Challenge

Kittelson was a key partner leading the City of Charlotte’s Reconnecting the West End project, a federally funded planning effort supported by a $1 million Reconnecting Communities Pilot grant. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, I-77 and I-277 were constructed through Charlotte’s West End neighborhoods, resulting in the demolition of parks, businesses, schools, community institutions, and entire blocks of homes. The Reconnecting the West End project seeks to repair that past harm and reconnect the Historic West End to Uptown Charlotte. The project was specifically focused on overcoming the 43-acre barrier created by the I-77 / West Trade St. / West 5^th St. interchange.

Solution

To create a comprehensive vision for reconnecting the West End, our team facilitated collaboration among a broad community stakeholder group, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), and numerous public agencies; led a community design charrette with more than 100 residents; developed multiple interchange design alternatives; conducted iterative traffic modeling using NCDOT-preferred simulation tools; and prepared an integrated multimodal network plan, land use and redevelopment strategy, and implementation roadmap.

The project was especially complex due to NCDOT’s simultaneous design of proposed express lanes on I-77 through the study area. While NCDOT was working to add express lanes, our team was working to reduce the West End interchange footprint—a challenging communication and coordination effort.