A version of this story first appeared in WFAE’s Climate News newsletter. Sign up here to receive weekly climate and environmental news straight to your inbox.
Charlotte native Winston Robinson sat on his front porch on Washington Avenue in west Charlotte. The omnipresent drone of gas engines hummed from all directions. Robinson described the community as “landlocked” between busy roads: N.C. Highway 16, Interstate 77, Beatties Ford Road and Oakland Avenue.
“The running joke in the community — in this island state of McCrorey Heights — is we hear the ocean all the time,” Robinson said.
N.C. 16 and I-77 frame the “island state of McCrorey Heights” on the south and east sides, respectively. Only a thin line of trees separates the community from N.C. 16, and the road is clearly visible from Van Buren Street, on the south end of the neighborhood. Robinson said he just wants to be able to have a conversation with his neighbor in the yard without having to yell.
Like many “island states,” McCrorey Heights also experiences flooding issues. N.C. 16 sits maybe 20 feet above the neighborhood, separated by a steep slope and a chain-link fence. The two storm drains at the end of the neighborhood regularly clog with mud and detritus, but when Shauna Bell, a McCrorey Heights resident, contacted Charlotte Storm Water about the issue, she received a lot of finger pointing in return.
“He was like, ‘Yeah, well, yes, it's covering up the drainage, but those are leaves from trees that are on the state side of the fence,” Bell said, recounting the interaction with Charlotte Storm Water.
Her house sits at the lowest point in the neighborhood. When stormwater doesn’t drain properly, it collects in her front yard, breeding mosquitoes.
Decades of bad-faith planning
“It's no secret that there was a time and period in America where you really didn't have to be accountable for the way you treated Black spaces or Black people,” Robinson said.
In this case, that time and period was the 1950s and ‘60s, when the country was heavily investing in an idea called urban renewal. Discriminatory lending practices during the New Deal Era, called redlining, set the stage. They blocked Black communities from post-World War II-era loans and government-issued mortgages, creating what city planners called “urban decay.”
Then the 1949 American Housing Act and the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 gave state and local governments a new mandate to freshen up American cities and improve interstate connectivity. However, in practice, it often meant the demolition of Black historic neighborhoods.
“Some people chose to literally put their homes on a flatbed truck, move up the street on Beatties Ford Road to establish the Hyde Park community,” Robinson said.
In McCrorey Heights, the state built a highway that disrupted an established, predominantly Black neighborhood — N.C. 16. Prior to construction, Condon Street previously extended south past Van Buren to the Seaboard Railroad, connecting McCrorey Heights to Johnson C. Smith University, according to a 1950 census map.
The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1970 required states to consider noise when building and reconstructing roadways. It set some guidelines for how states implement a noise abatement program, including when and how to construct a noise barrier. But, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the interchange between N.C. 16 and I-77 finished construction prior to state noise mitigation requirements.
Federal regulators want to know, ‘What’s your type?’
So, could N.C. DOT, go back and erect a noise wall between McCrorey Heights and N.C. 16? In North Carolina, Epperson said the answer is no.
“We don't have a funding mechanism to install noise walls outside of a project being built, expanding capacity or building a new alignment roadway,” Epperson said.
The DOT started a noise abatement program after building N.C 16, but the program only included pathways for Type I projects. That means constructing or reconstructing a highway — projects like adding new lanes or exits. A “Type II” project refers to retrofitting existing infrastructure with a noise barrier.
Federal regulations do not require states to implement a Type II program. The N.C. General Assembly asked DOT to evaluate the feasibility of a Type II program, but the department’s 2009 report ultimately advised against a new program because it would be expensive and only benefit the residents suffering from noise pollution. Or, as Robinson surmised:
“I think there's a larger conversation with the state,” Robinson said. “I would assume they just don't want to open that Pandora's box of remedying things that they know are blatantly wrong.”
The report further concluded that N.C. DOT might appease residents with landscaping and other less expensive alternatives, even if those measures don’t address the root problem: traffic noise.
What happens next?
There’s still hope for McCrorey Heights. N.C. DOT plans to add toll lanes to an 11-mile stretch of I-77 that extends from the South Carolina line to the Brookshire Freeway, or N.C. 16.
“As part of that project, we will be looking at doing a noise study to determine where those noise levels are going to increase,” Epperson said. “And then start looking at where walls would be practical.”
The department has already taken noise measurements in McCrorey Heights as part of the project. There is a chance that a solution might arrive for this decades-long noise problem. It might just take another decade.
In the meantime, community members are interested in other solutions while they wait for their noise wall. Bell reached out to the N.C. DOT, and was able to get a drainage ditch cleared. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services said in a written statement to WFAE that it is currently arranging for a “specialized vacuum truck” to unblock the storm drains.
The state could also plant more trees to hide the highway better from Van Buren Street. The neighborhood would like to see the chain-link fence replaced or maintained. Robinson said he’d like better connectivity between the outside world and the “island state of McCrorey Heights.” Sean Langley, president of the McCrorey Heights Neighborhood Association, said one solution might include connecting Andrill Terrace to the Irwin Creek Greenway, improving access to Bank of America Stadium.
No matter the solution, Langley said that maintaining “ongoing communication” with the neighborhood would be a first step.
Resources for communities facing similar problems in Charlotte:
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services can assist residents with flooding or stormwater drainage issues. Residents can call 311 to report a stormwater concern or submit an inquiry online.
- For state-maintained roads, folks can use this form on N.C. DOT’s website to report a problem or call 1-877-368-4968 with non-DMV-related questions.
- Sustain Charlotte advocates for sustainable public transportation and pedestrian infrastructure. The organization also works closely with the city on transit plans.
If you have questions about water quality, stormwater or aquatic wildlife, the Catawba Riverkeeper is a helpful resource. You can learn more or report a concern here.
