Originally Posted by fishboat

Several years back I was offered an all-expenses paid work transfer to the Charlotte area. They'd buy my home here, give me another chunk of cash to cover expenses at the Charlotte end. I visited Charlotte a number of times for work and looking at homes/areas. Nice enough area (I was there mostly in late summer and fall). Climate (as I sit here at -7F outside) is certainly milder than Wisconsin.

I declined the move. About 50% of the reason I declined was a nagging feeling I'd die cycling the roads. So much traffic on narrow-no bike-lane roads. Everyone rushing around as they're late due to the traffic. A joke there(as related by a local) was if you're having a slow day you can always grab a lawn chair and watch intersections for one-car accidents(I saw two while there). They're racing (an apparently losing battle) building infrastructure to keep up with population growth and cyclists are not even an afterthought...by the look of it at least. Bike trails (non-MTB) are nearly non-existent..but the taxes are low(er). At the time, I read something online that Montana? and South Carolina were tied for leading the nation in pedestrian deaths due to autos..I think cyclists were lumped into pedestrians.

All my opinions might be incorrect here, but when moving for work there's a limited time to decide what to do and why. I opted to retire early and live in the land of higher taxes, reasonably courteous drivers, bike lanes, and bike trails everywhere...with more being built.