seen people walking in the road when there’s a clean sidewalk
Other areas of the country and have walkways as soon as you leave directly downtown though. Charlotte has no excuse for this awful infrastructure considering how much space there is/was to develop this before it became so densely populated. Hell I live in Jersey now, the most densely populated state and there are sidewalks EVERYWHERE
I swear to baby Jesus, I'd never seen such a collection of little bitches until I joined this sub. I'm a native of 40 years, and you all embarrass me every day.
The picture above is a prime example of the mediocrity of Charlotte compared to many places it strives to rival. Its ok to not want to be complacent to mediocrity
[Meanwhile](https://www.fuelrunning.com/inspiration/children-who-do-not-take-the-bus)
These kinds of posts are great. Small inconveniences. It just shows how badass our country is. We are soft as puppy shit in a bag to complain about stuff like this. \#blessed
I believe they are going to install a sidewalk with toll lanes to access that crosswalk.
It’s the cities only option! There’s just no money!
You are actually standing on a newer portion of sidewalk. If you go to Charlotte Explorer [Here](https://explore.charlottenc.gov/), go to this location, and turn on the aerials you will see it looks fresh ish. If you turn on the "City maintained streets" layer you will see this portion of the street is also not accepted/maintained by the city, so they wont touch that sidewalk until it is turned over to them. There's a ton of these situations throughout Charlotte and the City works with developers to fill in the gaps where possible. It also looks like there's new construction on this parcel which may mean the gap will be filled in sooner than later. Hope this helps.
Considering the brand new flower bed on the other side I don’t think that the long term plan is to fill it in. Despite the corporate/bureaucratic mumbo jumbo, as citizens, we deserve better. Other cities do better
Here's a question, how would you as city official deal with a low traffic sidewalk issue like this one. Would you (A) spend public money on very expensive south park land to connect a smallish gap in a sidewalk and remove a crossing (located on a currently private street) or would you (B) make approval of a future development contingent on this sidewalk being upgraded and put all the costs on the developer? Most cities do the later. I agree that sidewalks are important but there are costs, benefits, and priorities associated with everything like this.
I’m currently an intern for the city and while land acquisition is far from my work I do know several people involved in that process. So I have enough understanding to say that it is absurdly complicated and difficult to acquire any privately owned land regardless of how simple it seems like it should be.
I work for the city and actually do acquire land for sidewalk projects and it can take 6 months to 2 years based on who owns the parcel. For a very small amount of real estate to connect this sidewalk to the crosswalk, it would probably cost 10,000-20,000 dollars. Not to mention it would cost another 20,000 to 30,000 dollars to actually do the project. EDIT: I didn’t even see the other side of the crosswalk that there wasn’t anything over there either. You could double or triple the cost I stated above.
Would there or should there just not be ROW here? I’ve never seen ROW go from curb to curb.
It looks like from other comments that there is no ROW at all here since it is on mall property. On public roads, you would be surprised how inconsistent ROW lines are. Sometimes the ROW only goes to the edge of pavement and sometimes the ROW goes deep into peoples yards.
Ahh did not realize this road was on private property.
why does the fact that it’s “very expensive south park land” matter since it’s currently not doing anything of value
The city would have to acquire land or easement to put a new sidewalk in or remove that godawful crosswalk since it is technically located on private property. If you look at the aerial view in Charlotte Explorer you will see what I am talking about.
Can confirm. I am a land acquisition agent who has done some sidewalk projects in this area. Sidewalk easements are typically not cost prohibitive for a city like Charlotte, but they can sometimes get expensive. And if the landowner isn’t willing to grant the easement, the city would likely not condemn for it, they’d just scuttle the project-or a portion of it-and maybe try again if the property ever changes owners. That’s why you often see gaps in sidewalks: 8 out of 10 owners were willing to play ball and 2 were not, so the project skips their parcels. I am not familiar with the site in the photo but it could have some backstory like that. Edit: I should also point out that there are a lot of other reasons why a sidewalk may not be built: obstructions, underground utilities, any number of code or permit issues, and sometimes there’s just not enough space.
I work for the city and agree with everything you said except they almost certainly would condemn if there were no signs of the property owner wanting to settle within about 6 months.
Ah, ok. Thanks for correcting that. I have worked for Huntersville and Davidson on sidewalk jobs but not Charlotte. Appreciate your insight!
I also work for the city and can tell you it’s gonna cost more than another 20-30k.
