Charlotte Center City Streetcar Network

[dubone]

Luckily our leaders know to ignore the small minority of people that want to live in an anarchic society with no public investments.

 

I am relieved that they did agree to fund the engineering up front.  The local budget hurdle was already cleared last year, so this was a matter of just spending some up front, but once that is spent, it has more gravity and momentum over the next few years to be built eventually.   I think the strong sense is that once they do the engineering, it will prove viable just like the starter phase was.  This is an area that has the potential for intense development and already has a lot of density and employment, so I suspect it will not have trouble reaching technicratic thresholds for justifiability.

[TheBigShamrock8]

I was talking to a CATS official a year or so ago and they said that they old streetcars were put out of service because they were not ADA compliant.  How are they getting around this issue with the Gold Line?

[dubone]

The OLD trolley was the trouble for a lot of regulations, which is the singular historic one that created all the buzz in the first place.

 

The REPLICA trolleys built in the 21st Century to match an early 20th Century look but with modern electrical equipment and apparently a wheelchair lift for ADA.

http://www.gomacotrolley.com/resources/replicabirney-charlotte.html

[RiverwoodCLT]

I live near Matthews, but I take the blue line to go uptown sometimes. From New Bern Ave, to uptown it is like going though a going through a canyon,  from New Bern Ave.  to uptown.  The cost of the Blue Line has been passed by all the development along the line.

I can say that South End does not look anyway like it did when moved to Charlotte in 1985.  Anyone who says it is not a valuable

asset,  have got their eyes closed.

[ChessieCat]

Regarding the investment created by the Blue Line, all one needs to do is drive along Graham Street from Dalton up to WT Harris: you will see the abandoned AT&O "O" line sitting there rotting, which is what the current Blue Line used to look like after NS abandoned the "R" line... Abandoned infrastructure doesn't attract $2 Billion in investment

Edited January 31, 2014 by ChessieCat

[dubone]

Also, transit isn't only for spurring development, but also for making the dense development patterns that are already emerging in uptown, midtown, and Plaza-Midwood to build on themselves.   SouthEnd is a great example of taking blighted and empty warehouses into giant apartment buildings, but even areas that already have that, like Gateway Village and Sunnyside and Hawthorne need to rail infrastructure to efficiently move those people in denser environments around.

 

It is great to say that it pays for itself with development, and it is very very likely that the 'development crack' will continue to be true in Elizabeth and [West End] and probably even help fill in some empty parts of uptown near Trade.  But even if that development would have already come to those areas, it is still necessary in order to support that type of urban development. 

 

The replica streetcars that will be used on the initial section into Elizabeth may not have as much capacity, but I believe will be an nice hook for some riders to ride the trolley to the arena or to CPCC or the hospital.  There are a lot of visitor types that go to all of those places, and a trolley is a draw for them, as evidenced by the ridership on the trolley when it was just a joyride to Southend on the weekends.  Now it will be real transit and should be a nice start for the new system.  

[Matthew.Brendan]

What does the O line connect to/from? Any chance of one day reusing it? If not for transit perhaps a rail trail?

[Urbanity]

^I believe it is the actual line that the proposed Commuter line would utilize partially.

[15895]

I'll use it when walking the greenway to uptown.

Also to the metropolitan target

[TotalLamer]

Regarding the investment created by the Blue Line, all one needs to do is drive along Graham Street from Dalton up to WT Harris: you will see the abandoned AT&O "O" line sitting there rotting, which is what the current Blue Line used to look like after NS abandoned the "R" line... Abandoned infrastructure doesn't attract $2 Billion in investment

 

Are you sure the O-line is entirely abandoned?  I don't think so.  I think they just keep it maintained for only 10mph like the old P&N line we operate at CSX.

[Niner National]

With streetcar work progressing as far as it has, I'm surprised we haven't seen any developments announced for Elizabeth Ave.

[kermit]

Are you sure the O-line is entirely abandoned?  I don't think so.  I think they just keep it maintained for only 10mph like the old P&N line we operate at CSX.

 

it is torn up at Seaboard st (music factory blvd) to a dirt mound blocking the tracks just north of Statesville ave (around Sylvania ave?). The tracks north of that point (not far from the wye) are in slowwww service.

 

NS did a significant amount of work to the tracks north of the wye about two months ago (although they did not replace the jointed rail)

Edited January 31, 2014 by kermit

[TotalLamer]

Oh yeah I know all about Seaboard St... take the line through there all the time.  Fun fact.. there's still a gate right there beside the CSX track where you used to swing it back and forth to block either the CSX line or the O-line depending on who was going through the diamond at the time.  Not sure why no one ever tore it up, but there's an orange lock (Engineering Dept) on it so you can't swing it.

 

Speaking of that work, if you look on Google Maps you can see all the fresh ties laid out beside the tracks and the Engineering Dept equipment sitting in the runaround just north of Harris Blvd, where the big scrap metal place is.

