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Charlotte metropolitan area

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The Charlotte Metropolitan area, formally known as the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), is composed of five counties in North Carolina and one county in South Carolina. The population of the metropolitan area was at 1,305,173 in the 2000 US Census; 2005 estimates place the population at 1,495,779. Major roads include 3 interstates and their spurs: I-85, I-77 (which intersect in Charlotte), I-485, I-277 and I-40, and the area is also served by US 21, 29, 74, 321, 521 and 601 and NC 16, 24, 27, 49 and 73.

The Charlotte - Gastonia - Salisbury Combined Statisical Area (CSA) is a regional population area including parts of North Carolina and South Carolina with a 2005 population of 2,067,810. The area consists of one metropolitan area, (as defined since 2000 by the U.S. Census Bureau) Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord in North and South Carolina, and five micropolitan areas-- Albemarle, Salisbury and Shelby in North Carolina and Lancaster and Chester in South Carolina.

In addition to the official metropolitan area, six counties in North Carolina are also considered part of the Charlotte area.

The regional area was called Metrolina at one point, but that term has fallen out of use and is no longer the preferred term for the Metro Charlotte area. Currently, Charlotte is the 20th largest city in the U.S. Metrolina refers to the region that includes the cities of: Charlotte, Gastonia and Rock Hill, South Carolina. The name Metrolina came into fashion when North Carolina's other two large metropolitan areas took on nicknames--Triangle for Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill and Triad for Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point. The Triad now goes by the name Piedmont Triad.

The state's Department of Transportation still uses the term Metrolina.

[NC SmartLink Metrolina traffic cameras]

Many businesses and organizations in the metro Charlotte area still use the name Metrolina, as an Internet search of the name will show.

The term Charlotte USA is sometimes used as the Metro's name. The term is championed by the Charlotte Regional Partnership, a non-profit organization made up of both private- and public-sector members from throughout the Charlotte metropolitan area.

[Charlotte USA - The Charlotte Regional Partnership]

Contents

Counties

Official metropolitan area

Sometimes included

Cities And Towns

Primary Cities

Suburban towns and cities over 10,000 in population

(including county and 2004 census bureau population estimates)

Suburban towns and cities under 10,000 in population

(including county and 2004 census bureau population estimates)

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Unincorporated Communities

(2000 census figures)

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Transportation

The Charlotte Area Transit System, or CATS, is the local public transit agency that operates bus service that serves Charlotte and its immediate suburban communities in both North and South Carolina. CATS is also constructing a light rail and commuter rail network as a supplement to its established bus transit throughout the region. Plans are for it to stretch initially to Mooresville, Pineville, Matthews, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Service is scheduled to begin operation in 2007.

The Charlotte region is also served by 3 major interstate highways, and their 2 spurs: I-85, I-77, I-40, I-277, and I-485, and other major freeways include Independence Boulevard (east Charlotte to I-277), a portion of US 321 between Hickory and Gastonia, the proposed Garden Parkway loop around Gastonia, and the proposed Monroe Connector and Monroe Bypass. I-77 is being expanded and improved through north Mecklenburg County, and I-85 (6-8 lanes through Gaston and Mecklenburg Counties) will eventually have 6-8 lanes from Greenville, SC to Durham, NC.

Other important US highways in the region include: US 74 (to Wilmington and Asheville), US 52 (through the eastern part of the region), US 321 (through Chester, York, Gastonia, Dallas, Lincolnton and Hickory), US 601 (passing east of Charlotte) and US 70 (through Salisbury, Statesville and Hickory).

Primary state routes include NC/SC 49, NC 16, NC 73, NC 150, NC 18, NC 24, NC 27, SC 9 and SC 5.

Charlotte Douglas International Airport, the 17th busiest in the country, is supplemented by regional airports in Concord, Gastonia, Statesville, Monroe, and Hickory in North Carolina, as well as Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Higher Education

Attractions

The foothills of the Blue Ridge begin along the western edge of the region; the descent (the fall line) to the coastal plain begins along the eastern edge. Amid this varied topography, the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens and several state parks (Morrow Mountain, Crowders Mountain, South Mountains, Duke Power, Landsford Canal, Andrew Jackson) offer recreational possibilities, along with the Uwharrie National Forest just east and northeast of Albemarle, and the Sumter National Forest at the southwest corner of the area. Kings Mountain National Military Park is partially located in York County and in Cherokee County near Blacksburg, SC.

Other attractions include the Afro-American Cultural Center (in Charlotte), Discovery Place (in Charlotte), Spirit Square (in Charlotte), the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center (in Charlotte), Children's Theatre of Charlotte[link], The Mint Museums (in Charlotte), the Schiele Museum (in Gastonia), Paramount Carowinds Theme Park (in Charlotte and Fort Mill), Lowes Motor Speedway (in Concord), the Carolina Raptor Center (in Huntersville), Latta Plantation (in Huntersville), Historic Brattonsville (in McConnells), the North Carolina Transportation Museum (in Spencer), Fort Dobbs historical site (in Statesville), the Museum Of York County (in Rock Hill), James K. Polk historical site (in Pineville), the Charlotte Museum Of History (in Charlotte), Wing Haven Gardens (in Charlotte), the Levine Museum Of The New South (in Charlotte), the Catawba Cultural Center (in York County), the Museum Of The Waxhaws (in Waxhaw), Glencairn Gardens (in Rock Hill), and the Reed Gold Mine (in Locust).

