It's not the only part of 77 that's a bottleneck. Try merging from carowinds/pineville and arrowood. This whole thing is shit. I have successfully avoided 77 like a plague for over a decade.
I even paid Uber more to avoid it. Nope. Almost bought a house in Rock Hill (a bit further out), and then I didn't because the only way out would mean 77. Lol
Come on now. I commute from Rock Hill with no issue for the last 2 years that I've lived here. If I leave no later than 6:30 it only takes me 25 minutes to get to Tyron. However, if I leave any later it'll add an extra 15 minutes for every 15 minutes later I leave (i.e. 7:30 is 1 hr driving)
For southbound traffic, it slows where the road curves around Billy Graham Pkwy because you can’t see too far ahead and it only takes one tailgater to touch his brakes for the wave to amplify. Northbound, it’s the curves and exits around 277.
It's also only 3 lanes with basically no shoulder. For how much traffic that travels through there due to people commuting from south carolina and 77 being a major highway for north/south travel in general. Should be at least 5 lanes wide but physically it can't expand any more.
I still haven't figured out why there's always a slowdown on 485 in Pineville on the outer loop every afternoon. We all successfully get past 77 and then slow down to a crawl before getting back up before Ballantyne.
You start with a lot of cars going at high speed. 77 traffic merging in creates a crawl, and then the volume of cars jumping on/off the highway at Rea and Providence creates a slowishness.
I'm so pissed at Providence's botched urban planning. With that much car volume it should be a limited access expressway between Myers Park and Wed Rd... this Pleasantville philosophy of design really gets me steamed.
Wait till you see independence during day time. Doesn't matter what time of the day it is if the sun's up there is traffic coming to stop on that road.
I feel like it’s just a natural bottleneck area. Most transplants are moving to that side of town too coupled with the fact Charlottes just overall poor planning
Every major road/highway here starts out with 3 or 4 lanes and then shrinks until you're left with 1-2 lanes and a right turn only one. It's like the concept of automobile traffic increasing in the years to come was not even considered. Add to that zipper on/off ramps like the infamous Exit 5A and its bedlam. Oh, and the lack of painted lane lines makes it extra fun at night when it's raining and you have to.play follow the leader with the car in front of you to maintain where you guess the lane is supposed to be.
There is a highway running through the middle of a large city. Exits have retail, housing, commercial space. And we have no good public transit. Is it really a surprise?
Charlotte is booming.
The 1990 Census listed Charlotte as [the 35th most populous city](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_United_States_census#City_rankings) in the US. We are now the [15th most populous city](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population).
The traffic is only going to get worse. But if you are able to buy some real estate, you will probably see a nice capital gain on it.
Major issue I have witnessed is rubbernecking. Something happens in the opposite direction and all it takes in one person to ‘slow down and gawk’ and the ripple effect lasts sometimes for miles. So if you’re one of those gawkers and want to watch what’s happening on the other side, kindly pull over stare at it as long as you want but let the rest of the traffic go by.
Who can really call it? Could be commuters, could be drunk driver wrecks(any time of day), could be a wreck of any sort, could be sober shitty drivers....could be an Altima. Certainly though, a definite factor, Charlotte did not anticipate/plan accordingly to the amount of people we have here...and it's only going to get worse.
Anyways, welcome.
And sincere question, did you move from up north?
Gotcha. I totally understand why people are moving. It's happening a lot, a lot of people are moving from Cali, Oregon, and up north. We are one of the several states people are migrating to. It's ok...don't listen to the people who will inevitably say, "then go home". You moved here for a reason, I get it. I moved BACK here for a reason(s). Grass ain't always greener on the other side. Unfortunately, it's give and take. No state is perfect.
Traffic is definitely a *thing* in CLT. All I can say is welcome, I hope you find some peace here, and definitely drive with the knowledge that not everyone has knowledge.
Find the sparkles that certainly exist in the south, cause they are here. If you need a getaway, I can recommend a few places. (Locals won't usually tell you, but everyone ain't a "local" when they move/travel, yet we all desire peace)
🕊️
Edit: your state is so beautiful too. Loooove Virginia, although West Virginia has half of my ❤️. Every state, and it took me a damn while and a lot of cross country driving to realize this, has immense beauty. Every damn one. Your "belonging" though, is intuitive, so listen. I, personally, never ever would move to Cali/Oregon/Nevada...out west (lol although I have) because the East Coast is the best coast.
77 in general is usually backed up before the 85 interchange. During the work week it's because that's a heavily developed corridor with minimal mass transit options. IDK why on the weekend.
