We moved to the Youngsville, NC area almost 6 years ago, to a nice quiet rural town that was close enough to the bigger cities, but far away enough to still retain that Southern country atmosphere. One of the best things about living here at that time was the way one could drive around in the area and miss the big highways with its semis, dump trucks, and other assorted traffic-accident magnets.
We really enjoyed the wooded back roads. In the fall, the leaves were brilliant with all kinds of color. If one knew how to navigate the by-ways, a whole afternoon could be spent on a Sunday just driving without the sound of very loud mufflers, and honking horns.
Fast forward to 2024, 2025. It seems that there isn't one single country road that hasn't been torn up by heavy trucks hauling trees to the mills. And the countryside has pretty much been devastated by developers hoping to cash in on the (so-called) housing shortage. New housing areas pop up faster than gasoline prices -- overnight developments grow quickly, but the infrastructure to service them often lags way behind. New roads are planned, but just never seem to get built, so the two-lane road net still services areas where hundreds of new homes just appear. And with each house, apartment or condo, there are usually 2 to 6 cars parked somewhere (other than in the garage that is usually full of boxes and "stuff").
One of our favorite drives between Youngsville and Wake Forest just disappeared in about a two month period. Now all that is left in one area is this Charlie Brown tree and a field of stumps.
I guess people need places to live, but they are building them so fast that the quality can't be that good and they often sit empty for long periods of time.I guess I shouldn't be too critical though, because I'm sure developers had to clear out land where our subdivision was built. I'm just glad I wasn't here to see that take place.
So, my wife and I took a week to travel back to Ohio about a month ago. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but when we got back, another wooded tract of land near our house looked like a tornado had gone through there. I was told that there will be close to 600 housing units there, a few retail stores, a new high school and (maybe) some new roads.
Can't wait. Ughhhh...
Hooah