In the Union County community of Waxhaw, the Waxhaw Parkway had been talked about for a long time as the solution to some of the town’s traffic challenges. Located at the crossroads of two of the Charlotte Region’s major state roads, historic downtown Waxhaw had physical limits for street widening, and very active at-grade railroad tracks running through town. The original Parkway alignment included almost 10 miles of planned road which hoped to alleviate congestion and provide a route around downtown – and over the railroad tracks.

In more than two decades of planning, less than one mile of the Parkway had been completed. American Engineering led a unique collaboration with Town staff, elected officials, NCDOT, and the development community to create a new alignment and strategy for how to get the road constructed. The previous layout included a route with little regard to cost of construction or environmental impacts. American Engineering – collaborating with NCDOT on portions – led the planning of the new alignment which sought to maximize developable land, minimize stream crossings, consider topography, and reduce the impacted number of parcels of land. The created alignment was included in Waxhaw’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan.

The strategy was named Waxhaw Forward. In addition to the creation of a more cost-effective alignment, a key component to the plan was working with private developers to incorporate the Parkway into the road networks of their projects. American Engineering has completed detailed engineering design of 2,500 linear feet of roadway and is currently engineering the next 3,000 linear feet.

The final component of American Engineering’s strategy was the creation of a Municipal Service District (MSD) which would create a special tax district on the largest parcels which were planned for redevelopment. By assessing the future residents who will be adding to the existing traffic, a revenue stream is created to fund additional sections of the Waxhaw Parkway, including the costly portion that will create a grade-separated railroad crossing. The Waxhaw Forward plan proposes to complete almost 10 miles of new roadway, by combining $120 million in NCDOT funding, $45 million in private funding, and requires no existing local taxpayer funding.