A version of the following article appeared in the September 9, 2026, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with news and insights for Charlotte, N.C.
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ALMOST A BIG CITY
Charlotte has a glittering skyline, pro sports, a thriving dining scene and plenty of other big-city amenities. It's what boosters, business leaders and elected officials have long chased. But does Charlotte act urban, or more like an expanse of suburbs knit together by traffic congestion?
In this four-part series, published Sept. 8-11, 2026, longtime local journalist Mary Newsom analyzes some of the cultural, structural and historical reasons that hinder Charlotte's ability to function effectively as a big city. The series was edited by The Ledger’s Ashley Fahey.
PART 2: Fast growth in a city that avoided big-city ways keeps Charlotte stuck behind the wheel
Fast growth in a city that avoided big-city ways keeps Charlotte stuck behind the wheel
Traffic on I-485. Charlotte roads, while not as congested as those in other cities, are becoming a bigger frustration for residents as the city booms. (Photo by Nancy Pierce)
by Mary Newsom
We’ve all been there. Maybe on Providence Road at 5:45 p.m. on a random Wednesday, trying to change lanes as a tank-sized SUV cuts you off. Maybe heading south on I-77 at 6 p.m. on a sunny Sunday, with Lake Norman extruding vehicles fore and aft.
Charlotte traffic is not as bad as in many larger cities. But when you’re stuck behind a line of vehicles snaking as far ahead as you can see, it’s an annoying reminder that Americans’ love affair with the car can lead to our collective loathing of traffic.
Charlotte’s a city of 965,000 in a county of 1.2 million people. Congestion is inevitable, and no city has yet managed to “solve” traffic. Please stop waiting for that to happen here.
With that said, things are even worse in Charlotte than they might have been. We’re a big city now, yet much of Charlotte was built as if it would never get, well, big. Big cities offer multiple ways to get around: mass transit, walkable and bikeable streets and that essential but often overlooked necessity, multiple streets that connect. Until recently, Charlotteans and city leaders didn’t demand the things to make even this now large and congested city more livable.
The city that always wanted to grow has let itself get built as if it would never grow.
Excepting only the comparatively small older areas of uptown and nearby neighborhoods, most of Charlotte is a vast patchwork of suburban-style neighborhoods. And starting about 1960, neighborhoods have been designed as if they’d always be at a city’s edge, with no need to handle big city traffic.
This is a story about roads not taken.