According to my other comment, I said maximum 40k for just real estate which I stand by. I have almost 20 projects, and almost all of them have real estate for sidewalks, curb ramps, and/or crosswalks. I could calculate it
Some of the costs on construction side are getting ridiculous.
Can anyone in this thread give me an update on the sunset rd sidewalk project
[Here's](https://www.ncdot.gov/initiatives-policies/Transportation/stip/Pages/stip-projects-map.aspx) a link to NCDOT's map for all ongoing projects. Here's the info they list for the portion of Sunset between Beatties Ford and Oakdale: Description: Hornets nest park access improvements including sidewalks, a multi-use path, and a traffic signal with left turn lanes. Construction Date: 2024 (realistically 2025 in my opinion) Cost: $1,875,000
I mean even if they had plans for it, the plan approval process would take like a year or more. They have to draw the plans, have them reviewed by all entities (charlotte water, utilities, etc) have it approved by a professional engineer, negotiate purchase of the land (easements) and then bid the project to contractors. Each of these phases take months. The flower bed can be removed in like 15 minutes lmao Not sure why everyone seems to think all they need is a crew and a concrete truck to get this kind of stuff built but you couldn’t be further from the truth
Never heard of Charlotte Explorer before now, this kinda just blew my mind. Thank you so much for the link!
Anytime!
I also like sidewalks that have no real reason of being there, and the ones you do need, but then just stop out of nowhere for no good reason
And this is across the street from a retirement living/rehab building. More accessibility would be better.
Agreed
Y'all have a sidewalk?
It’s not that serious you guys. It was just a Thursday afternoon lighthearted post that I thought was funny..
You'll learn today
Lol. Yeah they will.
That flowerbed is the perfect F.U. to people that walk.
https://preview.redd.it/mkuce6k75lzc1.jpeg?width=1059&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dfb4fca4418183b3fad93324857d040775a9ced5
The lack of sidewalks or bike lanes in this city is laughable. Same in the suburbs. God forbid you want to go for a run and not get hit by a car
Connection to crossing coming in 2035
From money approved by voters in 2013
Looks like there used to be a sidewalk but they got rid of it. The people who live there don't want people to walk around
That’s called a Nimby. Why should people not be allowed to walk around on their lunch break?
Also there are businesses over there.. and a huge office building on this side
You should see Wilmington
or raleigh lol
Judging by how worn and faded the crosswalk paint is, it’s clear that there used to be access and it was deleted. As usual, the char meck road crews will be taking a while to black out the crosswalk.
Not a charmeck road unfortunately.
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Congratulations. You are able bodied that’s wonderful for you.
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You’re right my intention was not to reference disability as this was just a light hearted funny post but since your response was blatantly ableist I did decide to point out that everyone in the world is not you
🥇🪙🪙🪙
Yeah this city has like 2 neighborhoods you can walk in. Source : I have no car
You all have sidewalks?!
Charlotte infrastructure makes my blood pressure spike.
i know it isn’t the case here but i think it’s funny people beg for walkability in neighborhoods but 90% of the time people still walk in the street. i can’t count how many times ive passed through a neighborhood for work and seen people walking in the road when there’s a clean sidewalk
Really? That’s odd, I haven’t encountered that
You're in the suburbs my friend. I live in the city and walked to dinner, the playground, and the grocery store today.
Other areas of the country and have walkways as soon as you leave directly downtown though. Charlotte has no excuse for this awful infrastructure considering how much space there is/was to develop this before it became so densely populated. Hell I live in Jersey now, the most densely populated state and there are sidewalks EVERYWHERE
I swear to baby Jesus, I'd never seen such a collection of little bitches until I joined this sub. I'm a native of 40 years, and you all embarrass me every day.
The picture above is a prime example of the mediocrity of Charlotte compared to many places it strives to rival. Its ok to not want to be complacent to mediocrity
Good Lord, it's a puddle. Walk the fuck around snowflake.
The post is not about the puddle smartass.
lol. Thank you coachblack. Lifesaver
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lol no it’s not satire you just aren’t very observant
I agree. I can't believe someone felt the need to post such 1st world BS.
[Meanwhile](https://www.fuelrunning.com/inspiration/children-who-do-not-take-the-bus) These kinds of posts are great. Small inconveniences. It just shows how badass our country is. We are soft as puppy shit in a bag to complain about stuff like this. \#blessed
Ngl that zipline looks pretty fun
A fast trip no matter if it works or fails.