TRAFFIC | By Dave Vieser
March 11. Anyone expecting a quick fix to traffic conditions near Hough High and Bailey Middle will be disappointed after a long-awaited traffic study was unveiled at a Cornelius Town Board meeting.
“Two of the key proposals designed to relieve congestion—widening Bailey Road and adding turn lanes—were rejected by the State DOT” said Steve Blakley, of Kimley Horn Consultants, the firm that conducted the study. “This leaves us with one primary goal for Bailey Road: To reduce queuing on public roads and increase queuing on school property where possible.“
The $174,500 Bailey Road/Zion Avenue study addressed a troubling area. Between buses, students driving to and from school and carpooling, as well as traffic generated by a variety of residential developments including Bailey’s Glen, Bailey Road is a real challenge for motorists on school days
To achieve these goals, the town will need to negotiate with Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. In addition, some of the queuing changes may impact Bailey Glen Boulevard, the only direct entrance to the Bailey Glen development from Bailey Road.
For the Bailey Glen residents, relief from the congestion they suffer on school days can’t come soon enough. A business park has been proposed for the center of the study area.
“Several years ago, when COVID-19 hit, the schools were giving out computers and the wait on Bailey Road was close to two hours,” said resident Jean Miller. “At the same time, I was desperately trying to get out of our community to reach the hospital where my daughter was undergoing brain surgery. Ultimately I had to drive through a ditch to get out of my own development. Make no mistake, this traffic congestion is not just an inconvenience, it’s a a matter of life and death!”
Various serpentine routes through the school parking lots for motorists picking up or dropping off students were also discussed at the meeting, and each came with certain complications.
However, CMS does support a temporary entry/exit option to the schools utilizing two roundabouts, at an estimated cost of $7.5 million. Cornelius cannot support this option due to the high cost/benefit ratio.
“It sounds like it’s going to come down to discussions which the town will have with CMS,” said Mayor Woody Washam as the one-hour discussion ended.
Zion Avenue Extension
The town had also asked Kimley Horn to look at the possibility of extending Zion Avenue southward to reduce congestion. Their response: forget it. “While an extended Zion Avenue would provide a connectivity alternative east of the rail line, our study indicates that it would offer little congestion relief to Highway 115 at a moderately high cost,” Blakley said.
The traffic in this location is worse than I77 and that is saying a lot. Why do the parents have to drive to pick up the little darlings from the front of the school. Can’t some logistics be made to have pick up in the park parking lot? Orange cones making an oval so that people can actually drive on the road.
The intersections are dangerous, the cars create grid lock on 115 and other streets.
Will it take a fatality to cease the school pick up procedures and find a fast and easy alternate such as the park parking lot?
Posted by red neck billie | March 11, 2025, 11:46 amThat’s just great! We just bought a home in Bailey’s Glen and have yet to move in. This is terrible news and perhaps a reconsideration is in order. It’s a lovely area, but some of us still work and need to get out in the mornings. I just noticed today that school hours are 6 hours w speed restricted to 25 mph on school days (3 hours in AM and 3 hours in PM).
I have not, personally, experienced any delays going in and out of the subdivision when I meet workers at my house. The time of day could be why.
I am not at all happy about this and as a taxpayer, I believe Cornelius and the state needs to provide a remedy for this situation. As always, they build first and provide infrastructure later, if ever. They are always reaching for tax revenue and blinded to the needs of the residents by dollar signs.
Posted by Vickie Lemonds | March 11, 2025, 2:06 pm“A business park has been proposed for the center of the study area.” Yes! Let’s please add MORE traffic! This same INDUSTRIAL complex (let’s call it what it is) will add 907 vehicles to the mix including 79 trucks PER DAY! This is essentially the same project proposed in 2023 and was resoundingly rejected then. We hope Town leaders will say NO to the proposed rezoning. There is a good Facebook Group called Friends of Bailey Road for the parents, park users, neighborhoods, schools and others who want to improve Bailey Road not see it degraded. First step – do NOT add any more traffic and trucks to it through the proposed rezoning. Let’s keep it Rural Preservation.
Posted by Bailey Road User | March 11, 2025, 2:58 pmRide the bus
Stop building
Posted by Newton Bandy | March 11, 2025, 5:25 pmAgreed! What is it that children can’t be picked up by a bus and transported to their school?
Seems parents need to quit taking and picking up their kids when buses are available (and safer), for goodness sakes!
In addition, I’m talking about those kids with drivers license and cars that mommy and daddy bought them. Because of this, there isn’t even anywhere to park at Bailey Park due to all the cars driven by adolescents. Give me a break! And I don’t even live on that road but sure feel the resident’s pain with our crazy infrastructure needs not being met.
Posted by Unbelievable! | March 11, 2025, 9:24 pmOur kids would just walk there, but we heard that isn’t allowed. Perhaps fix that ridiculous overreach? Allowing walkers would also increase half-way walkers and thus eliminate the stalled cars you see on the middle of Baily’s roads. Plus you get the obvious health benefits of walking. Ironically, bikes are perfectly safe to use the cross walks but nothing else is? We also heard the bus ride is like 45 minutes from near downtown Davidson.
Posted by Phil | March 12, 2025, 11:45 amThe NCDOT, in many ways is stuck in the 70’s. The local road infrastructure is behind just about anything in Florida, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, and even Arkansas. There seems to be no forward thinking when designing and building road infrastructure here. Then, when the time comes, due to safety and other concerns…they either deny proposals or say it on the 10-15 year plan.
Posted by Kevin McDeet | March 12, 2025, 12:02 pm