Easing Exit 49 traffic key to Cabarrus tourism growth

CONCORD, N.C. -- Each day, 42 percent of the traffic traveling on Interstate 85 through Cabarrus County gets off at Exit 49, Charlotte Motor Speedway President and COO Marcus Smith said Tuesday during a meeting attended by local and state tourism leaders, and U.S. Rep.Richard Hudson.

Smith and other local tourism leaders told Hudson that funding improved infrastructure at Exit 49 would be one of the best things government could do to help the area and local tourism.

Two of the biggest tourism draws in North Carolina – the Charlotte Motor Speedway and Concord Mills – both sit at Exit 49, drawing millions of visitors annually. Those and other travel and tourism industry businesses employ 4,000 Cabarrus County residents and generated a $77 million payroll in 2012.

But the traffic on Exit 49, which leads to Concord Mills Boulevard in one direction and Bruton Smith Boulevard in the other, can be a deterrent to shoppers, diners and visitors, tourism officials said.

“The traffic is so difficult that we’ll hit a tipping point where our friends and neighbors and travelers will say ‘I’m not going back there again,’” Smith said.

Hudson said he had experienced the heavy traffic this week when he tried to head to Bass Pro Shop for some new hunting boots.

Hudson met with local business owners, policy makers and travel representatives at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Tuesday morning for a roundtable discussion on the economic benefits of travel to the greater Concord area. They also discussed meaures that can be taken in the upcoming year to boost tourism. Travel and tourism employs 196,100 people in North Carolina and generates roughly $19 billion of spending statewide. Partipants in the meeting included representatives from the Cabarrus County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the N.C. Department of Tourism, the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association and the U.S. Travel Association as well as local hotel and restaurant owners and managers.

Smith said he would like to see Exit 49 become more a campus similar to the Disney World concept.

“If we had the right infrastructure, we could have twice as much or three times as much as we have now,” he said.

One of the traffic issues at Exit 49 is the lack of pedestrian access and public transportation between the hotels, Concord Mills, local restaurants and the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Visitors have to get back into their cars in most cases to go from their hotel to any of the destinations.

Troy Taylor, owner of Jim’N Nick’s Community Bar-B-Q, said race weekends, tax-free weekend and holiday shopping days are some of his least busy times of the year. He said some have trouble accessing the restaurant because of the high traffic counts. Others, who normally would go to the restaurant, stay away during those times for fear of getting caught in traffic jams.

Smith suggested a shuttle that stopped at everyone’s door to help get people from point to point without using their cars.

Ray Soporowski, vice president and general manager of Concord Mills, said that would work best with a dedicated lane for the shuttle.

“Without having that dedicated lane for mass transit or a shuttle system, it defeats the purpose,” Soporowski said.

Hudson said he loved the idea of a campus concept, making Exit 49 a destination and not just an exit. He said he could be supportive in sharing stories about the needs at Exit 49, but that most federal dollars are funneled through the state so he could not directly earmark money for a project.

Concord Independent Tribune, by Karen Cimino Wilson