As Mooresville grapples with growth, new roads could alleviate the traffic stress

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Long-awaited major road projects to alleviate congestion in Mooresville are underway, as the town grapples with growth that started in the 1980s and keeps coming. They include:

A state contractor expanding the final two-lane stretch of Brawley School Road, a main Lake Norman artery that is four lanes from Trump National Golf Club Charlotte on the lake east to Interstate 77 exit 35.

Crews dig red clay soil along Brawley School Road in Mooresville between Interstate 77 exit 35 and St. Therese Catholic Church on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, as part of Mooresville’s widening of the road from the interstate to U.S. 21.
Crews dig red clay soil along Brawley School Road in Mooresville between Interstate 77 exit 35 and St. Therese Catholic Church on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, as part of Mooresville’s widening of the road from the interstate to U.S. 21.

The final 1.18-mile, 2-lane leg of Brawley School Road extends from exit 35 east to U.S. 21. The hairpin curvy stretch remains irritatingly bumper-to-bumper most afternoons.

Construction that began this year on the four-lane East West Connector, first proposed decades ago for drivers to escape irritating bottlenecks when traveling east-west across Mooresville.

A construction crew works on the East West Connector in Mooresville, N.C., on Friday, September 13, 2024.
A construction crew works on the East West Connector in Mooresville, N.C., on Friday, September 13, 2024.

LandSouth’s plans to provide an east-west connection in Mooresville when the developer extends Timber Road in coming years from N.C. 115 west to U.S. 21. The road will be extended as part of LandSouth’s 560-home community now underway, town officials told The Charlotte Observer recently.

A trucker turns left off Timber Road onto Mecklenburg Highway (N.C. 115 South) in Mooresville on Monday, Oct. 24, 2022.
A trucker turns left off Timber Road onto Mecklenburg Highway (N.C. 115 South) in Mooresville on Monday, Oct. 24, 2022.

Mooresville continues to push for state funding of an I-77 exit 38 near a major town industrial park. Hundreds of 18-wheelers from the park each day are forced to head miles north to Troutman to access I-77 or endure the traffic lights and congestion of N.C. 150 to the south to reach exit 36, the Observer previously reported.

Vehicles navigate the intersection of Bluefield Road and Cornelius Road in Mooresville near the site of the planned Interstate 77 Exit 38. The town will host an open house about the state DOT’s $36-million exit plan on Monday, Nov. 13, 2023.
Vehicles navigate the intersection of Bluefield Road and Cornelius Road in Mooresville near the site of the planned Interstate 77 Exit 38. The town will host an open house about the state DOT’s $36-million exit plan on Monday, Nov. 13, 2023.

The town plans to expand Williamson Road from Interstate 77 exit 33 north several miles to N.C. 150. All right-of-way has been purchased except for property at the Williamson Road U.S. Post Office, which hasn’t agreed to sell the land needed for the widening, Mooresville commissioner Lisa Qualls and Mayor Chris Carney said.

Suffering residents stuck for decades

And the most astounding road news of all?

The Mooresville leg of the long-awaited $269.5 million widening of N.C. 150 in the Lake Norman area is scheduled to begin early next year, Mooresville town commissioner Tommy DeWeese said on NextDoor in July, the Observer first reported.

This Charlotte Observer file photo shows N.C. 150 West at Perth Road near Lake Norman in Mooresville.
This Charlotte Observer file photo shows N.C. 150 West at Perth Road near Lake Norman in Mooresville.

Traffic-choked drivers have pushed for N.C. 150 relief for decades.

In the early 1990s, a member of the North Carolina Board of Transportation persuaded fellow board members to expand N.C. 150 beginning in the rural Gaston County city of Cherryville, instead of the already congested exit 36 in Mooresville, the Observer reported at the time.

A steady flow of traffic proceeds through an intersection on N.C. 150 west of Mooresville, NC, on Wednesday, November 17, 2021.
A steady flow of traffic proceeds through an intersection on N.C. 150 west of Mooresville, NC, on Wednesday, November 17, 2021.