New signal helps tame busy Tryon

5.18.2009

North Tryon Street motorists, pedestrians and even cyclists have a new, safe entrance into UNC Charlotte, thanks to a joint project of the campus and the owners of Mallard Pointe Shopping Center.
The signalized intersection at the entrance to the Charlotte Research Institute allows full traffic movement across the busy highway.
Crosswalks also are helping residents of nearby apartment communities walk and bicycle safely across North Tryon Street and onto campus.
“This is significantly better,” said George Maloomian of Mallard Pointe Associates, which owns the shopping center and helped pay for the improvements. “Our tenants are very pleased with the full access. The signal makes entering and exiting much safer, and it provides linkage with the university that will grow over the years.”
The intersection improvements and traffic signal cost about $800,000, Maloomian said, with the university paying roughly a third of the expense and his company covering the rest. The project included building a new entrance to Mallard Pointe that aligned with the CRI entrance.
Motorists may notice that the signals hang from metal arms stretching across the roadway, rather than on the standard, and less expensive, metal cables strung from wooden poles. The metal poles are part of an effort to create an urban streetscape, Maloomian said, as called for in the University City Area Plan.
The new intersection also was designed with University City’s planned light rail line in mind. The latest plan calls for the LYNX Blue Line Extension to run in the North Tryon Street median but several feet below street level as it passes the CRI/Mallard Pointe intersection. A bridge will carry traffic over the sunken track, Maloomian said.

TWO MORE SIGNALS
Two other new traffic lights paid for in part by University City businesses are helping motorists and pedestrians cope with busy highways.
The traffic lights, which went into operation over the past few weeks, are at:
• North Tryon Street and Shopping Center Drive, beside the new Wal-Mart Supercenter.
• Mallard Creek Church Road and Berkeley Place Drive, at Pinnacle Point.
Safety concerns and increasing traffic on Berkeley Place Drive led Pinnacle Point’s developer to request a traffic signal.
“The impact on current businesses should be nothing but positive,” Chris Orr, office and investment specialist for Pinnacle Properties, wrote in an e-mail. “With the traffic that is in the center for Gotta Yoga, K&W Cafeterias and Wild Wings, traffic controls were greatly needed and should be very helpful with current and future tenants and their customers.”
Orr said the mixed-use development is about 60 percent complete.
The traffic signal at Shopping Center Drive will serve the Wal-Mart Supercenter nearing completion about a mile south of Harris Boulevard, as well as the Commons at Chancellor Park retail center, anchored by Home Depot. The new street segment eventually will connect in with the Belgate mixed-use retail and apartment development that includes the IKEA store.


6.29.2010 Former IBM complex gets new name: Innovation Park BECO South is offering a glimpse at changes coming to Meridian Corporate Center - beginning with a new name and logo that reflect ...Read article >
6.29.2010 Furniture Row rising near new link to Tryon Street The Belgate mixed-use center at City Boulevard and I-85 continues to take shape, even in the very slow economy. Visitors to IKEA w...Read article >
6.29.2010 Dining news: Taste of Philly arrives; Ishi grows A Taste of Philly has opened at the Shoppes at University Place. The menu proclaims, "The World's Best Cheesesteak," but also mak...Read article >

Take an interactive tour of the surrounding area with our interactive map. Find stores, dining locations, and more.