Holy Crap. Has anyone been up 29 North recently? If you thought Forest Lakes was bad, it looks like we are gonna get another 5 miles of disasters. I’m happy that all the developers love that area, but honestly, it’s pretty cookie cutter and gross.
I don’t have time to read “The Master Plan,” but does anyone else have comments? The potential traffic problem looks like a nightmare. Duncan, I know you have a comment or two.
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Basically, 29 sucks and will continue to suck into perpetuity. That being the case, if you’re heading out of town to, say, D.C, take Rt. 20 North and cut over to 29 in Barboursville or Orange. Guaranteed to save at least 20-30 minutes when 29 is packed. And the views are spectacular. (Hmm…farm land or strip malls? Your choice.)
I still think it’s a trillion times better than most cities. At least there’s a self-consciousness about growth among prominent public figures and vocal civic leaders, and it’s happening pretty far outside of the downtown area. The “commercial” centers (literally and figuratively) of Shreveport, Corpus Christi, Jackson, Detroit, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Wilmington come to mind, and there are many more. It is heartbreaking to see the gutting of a city to make way for stripmalls, and the disparity of wealth and poverty with suburban sprawl. Charlottesville is far from perfect but it has it so good. I might have my gripes about what I perceive to be a necessary evil, but I’m really tired of hearing and reading the whining about 29. I think Wal-Mart’s HR set-up is an abomination, but Wal-Mart as a business meets the needs of the majority of Americans. I think McMansions and sprawling apartment complexes look terrible, but our population’s growing. All of the services and products on Route 29 are available at higher prices within a small area downtown, so we have a choice. I do both.
Sorry, Thor, nothing personal against you! It’s a road!
Thor –
I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago, specifically about traffic in our area.
Personally, I think that we will look back in thirty years with the benefit of hindsight and say, “why didn’t we do that?” whatever “that” may be, we need to do something now. Better development patterns, light rail, bus rapid transit … something.
A result of the issues we are dealing with regarding infrastructure and growth is that our region and our real estate market are becoming more disconnected.
That the County is just starting to “Master Plan” Pantops shows where we are; I expressed my cynicim a couple of years ago.
BTW, it would be nifty if you had a “preview comment” plugin.
I’ll look for one.
Thor:
Check out this one.
http://www.ilfilosofo.com/blog/comments-preview/
It is all Robert Moses fault!
And having to subsidize at a million a mile is likely more than I can stomach. My freaking rtaxes are to high as it is and I am uninterested in paying out more.
Oh, just wait for the next couple of years whose theme would accurately be named: “Greene County: Showing No Red to Overdevelopment (but at least we have a landfill!)”