According to jibin123, Fayetteville is a city in the US state of North Carolina. The city has 209,000 inhabitants and an agglomeration with 525,000 inhabitants (2021). This makes it the sixth largest city in North Carolina. Fayetteville is best known for Fort Bragg.
Introduction
Fayetteville is located in inland eastern North Carolina on the Cape Fear River and 80 miles from the coast. The city is 80 kilometers south of the state capital Raleigh, 130 kilometers northwest of Wilmington and 180 kilometers east of Charlotte. Fayetteville is located in fairly flat terrain with an alternation of forest and meadows.
The center of Fayetteville is located on the Cape Fear River, however the city has grown almost exclusively to the north and west, the center borders rural areas east of the Cape Fear River. The urban area is mainly in Cumberland County, but there are also larger exurbs that are located in eccentric Harnett County. The urban area has also expanded into Hoke County.
Several cities in the United States are named after the French soldier Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834). Fayetteville, North Carolina was the first city to be named after him and is also the largest city within the city limits. However, Fayetteville, Arkansas has a larger conurbation.
Fort Bragg
Fayetteville is mainly known for Fort Bragg, one of the largest military bases in the world with more than 50,000 personnel stationed there. Fort Bragg covers 650 km² with large training areas to the west. Fort Bragg has two military airports. Fort Bragg mainly houses units of the US Army, including airborne and special forces. About 30,000 people live on the base itself, less than during the Cold War, a large part of the personnel now lives in Fayetteville and the suburbs.
Road network
The road network of Fayetteville.
Fayetteville is served by Interstate 95, it is the largest city along I-95 in the state. However, the highway bypasses most of Fayetteville to the east, rendering I-95 almost meaningless for intra-conurbation transportation. The Interstate 95 Business is the gateway from downtown to and from I-95, the northern portion of which is a short interstate.
Interstate 295 forms Fayetteville’s ring road, along the north and west sides of the city. This is the main access from Fort Bragg to I-95. For internal city traffic, State Route 87, State Route 210, and the All-American Freeway play a role.
Notably, Fort Bragg has no direct highway connections to most major cities in North Carolina. Raleigh can still be reached fairly directly via I-95 and I-40. The route via NC-87 and US 421 to Greensboro is a 2×2 divided highway and part freeway but not in the vicinity of Fayetteville itself. NC-87 is also the primary link to the port city of Wilmington, but is largely a two-lane road. There is also no direct connection to Charlotte, one has to follow a series of US Highways with large parts that are two lanes.
Of the secondary road network, two US Highways run through Fayetteville, US 301 and US 401. Fayetteville is the only major city in North Carolina not served by a one- or two-digit US Highway, as well as the only one not located on an east-west route.
History
Fayetteville was founded in 1783 as a town on the Cape Fear River, as an outpost of the port city of Wilmington. The population grew only slowly, reaching 1,500 in 1790 and 4,600 in 1900. Fort Bragg was established in 1918 as an artillery shooting camp. Fort Bragg started to grow enormously from the Second World War, in 1940 the fort had 5,400 inhabitants and Fayetteville 17,000 inhabitants. In 1941 Fort Bragg had more than 50,000 residents and was well larger than the town of Fayetteville. After the Second World War, the city of Fayetteville began to take over the function as a residential area for the military. It grew to 60,000 residents in 1980. However, many people lived outside the city limits of Fayetteville in Cumberland County. The city limits were expanded in the 1980s, almost doubling the population. The population exploded after 2005 as many US bases were closed and personnel and units were moved to Fort Bragg. Between 1990 and 2010, the population doubled again to 200,000, making Fayetteville one of the largest cities in North Carolina.
Fayetteville’s late growth can also be seen in its limited road infrastructure. In the 1960s, it was decided to build I-95 fairly well east of the city, as far from Fort Bragg as possible, leaving I-95 meaningless for traffic in the urban region. In fact, the Fayetteville bypass itself was the last section of I-95 to open in North Carolina in 1983.
Traffic within the urban area relied primarily on the All-American Freeway, opened in 1978 to connect the residential areas of Fayetteville and Fort Bragg. State Route 87 became the primary eastbound highway from downtown Fayetteville. However, downtown Fayetteville is small-scale and insignificant within the urban area.
The biggest upgrade since 2000 was the construction of the beltway, Interstate 295, through the north and west of the city. The first section opened in 2003, but it wasn’t until 2016 that Fort Bragg was connected to I-95 along the north side of the city. The southern connection will not follow until 2026.
