Charlotte Center City Streetcar Network

[HopHead]

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/morning-edition/2014/12/bump-in-the-road-for-charlottes-streetcar.html

 

Yup, good ole lowest bidder

 

Sometimes you get what you pay for...

[Midwoodian]

Local news is just horrible.  "Major setback"...so yellow.  They don't even specify the length of track that needed to be replaced...driving by there over the last few months it didn't seem to be that much...

[DMann]

Sometimes you get what you pay for...

measure once, cut twice!!!

[ajfunder]

I believe it was just in front of the jail and just east of McDowell that was replaced. They just finished replacing this track. Hopefully that is all that was messed up. They evened the pavement on Hawthorne and parts of Trade which hopefully indicates most of the sections are good to go.

Anyone notice they are using different rail than the rail used on Elizabeth? It is not the typical streetcar rail used by most cities, instead they are using standard rail incased in concrete. The difference is in the flange way. The only other streetcar system I have seen that uses standard rail that was built in recent years is in Atlanta, which I believe Balfour also constructed.

Edited December 16, 2014 by ajfunder

[dubone]

Local news is just horrible.  "Major setback"...so yellow.  They don't even specify the length of track that needed to be replaced...driving by there over the last few months it didn't seem to be that much...

Isn't it at the expense of the contractor.   That is whole point of contracts and how they're written, and engineering tolerances have a real purpose.   It's not like this is the US-Canadian border or something, where it can be off by a lot and doesn't matter much.  Plus like all projects, if missing a deadline causes real damages, there are fines for it, but this just sounds like a punch-list inspection item.

[ajfunder]

I just watched the WCNC report on the issue from yesterday and they failed to mention that the incorrectly placed tracks have already been replaced. They made it seem like the problem was just discovered. They started replacing this section nearly two months ago and seem to be wrapping up the replacement process.

[Midwoodian]

Dubone, my point was not that correcting the error was an issue, but instead that the reporting of the correction by WCNC was yellow and meant to inflame tensions surrounding the streetcar...

[dubone]

(Yeah, I followed your point, I was mentally talking back to local TV news than to you  .   I can't stand TV news and will never be in their audience.)

[ajfunder]

News 14 or TWC News released a more detailed story on what went wrong. I wish our news outlets didn't put controversial in front of every title relating to the streetcar. Looks like testing will start in January.

http://charlotte.twcnews.com/content/news/715011/cats-details-series-of-construction-errors-on-controversial-streetcar-project/

[ah59396]

It's because local and national news outlets have basically become buzzfeed and need to use click bait to generate additional revenue.

The meat and cheese of that article says it all;

The construction time line is more or less the same

It didn't cost the tax payers a DIME

Yadda yadda, "we are testing the line in January"

Yet still News14 MUST know, why is CATS not more transparent about this non-issue!?!? What are they hiding!?!? Do you know where your children are??? Are you comfortable with them going INTO the city and riding this CONTROVERSIAL street car of possible death??!? More at 11.

[dubone]

Gah!  I have been so sick of click bait I'm starting to hide so much from my facebook newsfeed. They're fun to mock, though, so here are a few for the gits and shiggles:

 

 

We asked a convict what he saw from his jailhouse window, what he saw will bring you to tears!

 

What this contractor did in front of the jailhouse will change your life!

 

You'll never BELIEVE what 1/4 inch has cost the city!

 

This man put a ruler between two tracks, what happened next will blow your mind!

 

A boo boo brewing at the choo choo, story at noon!

 

The mistakes made on one Obama stimulus project will shock you!

 

We asked this 34 year old boy to measure between two tracks, wait till you see how adorably wrong he gets it!

 

You'll never believe the real reason CATS CEO is fleeing to Washington!

 

Gennifer Flowers measured Clinton at only 5 1/2", you'll never believe what CATS CEO Carolyn Flowers measured wrong!

[Guest]

Gah!  I have been so sick of click bait I'm starting to hide so much from my facebook newsfeed. They're fun to mock, though, so here are a few for the gits and shiggles:

 

 

We asked a convict what he saw from his jailhouse window, what he saw will bring you to tears!

 

What this contractor did in front of the jailhouse will change your life!

 

You'll never BELIEVE what 1/4 inch has cost the city!

 

This man put a ruler between two tracks, what happened next will blow your mind!

 

A boo boo brewing at the choo choo, story at noon!

 

The mistakes made on one Obama stimulus project will shock you!

 

We asked this 34 year old boy to measure between two tracks, wait till you see the adorably wrong he gets it!

 

You'll never believe the real reason CATS CEO is fleeing to Washington!

 

Gennifer Flowers measured Clinton at only 5 1/2", you'll never believe what CATS CEO Carolyn Flowers measured wrong!

I'm dying...

