Getting around Charlotte can be a pain, because the signs here are either non-existent or just not good. I recently wrote -- in blog and column form -- about confusing and inconsistent signs for I-485. (See my Oct. 6 entry.) By the way, earlier today I got on the wrong loop AGAIN. And before that I had MapQuest issues with one of our Queens Roads! Grr...
But today I want to give a shout out to two people -- a colleague and a reader -- who point out issues with our city's signs.
First, check out a column today by my coworker Mark Washburn. It's about Wells Fargo execs visiting Wachovia today.
Mark just hoped they made it uptown, writing, "First off, under no circumstances, are they to drive themselves around. We do not need them motoring out of the airport seeing welcome signs in 13 languages, but nothing pointing the way uptown. By the time they find their way back from Rock Hill, they'll be convinced we're drooling imbeciles."
Right on, Mark. When I first moved here I dreaded having to go to the airport, unsure I'd find my way back. It shouldn't be this hard to get from the airport to Dilworth (where we were living at the time), I remember telling my husband.
There must be something in the air about roadway signage today. When I got back from speaking to a group of newcomers (read about that here tomorrow) I had an e-mail from a frustrated Charlotte driver. She's lived here 10 years. Here's what she had to say.
"In the last few months I have found myself extremely aggravated with this place. It's almost like Charlotte is allergic to signs! Recently, I was anxiously looking for the children's ER at Presby with my 3 year-old daughter vomiting in the backseat at 10 p.m. Being a healthy adult with no family in town I've never HAD to find a hospital in Charlotte, let alone a children's hospital.
I live in the Mountain Island Lake area. I zoom down Brookshire toward uptown. I see a GIGANTIC billboard for Presby's children's hospital, but they didn't bother to put an address, or directions on the darn thing ... nothing. I see a blue "H" sign. I follow it, then another... I exit at 3rd & 4th (streets) and POOF! the "H" signs disappear ... I never did find Presby. I wish I had. I heard they are fast and I wouldn't have been at (CMC) for an eternity in an empty ER with a vomiting 3 year-old...
This example is just one of many. Try finding a street address on Fairview!! There's an adventure. When you travel our interstates you have no idea what attractions Charlotte has to offer and if you did, good luck finding them. You would never know that we have museums and art galleries and theaters.
This town is filled with newcomers, isn't it about time that we start pointing people to our attractions? Making addresses clearly visible?"
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Hey, Charlotte, get some better signs!
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10 comments:
As bad as it is in Charlotte I have lived in worse cities. I've encountered everything from S. 3rd North St. to roads that are one way going east for four blocks only to switch to one way going west for the next four blocks and there being no signs telling you this... just a line of speeding cars coming at you on a narrow road flanked by water on two sides. Another saving grace in Charlotte is that when I've asked for directions no one has ever told me " you go two blocks past where the Parkers' red barn USED to be."
The poor road signs coming from the airport is just one of many reasons the Lynx should have a line out that way, to bring people straight into town. Hey, even natives could use that!
My favorite is when a contiguous road segment changes names, especially more than once. IE. (Tyvola -> Fairview -> Sardis Rd -> Rama Rd -> Idlewild -> Seacrest Shortcut Rd)
There are also roads that lead in to the downtown (OH SORRY "UPTOWN") area that have perfectly fine names, but have to yield to street numbers when they get close (Providence -> 3rd, Randolph -> 4th, Monroe -> 7th, etc.)
And then there is Sardis. Sardis Rd, Sardis Rd North, Sardis View, Sardis Lane, Sardis Point, Sardis Mill, (and more!) all within a 3-4 mile radius. Same with Sharon Rd and Queens Rd...
Hry, Yankee, quit complaining!
I've never had any type of problem
Two solutions:
The economical solution - buy a map of Charlotte and learn how to read it. (AAA gives you maps for free if you are a member).
The technological solution - buy a Garmin.
Either way will solve your problems - done and done.
No offense, but getting from the airport to Dilworth is about the easiest of any neighborhood in Charlotte. You make 1 turn - left on West Blvd. Follow that until it turns into East Blvd., and tada.
Don't get caught at the corner of Queens and Queens. Don't understand how a road crosses itself.
The complaint in the original post isn't being lost, the problem is that Charlotte doesn't have signs!
It doesn't point people (or advertise to those passing thru on the interstates) it's best qualities (the attractions, etc).
If you had never been to Charlotte, would you know there is a Whitewater Park? a few museums?
Why is it assumed that anyone that isn't from Charlotte, must be a Yankee?? People relocate here from ALL OVER the country and some are even here from other countries! Why is it that native Charlotteans can't take a bit of critcism? or a suggestion to make improvements?
On the comment that newcomers wouldn't know if we had a museum or Whitewater .... http://www.charlottechamber.com/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=Newcomers
This took me 3 seconds to find. Some people just don't look!
My GPS works excellent!
Why is it assumed that anyone that isn't from Charlotte, must be a Yankee??
The modern definition of Yankee = not from the South.
Why is it that native Charlotteans can't take a bit of critcism? or a suggestion to make improvements?
You obviously are not from the South.
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