CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Major traffic and confusion are greeting drivers trying to get to a brand new Walmart in east Charlotte.
The store recently opened on Independence Boulevard near Albemarle Road.
Neighbors said they had no idea how many shoppers would be driving through their neighborhood.
The city’s transportation department said it would prefer that customers use the Walmart entrance on Independence Boulevard, but a lot of them are actually coming in through the back entrance after cutting through the neighborhood behind the store.
The city said it is already studying ways to discourage that behavior, but the city is not acting fast enough for some neighbors.
“It’s gotten ridiculous. Traffic’s picked up at least 50 percent since they opened it,” said Josh Ladislas, a resident of the Amity Gardens neighborhood behind the new Walmart.
“My husband and my baby, we were all walking the other day and someone just blew through one of these stop signs. If we weren’t stopped, we would have gotten hit,” said Kristen Botirius, another resident of the neighborhood.
Traffic questions go beyond just cut-through traffic.
Leaving Walmart from the front puts drivers immediately into fast-moving Independence Boulevard traffic, and anyone wanting to get on to Albemarle Road has less than 400 yards to get across three lanes of traffic.
The state Department of Transportation said it is watching that particular problem closely. The city is also taking steps to help the neighborhoods with a $25,000 fund set aside by Walmart.
“It could be speed humps, multi-way stops. We may be able to become even more innovative,” said Doreen Szymanski of the Charlotte Department of Transportation.
The city has already cut off access to Walmart on Unaka Avenue, making it a dead end. There was a sign at the end of the road pointing to another neighborhood route, but city crews removed that Wednesday.
However, that left several cars traveling up and down Unaka Avenue, looking for Walmart.
“It’s just as easy to get in and out off Independence as it is trying to find a secret shortcut,” said Robert Padgett, who lives in the neighborhood.
The state said it will step in and consider eliminating the right turn onto Independence Boulevard if a pattern of crashes emerges at the front of the store.
The city said it will wait several months to decide what changes to make on neighborhood streets because it wants to see how traffic patterns settle.
Officials said there is also one other problem being addressed. Currently, there is no bus service to the Walmart, but CATS will make a new stop in the parking lot.
That service is expected to start next month.
WSOC
