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Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line


dubone

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  • 3 weeks later...

For the cartography nerds out there, Transit Maps has posted a brief review of the Blue Line map. A few highlights:

 

 

Why is the “Blue Line” label all the way over by I-77? What happens when I-77 meets I-485? Apparently, they just end. South Boulevard has a label, but no road. The prominent north pointer is actually not a lot of use, as the diagram doesn’t really conform to reality anyway. In the real world, the line runs almost directly north-south from Woodlawn all the way down to the I-485/South Boulevard station, rather than NE-SW as indicated here. But that would get in the way of the legend, so we get what we get…

 

http://transitmaps.tumblr.com/post/86025057875/lynx-charlotte-2014

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The amateurish nature of that map has always bugged me.  I have always disliked the inconsistency of adding "St." and "Blvd".  Internal consistency is a major way to show that you're not sloppy. 

 

I love how they also call out that it makes it look like it is headed due SW.   I think in Charlotte it gets confusing because center city grid is oriented 45º in ordinal directions, but the old rural street network often end up curving and going in cardinal directions.  So if South Blvd followed it's original SW path, this map would be right, but it curves and goes due south pretty quickly.

 

Oh well.   People have ended up in padded rooms wishing the world would pay attention to details.  But it is nice to see an independent review that calls it out.

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The amateurish nature of that map has always bugged me.  I have always disliked the inconsistency of adding "St." and "Blvd".  Internal consistency is a major way to show that you're not sloppy. 

 

I love how they also call out that it makes it look like it is headed due SW.   I think in Charlotte it gets confusing because center city grid is oriented 45º in ordinal directions, but the old rural street network often end up curving and going in cardinal directions.  So if South Blvd followed it's original SW path, this map would be right, but it curves and goes due south pretty quickly.

 

Oh well.   People have ended up in padded rooms wishing the world would pay attention to details.  But it is nice to see an independent review that calls it out.

 

 

Too bad we can't get a re-brand.  That same site has a very well done amateur re-branding of the MARTA that is top notch.  I've always thought the CATS logo and all of it's graphics had too much going on.

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wow, nice surprise:

 

 

With its budget outlook brighter, the Charlotte Area Transit System is restoring about $10 million in projects – including a parking deck and additional ticket vending machines – to the light-rail extension that had been cut four years ago.

 

 

The transit system said most of the contracts for the $1.1 billion rail line have been awarded and prices have been more favorable than projected. The city said bids came in 14 percent lower than expected.

 

This was slightly ominous:

 

 

In a memo, CATS said challenges remain to finish on time.

It said moving public and private utilities has been difficult, and that it will need more “construction coordination” from consultant HNTB to help multiple contractors.

 

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/05/23/4929396/cats-restores-10-million-in-projects.html#.U3_m1rRTp2E

Edited by kermit
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  • 3 weeks later...

I wonder how much of an effect the BLE will have on the North Tryon area between 36th and Old Concord. Especially the old North Park Mall. Looking at the BLE map, I just realized that the extension will be running right pass the defunct mall, and even have a nearby station at Old Concord. I hope there is some kind of impact, because that area always looked pretty rough and beat-down.

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I wonder how much of an effect the BLE will have on the North Tryon area between 36th and Old Concord. Especially the old North Park Mall. Looking at the BLE map, I just realized that the extension will be running right pass the defunct mall, and even have a nearby station at Old Concord. I hope there is some kind of impact, because that area always looked pretty rough and beat-down.

I'm sure it will eventually, but I don't really see most of N. Tryon changing in the near future after the line gets through with the areas between NoDa and Uptown. South Blvd south of Scaleybark hasn't really seen any changes and it is very similar to N. Tryon Street.

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^Agree - particularly in the area of South of Scaleybark comparison.

 

I think Uptown to NoDa is going to see the most transformation and real estate upswing with some positive movement in U-city area, but I really don't think there will be much of anything between 36th and University CIty/Ikea station for a long time.
 

Edited by Urbanity
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^Agree - particularly in the area of South of Scaleybark comparison.

 

I think Uptown to NoDa is going to see the most transformation and real estate upswing with some positive movement in U-city area, but I really don't think there will be much of anything between 36th and University CIty/Ikea station for a long time.

 

God lets hope so. The area between uptown and noda is an absolute dump.

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^Agree - particularly in the area of South of Scaleybark comparison.

 

I think Uptown to NoDa is going to see the most transformation and real estate upswing with some positive movement in U-city area, but I really don't think there will be much of anything between 36th and University CIty/Ikea station for a long time.

