Proposed left at Main St/Davidson-Concord not first big change for intersection

Update: Saturday 6/9 - The published agenda for 6/12 now says there will be no vote on this subject at that meeting.


Residents of North Mecklenburg are familiar with NC73.  It is the primary east-west connection through the area.  What many may not know is that the current alignment was not always where it is today - not by a long shot.  Way way back in the 20th century, NC 73 went through Davidson - right up Main Street.

This changed back in 1979.  According to NCRoads.com...

In 1979, NC 73 was rerouted at Cornelius to follow NC 115 south to Caldwell, then east as an upgrade to SR 2433 back to the initial NC 73 routing near Cabarrus County. The old route had followed NC 115 north to Davidson, then southeast on Davidson-Concord Rd.  

Between 1980-82, Official Maps imply NC 73 was rerouted to avoid NC 115 altogether by extendeing NC 73 west over new routing to US 21, then north to NC 73 at its interchange with I-77.

See these old maps from that same website.

NC 73 Pre Lake Norman

NC 73 Post Lake Norman

aShortChronicle checked with one long-time Davidson resident who is familiar with local road projects over the years.  This person relayed that when the change occurred in the late 1970s, Davidson's Main Street went from "a busy highway to almost zero traffic overnight."  This person also relayed that there was at one time humorous photo floating around showing a dog asleep in the road right in the intersection.

Now, a few decades pass and once again the intersection is busy.  

On any given day significant backups occur on Main Street, particularly in the southbound direction.  This backup occurs due to traffic volume and the lack of a left turn lane from Main onto Davidson-Concord Rd.  aShortChronicle has been told that in years past traffic flowed a bit better through the intersection because southbound through traffic could sometimes squeeze by on the right if someone was stopped waiting to make a left.  The ability to do that however came to a halt when he Town put the "bump outs" there to make way for on street parking.

Now, traffic backs up regularly, and as growth on the east side of town continues (600+ homes at Westbranch and Davidson East) it is only going to to get worse.

In response, the Town of Davidson Public Works department and NCDOT have come up with a plan to install a left-turn lane in southbound Main St that will cost $220,000 and roughly 10 parking spaces on the east side of Main.  The proposal depicted below turns a portion of the existing northbound lane at the intersection into a southbound turn lane, and the parking spaces become the northbound lane through the intersection. The Town Board is set to vote on the idea at its June 12th meeting next week.

However, not everyone in the community thinks the plan is a good idea, and in parking constrained Davidson, losing those 10 spaces is causing more swirl than the actual cost of the project.  aShortChronicle has learned via an email that landed on Wednesday that Davidson College Presbyterian Church (DCPC) is encouraging its members to contact the Town Board opposing the vote.  In the email with subject line "CALL TO ACTION, LOSING PARKING" the email encourages church members to contact the Board and ask them to "DEFER A RUSHED JUDGEMENT"   (all caps in the original).

So while it certainly is interesting to see a tax exempt entity like DCPC jumping into the political fray over parking, there is a simple solution to this - Davidson College could simply donate a bit of land to retain the parking used by Davidson College Presbyterian Church.  The below aerial photo from Google Maps shows that at least 7 of the 10 spots in question (the ones across the street from Kindred) could be saved without cutting down a single tree if that was done.

Progress and development are going to happen in a growing region like this and many projects deserve to be fought tooth and nail to preserve the quality of like here in Davidson.  Here at aShortChronicle fighting those fights is often what drives the content of this blog.  However, this project is not one of those times.  Instead, the Board should be encouraged to improve this intersection as planned working with the College if possible to preserve as much parking as possible. 

Long-term it is the right thing to do.

Since the Board is likely getting flooded with requests to not improve this intersection, please take the opportunity to contact them if you believe they should.  The entir Board can be reached at Board@townofdavidson.org.