How gnarly is 485 between 7 and 7:30am?

kcult

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We have three 8am appts in Charlotte in Dec.

It looks like non-peak travel time is 1h 40m from my house. If I leave here at 6am, that should put me on or very close to 485 around 7am.

Will I be in the thick of it at that time, or will I get lucky and be gone before 485 W becomes a parking lot?
 
What part of Charlotte/485?
If non-peak travel time is an hour forty, how do you figure leaving by 6 gets you there by 7?


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We have three 8am appts in Charlotte in Dec.

It looks like non-peak travel time is 1h 40m from my house. If I leave here at 6am, that should put me on or very close to 485 around 7am.

Will I be in the thick of it at that time, or will I get lucky and be gone before 485 W becomes a parking lot?
Which part of the 67 miles of 485?
 
That's the sucky part. Unless they have done something on 74 through that area That going to be the bad part , 485 at 77 will slow some as well
 
best to avoid that area that time of day. long trip through the country would be much easier.
 
Might be better to go all the way over to Lancaster and up 521. What I would do is check a couple mornings around 7am using Waze or google maps that use traffic data and see which way it takes you and how long it estimates. That section of 485 after 7am suck almost every morning and can really suck if there is an accident.
 
i drive it every day, if I’m there at 7:30 I just stop for breakfast, before that it isn’t terrible.
 
Man... that is right in the thick of it....NC is a geographical oddity... Two hours from everywhere and you can't get there from here.

It's funny; I drive all over the area and I can punch in an address for the next job and see something like this... 18.6 miles away - 24 minutes.... Punch in another... 6.2 miles away - 23 minutes.... Distance makes no matter in commute time in the area, it relies solely on which 77/485/85/74/277 bottleneck you have to suffer through.
 
It's funny; I drive all over the area and I can punch in an address for the next job and see something like this... 18.6 miles away - 24 minutes.... Punch in another... 6.2 miles away - 23 minutes.... Distance makes no matter in commute time in the area, it relies solely on which 77/485/85/74/277 bottleneck you have to suffer through.

It's amazing isn't it?
 
i drive it every day, if I’m there at 7:30 I just stop for breakfast, before that it isn’t terrible.
It's been a while since I've driven around that area during that time of day, but I used to notice the same thing. Before 7:30 traffic was moderate, but by 7:30 it's literally like the flood gates opened and you could watch traffic swell and jam up. By 8 it was a mess. It may be worse now.
 
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I'm on the just north of Charlotte. there's a reason I still go to Winston to the orthopedic doctor
 
If it were me I would make my trip overthere cross country

This^^^^

485 Inner loop sucks in the morning, which is what you will be on. At 5 it's outer loop that sucks.

I wouldn't get near Ballyntine on 521 either. It's been a long time, but you can make it from Monroe over to 521 then cut from Indian Land over to Fort Mill on some pretty decent roads.
 
Thanks, guys!

I was caught on the loop one time before, but that was several years ago. I was also driving a manual. It was excruciating, too say the least.

I wasn't sure if any improvements were made to relieve the congestion, or to expect more of the same.
 
I wasn't sure if any improvements were made to relieve the congestion, or to expect more of the same.

A good portion of that section is under construction for widening at the moment. So expect additional delays for that.



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Google maps allows you to change thr
Look into taking 160 all the way over to Steele Creek.

Edit: or is that way screwed by all the Fort Mill refugees trying to avoid the 77 death march into Charlotte?
Ha! Yeah, SC made 160 4 lanes up to the state line where it bottlenecks back down to two. Not only does 160 get the traffic form 485 dodgers but also from the people who listen to the traffic guy on the radio who says to avoid delays in 49 take 160... Bottom line, in the Steele Creek area, between 6-830 and 330-730 you ain't going anywhere in a hurry.
 
"Will I be in the thick of it at that time..."
yes.
for an 8AM sales call, i am within 4 miles
of the call by 7AM, so i stop to have breakfast
and check on messages (which i don't do while driving).
 
Hwy 160 is not a good option either. I work off of 160.
 
Take the camper up the night before.

We had considered a camping trip one of those weekends. It hadn't occurred to me to do a one nighter. That's not a horrible idea.

When I used to have to go to our Fort Mill campus for training and education, I would go the night before and stay at the Hilton Garden Inn. I guess I can't do that now since we would have my wife's dog with us.

Edit to say, I would much rather pull the camper there and back at my leisure, than to face sitting in that kind of traffic an hour or more.
 
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