Светофор на перекрестке в Стил-Крик откладывается на четыре года из-за отставания инфраструктуры от темпов застройки

Steele Creek Traffic Signal Delayed Four Years as Development Outpaces Infrastructure A traffic signal planned for a busy Steele Creek intersection has languished more than four years since the city first determined the location needed one. Residents at Rock Island Road… A traffic signal planned for a busy Steele Creek intersection has languished more than four years since the city first determined the location needed one. Residents at Rock Island Road and Shopton Road West continue waiting as construction projects in southwest Charlotte have spawned bottlenecks throughout the day. Jonathan Hill waits up to five minutes to make a left turn from Rock Island Road onto Shopton Road West. Drivers dodge the intersection when possible, cutting through residential streets that were never meant to handle so much through traffic. "With all of the development that's happened since then, I mean, it's like this all day long," Hill said to The Charlotte Observer. "Even at rush hour, it wasn't as bad as it is during the day now." The Charlotte Department of Transportation did a traffic study in October 2021 which logged more than 1,800 vehicles on Shopton Road West during peak rush hour. Rock Island Road had a maximum of six vehicles waiting in line and an average delay around 45 seconds for left-turning traffic. CDOT determined that volume warranted a traffic signal at the intersection. Hill spoke to the Observer at 2 p.m. on a Friday in August, as the line of cars behind him at times reached the threshold CDOT once flagged during peak hours. Bill Wright built a vacation rental in the area in 2017 and started reaching out to the city shortly after. Charlotte extended Rock Island Road to the other side of Shopton around that time, transforming it from a three-way to a four-way intersection with residential developments on every side. Wright told City Council and CDOT in a January 2018 email the number of homes "tripled" in the area since he purchased the property. By November 2020, NCDOT reported the intersection did "not score highly enough to qualify for the limited funding sources available." NCDOT and CDOT both signed off on the signal in January 2022 following the traffic study, but years passed before they found a way to pay for it. In August 2025, CDOT told Wright it was taking over the project from the state and found money through Charlotte's congestion mitigation capital improvement program, which is supported by voter-approved bonds. The city estimates the signal will be installed next summer along with another new signal at the intersection of Shopton Road and Westinghouse Boulevard. Cost? Between $1 million and $1.5 million.