[go_vertical]

A 34 year old boy?

[dubone]

Humor is not always received, apparently.  Those were all written in jest in the style of Buzzfeed/Upworthy/Everywhere "click bait".    That one is written in the style of the [adorable child] click bait cliché like these real titles: ("Can You Guess Why This Adorable Little Boy Is Dancing In The Street?"  "Watch A Kid At A Dinner Table Accidentally Destroy One Of His Mother's Lifelong Beliefs", "Watch This Adorable 1-Year-Old Boy Recite The ABCs Like A Heavy Metal Singer", "This 8-Year-Old’s Insane Dancing Skills Will Give You Life") 

 

 

Oh well.  

 

But back to normalcy, the Observer, the poor organization getting crushed in the new sensational online world did it correctly:

CATS: Portion of streetcar track to be to reinstalled

[ah59396]

Humor is not always received, apparently.  Those were all written in jest in the style of Buzzfeed/Upworthy/Everywhere "click bait".    That one is written in the style of the [adorable child] click bait cliché like these real titles: ("Can You Guess Why This Adorable Little Boy Is Dancing In The Street?"  "Watch A Kid At A Dinner Table Accidentally Destroy One Of His Mother's Lifelong Beliefs", "Watch This Adorable 1-Year-Old Boy Recite The ABCs Like A Heavy Metal Singer", "This 8-Year-Old’s Insane Dancing Skills Will Give You Life") 

 

 

Oh well.  

 

But back to normalcy, the Observer, the poor organization getting crushed in the new sensational online world did it correctly:

CATS: Portion of streetcar track to be to reinstalled 

 

 

Did you guys see that hot take from Kenny in the comments though....man.  What a hot take!!!!

[km1789]

haha

Edited December 19, 2014 by km1789

[dubone]

I always love that line of reasoning:  why doesn't the government fix all the traffic by not doing all that construction that messes up the traffic.  

 

[videtur quam contuor]

The hotte'st of taeks

[go_vertical]

Humor is not always received, apparently. Those were all written in jest in the style of Buzzfeed/Upworthy/Everywhere "click bait". That one is written in the style of the [adorable child] click bait cliché like these real titles: ("Can You Guess Why This Adorable Little Boy Is Dancing In The Street?" "Watch A Kid At A Dinner Table Accidentally Destroy One Of His Mother's Lifelong Beliefs", "Watch This Adorable 1-Year-Old Boy Recite The ABCs Like A Heavy Metal Singer", "This 8-Year-Old’s Insane Dancing Skills Will Give You Life")

Oh well.

But back to normalcy, the Observer, the poor organization getting crushed in the new sensational online world did it correctly:

CATS: Portion of streetcar track to be to reinstalled

Oh I was laughing my tail off at those primarily because I didn't thoroughly read your set-up and thought they were real. We'll done.

Edited December 18, 2014 by go_vertical

[kermit]

I was very pleasantly surprised to discover a freshly poured, divided 8-10 ft wide bike path along the non revenue connector on 5th street. The path looks great, but I couldn't really see where it goes at Caldwell. Hopefully it will be the first part of dedicated North-South bike infrastructure to fill the gap between 277 and the BLE

 

Can't believe I didn't hear about this sooner -- I gotta pay closer attention.

 

Meanwhile the tracks look 98% complete, the catenary looks 100% complete (but not yet hooked into a power source) and platforms are rapidly progressing (looks like they are starting the concrete work at the CTC end of the line). Are there no construction updates for the project? I sure would like to hear how they are doing in terms of time and budget.

[Spartan]

Not to burst your bubble, but it's really just a wide sidewalk to better handle arena foot traffic - though bikes can obviously use it if they want. The yellow 'divider' is actually a tactile strip to help blind people navigate the area since it's adjacent to the tracks. Once the construction is done you'll see the how it routes through the plaza and across the tracks in front of the parking deck and Sree hotel.

[kermit]

Bubble burst -- bummer.

(But thanks for the explanation)

[kermit]

A nicely organized and documented collection of recent streetcar construction photos can be found here: http://www.jtbell.net/transit/Charlotte/Streetcar/

I have no affiliation with the site or photographer.

[michaelef]

Have they started on the stations yet? Does anyone know the when this will be officially open?

[dubone]

It is scheduled for March opening.   It is maybe telling, though, that the CATS website no longer has the month listed and just says "due to open in 2015" and it is very hard to find any reference to the March date outside of news articles now.

 

 

Here's hoping if they are delayed, that it's not by much. 

 

https://www.facebook.com/cityLYNXGoldLineConstructionUpdates

 

 

As of the May update on the line, they were still touting the March 2015 beginning for passenger service.

http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/charlottefuture/Documents/CityLYNX%20Gold%20Line%20Power%20Point_FINAL.pdf