 

 

We can look forward to Auto Malls thanks to this now infamous (and unanimous) rezoning of land near IKEA Station by the City Council:

 

http://mecktimes.com...ure-light-rail/

Defying decade-old planning principles, City Council rezones 40 acres near future light rail stop

 

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/09/15/4316259/car-dealer-wants-to-build-auto.html#.U62jP_ldXQI

Edited by ChessieCat
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We can look forward to Auto Malls thanks to this now infamous (and unanimous) rezoning of land near IKEA Station by the City Council:

 

http://mecktimes.com...ure-light-rail/

Defying decade-old planning principles, City Council rezones 40 acres near future light rail stop

 

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/09/15/4316259/car-dealer-wants-to-build-auto.html#.U62jP_ldXQI

 

Makes you wonder if Cannon wasn't the only one in city government taking bribes... This is beyond stupid.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Crescent had planned massive residential/mixed use for the area and switched to this auto mall after the light rail was approved.   It is such a bizarre planning move to do it.

 

 

On the flip side it is pretty oddly a much better auto mall than the the cluster of auto dealers on Independence.  With trees throughout, a defacto grid of streets, upgraded facades, and buildings that are up against the street with parking behind, it is arguably a much better form of auto mall.

 

I just don't understand why the city could not have worked with them to find a better suited location. 

 

But it is really obvious the benefit to the city having those sales in Charlotte-Mecklenburg vs Concord, so that is a motive of apparently much more weight than the ideology of transit-supportive land use policies.   Even across I85 from this site would have been a better place, leaving this 40-acres for the residential uses once planned.  

 

At some point we should all just stop pretending that the terribly-named University City will be anything more than the worst of all city planning.  It is a case in point at every turn for what not to do.   

 

Here is hoping that at least the remaining land in this area fronting Tryon at least gets some residential density to help fulfill the idea of students commuting by train from an urban Tryon to campus.  

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Fair enough.  It was a throwaway insult rather than a diatribe.   It is pretty well established that UC is no bueno.

 

But my real point is that I was surprised to like the auto mall more than I wanted to.  It has obvious benefits for the city if it pulls those sales dollars into city limits from Concord.   This whole zone is clearly a big box retail zone with little hope for transit-supportiveness.   In a way it is the flaw of the transit plan for bothering to favor Tryon for a route rather than staying on the NCRR corridor which has more potential for future outward expansion.  

 

Of course CATS sold the BLE as the desire to make N Tryon the urban heart of otherwise suburban UC, just as they sold Tryon as a relatively cheap corridor because the land was already available in the median.  Both turned out to be excessive optimism, as the market forces seem unstoppable in the land use along N Tryon, and they ended up needing rebuild half the street to provide a wide enough median.   

 

All topics like this have played out hundreds of times, but this line is now under construction and inevitable.   Will we see the success like in the South?  I'm getting a bit skeptical.   But it is as far as auto malls go, it is not the worst design in the world. 

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^We basically agree.  And I should have worded my observation differently. 

 

Frankly I HATE what has and continues to happen in regards to "planning" (ha ha) in UCity area, but I really think it gets worse than its share of derision simply because it's probably the most prominent example of things we on this board find the opposite of urban sensibility.      

 

Truth is that that the area has better greenways than a lot of the city, it has more retail than a lot of the city, and even that horror of N. Tyron street is more pedestrian friendly than a lot of the rest of the city.  The problem though is those offerings are in the context of just plain ugly and/or ultra suburban surroundings.  

 

It is not South End, Uptown, NoDa, Elizabeth, or Plaza Midwood - but then again it is not Independence Blvd, Wilkison Blvd, or even Ballantyne to a sense.  Hell I always thought of UCity as Ballantyne through the ugly looking glass (and yes I do realize I minimize the wealth difference) but some of the same issues are clearly apparent in both areas. 

 

To bring this back to topic (and away from my one-shot rant) I just hope (and that's all it is) that the light rail is allowed to work the same changes that it has in other areas of the city.  By being allowed I include both city planners (who are failing with the aforementioned car lot/mall) and those like us who recognize that event South End wasn't that incredible 10 years before Light Rail.  

 

I think the BLE is going to dramatically change Davidson from 277 to 36th.   I think it won't make one smack of difference between 36th and Ikea.   I have some grain of hope that it will evenutally make a positive change in the UCIty area.  

 

In other news - It's Bastille Day - someone was bound to lose a head - sorry if I attempted to take yours!

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I think another point to make is that this auto mall is close to the northern terminus of the line. It's really not much different from what's happening on the southern end. So far all we've really gained there is a new popeye's chicken directly across south blvd. from the 485 park and ride, about a mile up south a new quik trip gas station, and the Volkswagen dealership expanded their showroom. I'm sure we will see much of the same around the UC stations for the near future. 

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