Regional shopping malls include SouthPark Mall, Northlake Mall, Eastland Mall (in Charlotte), Carolina Place Mall (in Pineville), The Galleria (in Rock Hill), Eastridge Mall (in Gastonia), Concord Mills and Carolina Mall (in Concord), Monroe Mall in Monroe, Signal Hill Mall in Statesville and Valley Hills Mall (in Hickory).

In addition to the Lowes Motor Speedway, there are plenty of other sports venues, including the Knights Castle in Fort Mill (home of the Charlotte Knights, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox), Bank of America Stadium (home of the NFL's Carolina Panthers), and Charlotte Bobcats Arena (home of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, the WNBA's Charlotte Sting and the East Coast Hockey League's Charlotte Checkers). The Charlotte Eagles of the United Soccer Leagues call the area home, and the Kannapolis Intimidators, another minor-league affiliate of the White Sox, are also located in the metropolitan area.

Commerce And Employment

Among the largest employers in the area (listed in order by number of local employees) are: Companies with headquarters in the region include Bank Of America, Lowe's, Wachovia, Duke Energy, Nucor, BellSouth Telecommunications, the Compass Group, Royal & SunAlliance (USA), Belk, Food Lion and Family Dollar.

Charlotte has gained fame as the second largest banking and finance center in the U.S., and the area's orientation towards emerging industries is seen in the success of the University Research Park (the 7th largest research park in the country) and the redevelopment of part of the Pillowtex site in Kannapolis as a biotech research facility featuring the participation of University of North Carolina at Charlotte, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University and North Carolina State University.

People

Artist Romare Bearden, astronauts Charles Duke and Susan Helms, evangelist Billy Graham, musicians Earl Scruggs, George Clinton, Fred Durst and Randy Travis, independent filmmaker Ross McElwee, actor Randolph Scott, actress Berlinda Tolbert (she played Jenny on the long-running, classic 70's sitcom "The Jeffersons"), political figures Sue Myrick, Harvey Gantt, Elizabeth Dole and Jesse Helms, U.S. presidents Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk, and NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt.

Novelist, playwright and screenwriter Carson McCullers was a Charlotte resident while writing her best known works. More recently, Reflections Studios in Charlotte played an important role in the emergent late-20th-century American musical underground - R.E.M., Pylon, Let's Active, Don Dixon and Charlotte's Fetchin Bones (among many others) all recorded influential and acclaimed albums there. Charlotte-based Ripete and Surfside Records maintain important catalogs of regional soul and beach music, and the area has also played a role in the history of gospel, bluegrass and country music. The Milestone, one of the first punk clubs in the South, is located in west Charlotte, and in the past hosted legendary appearances from the likes of R.E.M., Black Flag, Charlotte's Antiseen and many others.

See also

 State of North Carolina
State capital Raleigh
Regions Coastal Plain | Land of the Sky | Metro Charlotte | Piedmont | Piedmont Triad | Blue Ridge Mountains | Outer Banks | Smoky Mountains | The Triangle
Major cities Asheville | Burlington | Cary | Chapel Hill | Charlotte | Concord | Durham | Fayetteville | Gastonia | Goldsboro | Greensboro | Greenville | Hickory | High Point | Jacksonville | Raleigh | Rocky Mount | Wilmington | Wilson | Winston-Salem
Counties Alamance | Alexander | Alleghany | Anson | Ashe | Avery | Beaufort | Bertie | Bladen | Brunswick | Buncombe | Burke | Cabarrus | Caldwell | Camden | Carteret | Caswell | Catawba | Chatham | Cherokee | Chowan | Clay | Cleveland | Columbus | Craven | Cumberland | Currituck | Dare | Davidson | Davie | Duplin | Durham | Edgecombe | Forsyth | Franklin | Gaston | Gates | Graham | Granville | Greene | Guilford | Halifax | Harnett | Haywood | Henderson | Hertford | Hoke | Hyde | Iredell | Jackson | Johnston | Jones | Lee | Lenoir | Lincoln | Macon | Madison | Martin | McDowell | Mecklenburg | Mitchell | Montgomery | Moore | Nash | New Hanover | Northampton | Onslow | Orange | Pamlico | Pasquotank | Pender | Perquimans | Person | Pitt | Polk | Randolph | Richmond | Robeson | Rockingham | Rowan | Rutherford | Sampson | Scotland | Stanly | Stokes | Surry | Swain | Transylvania | Tyrrell | Union | Vance | Wake | Warren | Washington | Watauga | Wayne | Wilkes | Wilson | Yadkin | Yancey

State of South Carolina
List of capitals in the United States>Capital

 Columbia
Regions of the United States#South Carolina>Regions

Capital City/Lake Murray Country | Grand Strand | Historic Charleston | Midlands | Old 96 District | Olde English District | Pee Dee | Piedmont | Sandhills | Santee Cooper Country | South Carolina Low Country | Metrolina | Thoroughbred Country | The Upstate
Major Cities

 Columbia | Charleston | North Charleston | Rock Hill | Mount Pleasant | Greenville
Counties

 Abbeville | Aiken | Allendale | Anderson | Bamberg | Barnwell | Beaufort | Berkeley | Calhoun | Charleston | Cherokee | Chester | Chesterfield | Clarendon | Colleton | Darlington | Dillon | Dorchester | Edgefield | Fairfield | Florence | Georgetown | Greenville | Greenwood | Hampton | Horry | Jasper | Kershaw | Lancaster | Laurens | Lee | Lexington | Marion | Marlboro | McCormick | Newberry | Oconee | Orangeburg | Pickens | Richland | Saluda | Spartanburg | Sumter | Union | Williamsburg | York

Sources

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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