Dec. 9. The Town of Cornelius posted an FAQ on social media yesterday to address concerns raised by residents during a recent public hearing on the Downtown Master Plan.
At the Nov. 17 meeting, many speakers said they supported the idea of a new master plan but opposed its current form, citing impacts on traffic, safety and private property.
Road concerns
Maps in the plan showing road extensions, roundabouts, and traffic-flow changes that would divert traffic off Catawba Avenue and Main Street and into nearby neighborhoods drew strong opposition. One map shows an extension of Washam Street to Academy Street that appears to run through the middle of Nancy Archer’s 115-year-old home on Catawba Avenue.
“The plan in its current form destroys the heart of Old Cornelius,” Archer said at the meeting. “Routing traffic through the neighborhoods is not a safe option, in my opinion.”
In the document posted online, town officials state that no new high-capacity thoroughfares are planned through residential neighborhoods. Instead, the plan proposes street connections aimed at improving circulation around downtown. Catawba Avenue and Main Street would continue to carry the majority of traffic, the town says.
“These connections are intended to improve the circulation of local neighborhood traffic and ‘disperse’ some of the traffic that is currently concentrated along Catawba Avenue,” the FAQ states. “When traffic has many alternatives to get from point A to point B, this reduces congestion on the main roads and prevents significant traffic on any one neighborhood street.”
Click to enlarge
Impact on property and police
During the town meeting, residents said they had identified 46 properties that could be affected by maps presented in the master plan. The FAQ states that there is no defined number because the plan outlines conceptual-level transportation improvements rather than a finalized design.
“The intent of this map is to convey the level of connectivity needed to support the vision of the downtown plan,” the document states. “This is conceptual, meaning engineering has not occurred for any of the corridors.”
The town also notes that any future property acquisitions would involve public hearings and fair compensation.
The FAQ addresses concerns about the police station, stating that relocation is not finalized, funding is not allocated, and a downtown police presence would be maintained or potentially expanded.
School concerns
In addition to overall traffic concerns, residents pointed to the area around Cornelius Elementary School, where morning and afternoon drop-off already causes significant backups.
“That street is not built for Cornelius Elementary mommy traffic,” Moninda Eslick said at the meeting. “I have dealt with it trying to get to the grocery store during pickup, and those mommies don’t budge.”
The FAQ states that any campus expansion related to park land has been removed from the plan and notes that the school’s design has not been determined by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, including how traffic would enter and exit.
“However, the town will work with CMS on the design plans to ensure that the school orientation, vehicle stacking, and traffic impact on the neighborhood are minimized,” the FAQ states.
What’s next?
At their Nov. 17 meeting, the commissioners opted to push the vote on the master plan to their Jan. 20 meeting, and implored residents to review the plan and continue to provide feedback.
“We heard you, and we want to give you more time,” said Commissioner Todd Sansbury. “Please take advantage of that, with the understanding that we need to set a deadline and eventually we need to move forward.”
“Reconnecting” Academy Street will do nothing to ease traffic on Catawba; it will only bring traffic to our quiet neighborhood. We have been told by the commission repeatedly that this is not designed as a “cut through” yet the plan repeatedly says it’s exactly that. Add to that the roundabout in the map above at Academy and Smith which would destroy 3 properties and goes nowhere. All of these traffic “connections” need to be tabled until proper impact studies are done including CMS in the finalizing of the new school/roads plan. Academy residents weren’t formally informed of any of this until August ’25, of course we are opposed!
Posted by Brian Lewis | December 9, 2025, 8:16 amThe residential side streets east of I-77 are inadequately sized.
Those same streets were platted about 100 years ago, before thoughts of Lake Norman or I-77 were conceived.
Placing a roundabout on a street with minimal right-of-way is unlikely to solve any problems.
More particularly, channeling twice-per-day student dropoff and pickup traffic on a narrow street will only ‘trap’ residents in their homes until the cars are gone.
The town commissioners need to re-think this portion of the plan.
Posted by Mark Griffin | December 9, 2025, 2:05 pmI am 100% opposed to the Smith Cir., Academy St., Willow St., Gem St., Oak St., Hickory St. “magic bullet” thoroughfare.
As sure as the world, the six (6) aforementioned streets will be converted into a parallel thoroughfare.
Motorists will use it as an alternative to Catawba Ave.
Small wonder, motorists are already frustrated with Catawba Ave.
“Nature abhors a vacuum.”
Pretending frustrated motorists will not use our local streets as a cut through (‘parallel thoroughfare’) is unrealistic.
Cornelius local streets were never designed to handle the current volume of traffic.
Street rights-of-way are minimal.
The proposed roundabout at Academy St. and Smith Cir. will not solve traffic congestion issues.
Our side streets are already narrow, the roundabout will eliminate three front or side yards.
Using Academy St. as the twice-per-day student drop off and pick up corridor will only shift the traffic burden onto another narrow side street in a residential neighborhood.
Better to widen Catawba Ave. to handle the volume.
Posted by Mark Griffin | December 9, 2025, 10:20 amTo Marks school drop off comment, we have been told that CMS is unwilling to consider moving the school altogether. If that is the case, whatever final plan they come up with should provide space for ALL of the vehicles queuing. No more street standing on any roads! They have plenty of land and frankly could be doing that now with the largely unused rear parking lots.
Posted by Brian Lewis | December 9, 2025, 12:28 pmTraffic backs up starting with the interchange at I-77 and Catawba. None of this stuff is going to fix that.
Posted by Chris H | December 9, 2025, 10:25 amYes, I walk around Smith Circle, up Catawba every day and that is where traffic backs up the most, the diverging diamond that was supposed to fix it. Today, school traffic was early causing a large backup there. Now I see more roundabouts planned across 77 on Torrence/Liverpool that due nothing to fix the bottleneck that is the Liverpool intersection. As you say, these road connections will fix none of this, only ruin neighborhoods!
Posted by Brian Lewis | December 9, 2025, 12:15 pmYou are correct.
Catawba Ave. is the only east/west thoroughfare.
Exit 28 is busy.
There needs to be an Exit 27 and Exit 26 with corresponding 4 lane east/west thoroughfares.
The current proposal will not fix the Catawba Ave. bottleneck.
Posted by Mark Griffin | December 9, 2025, 12:33 pmThe recent improvements to willow & Gem streets have significantly increased traffic, not only at school time, but all day. This plan would make these streets like catawba ave which is part of what the plan purports to solve. Putting that kind of traffic in to quite residential neighborhoods is not the answer.
Posted by jim miles | December 9, 2025, 6:18 pm