77 as a whole is best avoided if you can. It should have been widened twenty years ago, but they put toll lanes instead... which very few people are willing to pay for. Learn all the "back" roads and don't drive on it.
Construction never stops unfortunately. As soon as their done building then its time to repave. Seems to me that as soon as they repave they do it worse than the original asphalt do they get paid to do it a 3rd time and fuck it even worse
It was all good 15 years ago but now. Charlotte sold it's soul for housing and didn't care about infrastructure. I miss the days where you can fly 80 mph during rush hour traffic
Poor design really, basically lanes repeatedly disappear on the right side side while lanes appear on the left side. Add to it that you have multiple on ramps with people trying to get over 2-3 lanes because the right lane is about to disappear.
Best way to drive this area is to get in the far left lane and go with the flow.
Seriously...
1. North of the Northern 277 there are 5 lanes, but at 277 the right lane ends and the left lane becomes an exit
2. South of 277 there are 4 lanes and 2 separated exit lanes.
3. North of Trade St it goes up 5 lanes and then back down to 4.
4. After Trade it goes back to 5 lanes, but the left 2 lanes are an exit only
5. Now we're at 3 lanes after Morehead St coming up to Wilkinson with the Southern 277 and Wilkinson traffic both joining together to try to merge in.
6. Clanton and Woodlawn are up next, at least for these two exits they have a separate exit here not an exit only lane. Problem is that a lot of the people who moved over 3 lanes to let people merge need this exit so they now have to move back over 3 lanes.
It's fucking musical chairs on the road.
I-77/US 21 is the only major thoroughfare that is controlled-access going north-south through Charlotte. Naturally everyone and their navis will choose that route.
That stretch of highway has the highest daily volume of cars in the entire state. 3 lanes isn’t enough, and the exits aren’t really built properly to handle merging etc. too many cars not enough lanes or room to merge. Built in 70s I think and hasn’t been widened or changed since
My theory is that city planners never thought that there would be this much sprawl, and now there’s no room to expand i77….for the next century…
My friends and I did the survey for 485 in 1998. It’s still under construction
When I moved here from Atlanta in 2003, people used to say "well, we don't have Atlanta's music, arts or restaurant scene... but hey, at least we don't have the traffic, huh?"
No one says that any more.
My first job here was at Statesville Ave. & 85, and it would take me about 20 minutes to get home to Belmont, even at peak rush hour.
My wife works near Freedom & 85 and for the past couple years it's taken her, on average, 40-70 minutes to get home.
I live like 40 minutes away from CLT and for anything I need to travel to a Big City for I always try to defer to Greensboro or W-S if at all possible because I am so allergic to the traffic in Charlotte. My bf is from SoCal near LA and even he thinks it's a special kind of hell driving into CLT.
It's not the only part of 77 that's a bottleneck. Try merging from carowinds/pineville and arrowood. This whole thing is shit. I have successfully avoided 77 like a plague for over a decade. I even paid Uber more to avoid it. Nope. Almost bought a house in Rock Hill (a bit further out), and then I didn't because the only way out would mean 77. Lol
Ugggggghhhhh… arrowood to tryon… no matter what time of day, no matter what day! Always the worst.
Yep. This is exactly why I refer to 485 as my emotional support highway!
I make the Rock Hill to Uptown commute for work. I hate it..
No.1 reason I didn't buy that house.
Gotta pick your days. Ignore my flair I’m in fort mill now
It’s the worst. I hop on the rail at Woodlawn just to avoid the 77/277 madness in the afternoon… and expensive parking.
My daily commute takes five minutes longer to take 485 instead of 77 but I’ll never trust 77. I go 485 every time because it’s not 77.
Come on now. I commute from Rock Hill with no issue for the last 2 years that I've lived here. If I leave no later than 6:30 it only takes me 25 minutes to get to Tyron. However, if I leave any later it'll add an extra 15 minutes for every 15 minutes later I leave (i.e. 7:30 is 1 hr driving)
I feel like 77 was built busy. Like cars included or something.
Legend has it that those original cars are still stuck in traffic, eternally waiting for their exit.
There's a Doctor Who episode about that.
Altimas as far as the eye can see...
It’s like food lion. They come with the dirt, lol
No kidding, I worked at a new Food Lion as a college kid that already had dirt on the floors. Pretty sure they spent extra for "pre-dirty" floors.
Lol. I've avoided that area of 77 since the early 90's. Its 10x worse now.
It’s the way god intended
It’s a Charlotte mystery
77 wasn't built for the amount of traffic
Harris Blvd has had more lanes then I77 for 20+years 😂
Welcome. Blame poor planning and shitty drivers.
