Most of my adult life, I have heard about the plans for the bypass of the Shelby, NC bypass. I’ve never been sure what to call a bypass’ bypass, and have never really understood the purpose of it.

We’re told that the bypass of the bypass will benefit Cleveland County economically, and I have no doubt that it would bring increased traffic and investment… once built; primarily because it would provide an easy and quick route from I-85 to I-26. One cannot help but to wonder, would the same or better economic benefit occur if we simply fixed the current bypass, and could that be done more quickly and with less money?

It will not surprise regular drivers on the full length of Dixon Boulevard that the majority of the traffic is not through-traffic, it’s local. NCDOT statistics show there are 29,000 cars per day on 74 at Kings Mountain, and 17,000 at the Rutherford County line. In Shelby there are some 38,000. A new bypass will provide some relief, particularly of the trucks, but it will not be a solution for the 21,000 that will not likely commute on the proposed bypass.

More importantly, the business along the 74 corridor must have some dependence on what through-traffic there is. Uptown Shelby became a ghost town as 74 was developed, and still struggles as a result. It seems reasonable to believe that some business, particularly restaurants and gas stations will at some point move to the new bypass as through-traffic increases after it’s built.

The problem is not the volume of cars, Independence Boulevard in Charlotte handles over 100,000 cars a day in places; the problem is the lights and crossovers. There are 8 lights on Dixon Boulevard between the Marion Street junctions. According to NCDOT, a typical diamond interchange costs approximately $7 million to build; for a rough construction cost of $56 million the traffic lights can be solved. Given the experience of NCDOT engineers, it’s likely that each intersection would not need a full interchange, so the cost could be less-and the loss of private property reduced. $14 million would solve the Pizza Hut and Shelby High intersections. Granted, a full solution would require continuing the current access roads the length of Dixon Boulevard so that the turn-offs would not occur as they do now.

Compare this to the projected cost of nearly $300 million for the bypass of the bypass (and you can bet that cost will be significantly higher by the time it’s finally started). Mind you, these are just construction costs- these figures do not include land acquisition.

A few changes to the current bypass could be rather immediate, of tremendous advantage, and move us much more quickly to the positive economic benefit, while continuing to support current businesses.

We made a mistake in not building the current bypass properly in the first place; let us fully consider Shelby commuters and businesses and fix the problem, rather than simply bypassing it and hoping for the best.

A related commentary, forwarded me after the publication of this article: Here.