 

As for the jointed rail, it's not such a huge deal... heck, there's still jointed rail on the A-line just north of Florence on a short section of double-main.

Edited January 31, 2014 by TotalLamer

[ChessieCat]

Are you sure the O-line is entirely abandoned?  I don't think so.  I think they just keep it maintained for only 10mph like the old P&N line we operate at CSX.

My mistake, the O-Line is in service from the Atando Wye northward, but yeah at 10mph.  The point I was making is that the South Blvd NS "R" corridor used to look like the Graham "O" Corridor today.  The development spurred by LRT has changed everything.    

 

Please go to the Red Line Regional Rail forum for a question I have proposed for all to comment on...

Edited January 31, 2014 by ChessieCat

[ChessieCat]

Edited February 1, 2014 by ChessieCat

[birky]

https://twitter.com/afbillings/status/438677707388616704

 

@CLTMayor @JCSUniversity & @FYC_CLT announce City LYNX Gold Line Phase 2 to enter project development w FTA approval.

 

 

 

[RVA2CLT]

can't wait to start reading the comments to the Observer Article posted go with that tweeted picture "CATS streetcar extension moves another step forward"

Edited February 26, 2014 by RVA2CLT

[kermit]

^ I was in San Antonio last night and saw about 20 political ads while watching tv. Every one of the local ads (gezz, local pols in Texas can afford tv?) used the proposed San Antonio streetcar as their example of rampant, out of control, 'liberalism.'

[RVA2CLT]

^ I was in San Antonio last night and saw about 20 political ads while watching tv. Every one of the local ads (gezz, local pols in Texas can afford tv?) used the proposed San Antonio streetcar as their example of rampant, out of control, 'liberalism.'

hahaha  "rampant liberalism"  that would be a great band name.

meanwhile in North Texas, Dallas is setting the precedent in the USA with their LRT system and will have 90 miles of operating LRT track this year.

Most notable to me is the orange line to DFW airport; I wish that existed while I was in working in Dallas for 3 years.

[15895]

yay! BLE and... GLE (gold line extension) could open nearly the same time?

How cool would it be to see pictures of the Gold And blue line vehicles at the CTC stop?

[ChessieCat]

hahaha  "rampant liberalism"  that would be a great band name.

meanwhile in North Texas, Dallas is setting the precedent in the USA with their LRT system and will have 90 miles of operating LRT track this year.

Most notable to me is the orange line to DFW airport; I wish that existed while I was in working in Dallas for 3 years.

Austin, Houston and Dallas love their LRT/Tram-train systems.  Dallas is adding streetcars to the DART LRT system too:

http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/passenger/light-rail/dallas-officials-oak-cliff-streetcar-just-the-start.html?channel=61

 

 SA is late to the party and they know it.  Republican-dominated Salt Lake City loves LRT too, and liberalism definitely does not run amock over there.

 

Good to see RTP get FTA approval for Triange Transit:

http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/passenger/light-rail/fta-oks-latest-triangle-transit-lrt-plan.html

Edited February 26, 2014 by ChessieCat

[Niner National]

Austin, Houston and Dallas love their LRT/Tram-train systems.  Dallas is adding streetcars to the DART LRT system too:

http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/passenger/light-rail/dallas-officials-oak-cliff-streetcar-just-the-start.html?channel=61

 

 SA is late to the party and they know it.  Republican-dominated Salt Lake City loves LRT too, and liberalism definitely does not run amock over there.

 

Good to see RTP get FTA approval for Triange Transit:

http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/passenger/light-rail/fta-oks-latest-triangle-transit-lrt-plan.html

It's not so much a battle of liberal vs conservative as it is urban vs suburban.

 

All my friends and coworkers that are conservative love the light rail line and are excited about the streetcar. They all live and work in the city thought. Anyone I know that lives on the outskirts of town or in places like Union County are firmly against these projects.

[Urbanity]

I am thrilled with the momentum of the streetcar.  Let's just hope we do get the funding for Phase II.   I do wish it went all the way to the Plaza though, but I'll take any steps forward.

[birky]

Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that the city gets the small starts grant for Phase II.  How long are we talking until the line is open?  2017? 2019?

Edited February 26, 2014 by birky

[Madison Parkitect]

Anyone I know that lives on the outskirts of town or in places like Union County are firmly against these projects.

It's because they don't ever come into uptown to use the light rail or streetcar and think "They're not using my money for something that only those fancy city people will use," never stopping to think that what improves Charlotte also improves their lives, and as Charlotte grows so will their suburbs, making their lives infinitely more convenient. But I bet they're more than happy to claim Charlotte as where they live if someone asks them.

 

I know there are people who live in Union County or Fort Mill for tax and school reasons but still come into Charlotte all the time, but those people understand what urban growth means to their neighborhood.

Edited February 26, 2014 by Windsor Parkitect