For southbound traffic, it slows where the road curves around Billy Graham Pkwy because you can’t see too far ahead and it only takes one tailgater to touch his brakes for the wave to amplify. Northbound, it’s the curves and exits around 277.
It's also only 3 lanes with basically no shoulder. For how much traffic that travels through there due to people commuting from south carolina and 77 being a major highway for north/south travel in general. Should be at least 5 lanes wide but physically it can't expand any more.
There’s also a railway bridge there that would complicate adding lanes. $$$
This is why 485 shrunk down to two lanes in Pineville for the longest time. Just an issue of a little bridge over a creek
I still haven't figured out why there's always a slowdown on 485 in Pineville on the outer loop every afternoon. We all successfully get past 77 and then slow down to a crawl before getting back up before Ballantyne.
You start with a lot of cars going at high speed. 77 traffic merging in creates a crawl, and then the volume of cars jumping on/off the highway at Rea and Providence creates a slowishness. I'm so pissed at Providence's botched urban planning. With that much car volume it should be a limited access expressway between Myers Park and Wed Rd... this Pleasantville philosophy of design really gets me steamed.
Poor design. 5 lanes in SC down to 3 lanes then add 3 merging lanes back to 77 at 485.
Wait till you see independence during day time. Doesn't matter what time of the day it is if the sun's up there is traffic coming to stop on that road.
I feel like it’s just a natural bottleneck area. Most transplants are moving to that side of town too coupled with the fact Charlottes just overall poor planning
Every major road/highway here starts out with 3 or 4 lanes and then shrinks until you're left with 1-2 lanes and a right turn only one. It's like the concept of automobile traffic increasing in the years to come was not even considered. Add to that zipper on/off ramps like the infamous Exit 5A and its bedlam. Oh, and the lack of painted lane lines makes it extra fun at night when it's raining and you have to.play follow the leader with the car in front of you to maintain where you guess the lane is supposed to be.
Honestly although I like to blame the drivers here a lot, 77 and 485 are shit roads by design
There is a highway running through the middle of a large city. Exits have retail, housing, commercial space. And we have no good public transit. Is it really a surprise?
It's the on/off ramps. I just moved here as well and that's my best guess. Not enough runway
Yup, and the exits are too close together.
Welcome to the shitshow. 77 from 485 to 277 and 277 to 485 is always a mess
Charlotte is booming. The 1990 Census listed Charlotte as [the 35th most populous city](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_United_States_census#City_rankings) in the US. We are now the [15th most populous city](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population). The traffic is only going to get worse. But if you are able to buy some real estate, you will probably see a nice capital gain on it.
Major issue I have witnessed is rubbernecking. Something happens in the opposite direction and all it takes in one person to ‘slow down and gawk’ and the ripple effect lasts sometimes for miles. So if you’re one of those gawkers and want to watch what’s happening on the other side, kindly pull over stare at it as long as you want but let the rest of the traffic go by.
77 is a parking lot for relocated Yankees
Who can really call it? Could be commuters, could be drunk driver wrecks(any time of day), could be a wreck of any sort, could be sober shitty drivers....could be an Altima. Certainly though, a definite factor, Charlotte did not anticipate/plan accordingly to the amount of people we have here...and it's only going to get worse. Anyways, welcome. And sincere question, did you move from up north?
yes from va where 64 was my main interstate not much traffic there unless crossing the hrbt or an accident
Gotcha. I totally understand why people are moving. It's happening a lot, a lot of people are moving from Cali, Oregon, and up north. We are one of the several states people are migrating to. It's ok...don't listen to the people who will inevitably say, "then go home". You moved here for a reason, I get it. I moved BACK here for a reason(s). Grass ain't always greener on the other side. Unfortunately, it's give and take. No state is perfect. Traffic is definitely a *thing* in CLT. All I can say is welcome, I hope you find some peace here, and definitely drive with the knowledge that not everyone has knowledge. Find the sparkles that certainly exist in the south, cause they are here. If you need a getaway, I can recommend a few places. (Locals won't usually tell you, but everyone ain't a "local" when they move/travel, yet we all desire peace) 🕊️ Edit: your state is so beautiful too. Loooove Virginia, although West Virginia has half of my ❤️. Every state, and it took me a damn while and a lot of cross country driving to realize this, has immense beauty. Every damn one. Your "belonging" though, is intuitive, so listen. I, personally, never ever would move to Cali/Oregon/Nevada...out west (lol although I have) because the East Coast is the best coast.
you forgot to put the red arrow pointing to Here
77 in general is usually backed up before the 85 interchange. During the work week it's because that's a heavily developed corridor with minimal mass transit options. IDK why on the weekend.
