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No Pedestrian Path to Uptown


lewy2000

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We discussed this in the congestion thread already but I have no problem complaining about it again. Its very discouraging. The last part of the article mentioned that the "city is exploring alternatives" :rolleyes: I don't hold out much hope. The connectivity right now is a nasty walk down narrow sidewalks and through trash. Not very appealing. Southend and Uptown are both growing and vibrant areas and connecting them is a naturalf fit. It all sounds fishy to me. Bad government planning. How shocking. I don't know..if the city was really committed to the TAP and smart growth they would find a way to accomplish this and not just throw up their hands and say oh well :angry:

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We discussed this in the congestion thread already but I have no problem complaining about it again. Its very discouraging. The last part of the article mentioned that the "city is exploring alternatives" :rolleyes: I don't hold out much hope. The connectivity right now is a nasty walk down narrow sidewalks and through trash. Not very appealing. Southend and Uptown are both growing and vibrant areas and connecting them is a naturalf fit. It all sounds fishy to me. Bad government planning. How shocking. I don't know..if the city was really committed to the TAP and smart growth they would find a way to accomplish this and not just throw up their hands and say oh well :angry:

Before everyone freaks the city really is exploring alternatives. There was a meeting of SouthEnd and center city stakeholders (and others enraged that they found out about this a couple of weeks ago) last week -- they let everyone know about this and were already beginning to work out arrangements -- very tentative -- for a stand-alone bridge on one side or the other of the Tryon Street bridge. This will actually be better since it won't terminate the walking route at the convention center but in the midst of the new projects on Tryon. The design concepts are great also and are more oriented as a gateway focal point for those coming up 277.

I mentioned this a couple of days ago in the Brevard Street Improvements thread. They nixed the co-bridge with the light rail due to budget and timing issues. The steel / money issue is real, but the real issue was having it done (the pedestrian part) on time to have light-rail done on time. They don't want to hold up the rail. The time frame for this is quite up in the air, but a lot of folks including those and Center City Partners and the SouthEnd business owners are in full swing to arrange a pedestrian bridge.

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Glad to hear there's second, even better alternative in the works, but if there hadn't been, I wonder why say.... oh, I dunno.. Nucor Steel, one of the largest steel conglomerates (and largest steel recycler) in the country, who happens to be HQ'd right here, couldn't step up and offer a discounted rate (or gratis) for some steel for a 400 yrd (or whatever) sidewalk. That'd be some great PR.

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Glad to hear there's second, even better alternative in the works, but if there hadn't been, I wonder why say.... oh, I dunno.. Nucor Steel, one of the largest steel conglomerates (and largest steel recycler) in the country, who happens to be HQ'd right here, couldn't step up and offer a discounted rate (or gratis) for some steel for a 400 yrd (or whatever) sidewalk. That'd be some great PR.

Maybe they will if the sale of their acreage in NoDa comes through! Good to see ya back Turbo.

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Thank you for the info CN, :) Are you saying I had a fit for nothing? Now I will have to find something else to focus on :lol: I do hope the pathway is speedily executed. There will be many new condos nearby and those people are going to want to walk to Uptown for drinks after work and festivals etc.

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Thank you for the info CN, :) Are you saying I had a fit for nothing? I do hope the pathway is speedily executed. There will be many new condos nearby and those

Maybe just a little bit :) but it still isn't built yet or set in stone. They are working on plans and are getting quite a push from the neighborhoods and business owners. They also see the real need for this. The Tryon Street bridge is packed with people after work. We rode bikes one afternoon to downtown and thought taking that bridge would keep us off the road since the sidewalk is so wide but there were a sea of people leaving going out of town on foot. Though I wasn't happy to be in the road, it was GREAT to see people walking home.

As for the time frame, I would imagine it will follow the rail opening by quite a bit -- no timing announced, but it is only in the drawing stages now... :sick:

Anyone interested should contact Rob Tober and CATS, Micheal Smith and Center City Partners and James especially, their SouthEnd assigned rep, as well as anyone in the city. Make sure they know there are a lot of us that want this...

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Glad to hear there's second, even better alternative in the works, but if there hadn't been, I wonder why say.... oh, I dunno.. Nucor Steel, one of the largest steel conglomerates (and largest steel recycler) in the country, who happens to be HQ'd right here, couldn't step up and offer a discounted rate (or gratis) for some steel for a 400 yrd (or whatever) sidewalk. That'd be some great PR.

Its a great idea, but I wont be holding my breath. NUCOR has shown zero interest in the community. Ordinarily this wouldn

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Can't they do a bridge like the one over the Beltline in Raleigh?

That was a NCDOT project I think that also got a federal earmark. It connects two greenway trails together. It seems like there should be some way to find and extra $1M for this bridge, such as through DOT maybe, but I doubt it could be built in the Dec 07 timeframe going through that process.

I agree it's a much needed link, esp when the alternatives are very limited at this time. South Blvd interchange will be redone in the near future to coincide (hopefully) with the NASCAR HOF site, which will create a better bike/ped link across 277.