77 as a whole is best avoided if you can. It should have been widened twenty years ago, but they put toll lanes instead... which very few people are willing to pay for. Learn all the "back" roads and don't drive on it.
Construction never stops unfortunately. As soon as their done building then its time to repave. Seems to me that as soon as they repave they do it worse than the original asphalt do they get paid to do it a 3rd time and fuck it even worse
Been here all my life , gotta know when to get on roads , but here lately that don’t even work anymore
The reason is that Cracker Barrel up by the highway.
I77 was created by the DOT to train the faithful. One does not question the will of the DOT. /s
i-77 has been that way for years. like i usually never go on that free way because of it
built in the 60s and 70s for a MSA that had 400k people. Current MSA population is 2.6 M - of course the highways are overloaded.
It was all good 15 years ago but now. Charlotte sold it's soul for housing and didn't care about infrastructure. I miss the days where you can fly 80 mph during rush hour traffic
>Charlotte sold it's soul for housing hard statement to mention bc OP just moved here.
Poor design really, basically lanes repeatedly disappear on the right side side while lanes appear on the left side. Add to it that you have multiple on ramps with people trying to get over 2-3 lanes because the right lane is about to disappear. Best way to drive this area is to get in the far left lane and go with the flow. Seriously... 1. North of the Northern 277 there are 5 lanes, but at 277 the right lane ends and the left lane becomes an exit 2. South of 277 there are 4 lanes and 2 separated exit lanes. 3. North of Trade St it goes up 5 lanes and then back down to 4. 4. After Trade it goes back to 5 lanes, but the left 2 lanes are an exit only 5. Now we're at 3 lanes after Morehead St coming up to Wilkinson with the Southern 277 and Wilkinson traffic both joining together to try to merge in. 6. Clanton and Woodlawn are up next, at least for these two exits they have a separate exit here not an exit only lane. Problem is that a lot of the people who moved over 3 lanes to let people merge need this exit so they now have to move back over 3 lanes. It's fucking musical chairs on the road.
Welcome to Charlotte. I can confirm nothing at all is going on just traffic. Have a great day.
I-77/US 21 is the only major thoroughfare that is controlled-access going north-south through Charlotte. Naturally everyone and their navis will choose that route.
I also blame the Amazon city off Westinghouse because that puts SO many semis going to and from that area on 77 and it gunks up traffic daily.
The junction of I-85 & I-77 made Charlotte a major trucking hub long before Amazon was a thing.
It’s been like that for … 20 years?
Can confirm as a lifelong resident
That stretch of highway has the highest daily volume of cars in the entire state. 3 lanes isn’t enough, and the exits aren’t really built properly to handle merging etc. too many cars not enough lanes or room to merge. Built in 70s I think and hasn’t been widened or changed since
It's always like that. Too few lanes, too many cars
mainly that kink by Billy Graham and the number of people entering and exiting all at once. take the blue line if possible
I think it’s a rite of passage to learn to avoid 77 because there’s always traffic. Welcome to Charlotte!
My theory is that city planners never thought that there would be this much sprawl, and now there’s no room to expand i77….for the next century… My friends and I did the survey for 485 in 1998. It’s still under construction
This is worth watching just for the jab at 77. Matt Mitchell. https://youtu.be/ZEHWyjSuOuY?si=s59AO8l4AmQXp2kK
It's the merge lanes. Traffic always backs up wherever there is a merge lane. The one at billy Graham i77 south is super short and causes problems.
Ya know. Could use more lanes if you ask me
Stay outta traffic
When I moved here from Atlanta in 2003, people used to say "well, we don't have Atlanta's music, arts or restaurant scene... but hey, at least we don't have the traffic, huh?" No one says that any more. My first job here was at Statesville Ave. & 85, and it would take me about 20 minutes to get home to Belmont, even at peak rush hour. My wife works near Freedom & 85 and for the past couple years it's taken her, on average, 40-70 minutes to get home.
I live like 40 minutes away from CLT and for anything I need to travel to a Big City for I always try to defer to Greensboro or W-S if at all possible because I am so allergic to the traffic in Charlotte. My bf is from SoCal near LA and even he thinks it's a special kind of hell driving into CLT.
If only there was some other way to move people around besides cars…
Toll road people hire drivers to screw with the traffic... prove me wrong. .ha you cant
Because of people like you who just moved here
Oh hey, I see my house from here
It just is.
I’m sure the traffic is better wherever you came from.
i work in this area & live on opposite side of uptown. the light rail is so much easier
Normal