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Looking for 1mil for this is likely what Center City Partners is doing along with the SouthEnd association. I definitely think it will be more difficult to get city money but this isn't actually a whole lot of cash for a couple of our corporate citizens to chip in with if they do it together.

Considering that employees are the one's who use the bridges, one would think that 1,000,000 bucks would not be much to ask. In many ways, it is insuring that the employee have a safe way into work. They do not subsidize anything for employees like they used to (ie Parking), so it would be a nice jesture, considering the amount of money we all spend in Uptown to park.

A2

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Maybe private money would be good, but also, I must say, that there would be significantly more value for pedestrians and cyclists if that million bucks were spent on various improvements on the roadway bridges near the rail line. No matter what, pedestrians will need to veer west to College Street or east to Brevard because they (unfortunately) did not plan a pedestrian corridor through the convention center.

There will be sidewalks as part of the South Blvd interchange revision, so if you are heading east, that will be covered. Most, however, go west toward Tryon. I attached an image of a possible pedestrian path that could easily be built for less money than the cantilevered expansion of the rail bridge. It would be a short bridge over the College Street exit ramp loop, running across an otherwise unutilized greenspace, and across the College Street bridge. By converting the end of the College Street exit ramp to be closer to a 90 degree angle with College, traffic would be slowed enough to allow College Street to be more pedestrian and bike friendly. If there isn't enough room found by shaving a foot or two off the lane widths, I'm sure it isn't that much to have a steel extension of the bridge for a few more feet for the pedestrian sidewalk.

We are dealing with a million bucks here. How hard can it be to improve the path to College Street, and across the College Street bridge. If cars are too fast, then, um, slow them down. Rumble strips, billboards of dead pedestrians, strobe lights, however necessary. But there is no reason that College Street should be a car only bridge.

Also, it would easy as cake to improve pedestrian and bike connectivity on the Tryon St bridge, as there are parts of turn lanes down the center of that bridge, so you simply remove the turn lanes. There are no left turn lanes anywhere else along Tryon uptown, so why do they need to take up space on a very expensive bridge?

EDIT: 5000 POSTS!!! :) (Yikes)

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post-670-1152836659_thumb.jpg

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Didn't CCP just go hat in hand seeking half a mil, for the lighted canopy at center city station? Maybe now isn't the easiest time to shake down corporate sponsors.

Making a diagonal over the greenway does seem like a reasonable compromise, though.

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No matter what, pedestrians will need to veer west to College Street or east to Brevard because they (unfortunately) did not plan a pedestrian corridor through the convention center.

This is another reason they dropped the pedestrian element of the light rail bridge -- they didn't want it ti cross and dead end into the Convention Center.

It would be great if they improved the sidewalks on the existing bridges, but I think, IMO, that a dedicated bridge would be great and far more safe. If designed like some of the proposals it would be a great welcome when coming into town from that end of 277.

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I spoke with one of the folks involved in this and got a bit more clarity on a few things. There actually is $1.5 mil that is earmarked for this bridge already from the city -- transferred from the rail bridge. There likely will need to be more.

The most likely plan being considered actually adds onto the Tryon Street bridge (not as stand alone as I thought).

Timing is still up in the air.

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the only time i really do some serious thinking these days is on my commute to work (only 20 min. daily). while sad, it is concentrated. everyday on my way home i notice the huge numbers of people walking across both college and tryon bridges. not only should the building of the pedestrian/bicycle bridge be a NO-BRAINER, we should also go the extra buck and make it an architectual peice of art. i mean think about it... when you think about a structure that can define a city... well, a great bridge is as powerful as anything. it doesn't matter that it is just a pedestrian bridge, it can still have an impact. could you imagine a CALATRAVA bridge from the southend leading you to a district, that will soon house, an I.M. PEI (hof) and a BOTTA (bechtler) designed building(s). man, that would be tremendous!

how many chances will charlotte have to build a great bridge?

i'm from waxhaw... all we had was an old pedestrian bridge that spanned the train tracks. that bridge defined the village and created alot of passion. we knew the power of a bridge.

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I heartily agree! The new Ravenel Bridge in Charleston is a great addition to that city's national profile. Innovative bridges and connections would work as great inconography for growing cities like Charlotte.

since, charleston built their new bridge (which is beautiful, BTW) i have seen more pictures of the city in various publications. it is great for national PR... maybe, the fact is that charleston hasn't got more press (which i think it has) but, the photos i've seen are more memorable b/c of the power of the bridge. charleston and voyager12 know the power.

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since, charleston built their new bridge (which is beautiful, BTW) i have seen more pictures of the city in various publications. it is great for national PR... maybe, the fact is that charleston hasn't got more press (which i think it has) but, the photos i've seen are more memorable b/c of the power of the bridge. charleston and voyager12 know the power.

Jim%20Booth%20web.jpg

It is lovely.

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