Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line

[kermit]

8 hours ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

I thought maybe they were making a road at first. (Davidson St to the right, looking north to Craighead)

All of that space is where the NCRR tracks will be relocated for the 36th street overpass (which you can see in the drone footage). The NCRR tracks in the above picture (middle of frame) will go away.

Edited February 17, 2017 by kermit

[KJHburg]

Those new apartments seen in the video near the North Tryon Station were those HB-2 Chinese investor financed apartments. They are mid way between the Tom Hunter Station and the University City Blvd station with the big parking garage. Great video! 

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

^definitely a cool drone video, felt like I was watching a flyover of someone's really nice model train setup lol. I'm excited about the future of N Tryon and the University city the most. The potential I see along Tryon and the vision plan of U-city, if done right can be something special. I also can't wait to ride this thing from one end to the other when it's finished. Not to mention during the fall, it's going to be freaking beautiful exiting the tunnel heading towards the last stop on Charlotte's campus, going through those woods. 

[orulz]

I think that's the roadbed for where the NCRR railroad is to be relocated when it is put onto the new bridge over 36th.

I would imagine that, in the future, the space currently used by the freight tracks (which will be removed) could then be used to build an extra set of passenger tracks. But I don't think they're already improving the roadbed and laying ballast for an eventual HSR line.

[southslider]

^Not true HSR, but additional new tracks are funded south of Craighead. That's why the space for relocated NCRR is wider at 36th than at Eastway.

[tozmervo]

Sugar Creek-area progress...

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, tozmervo said:

Sugar Creek-area progress...

I still don't quite understand where this station is. Tried to find it last time I was in town.

[AP3]

21 minutes ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

I still don't quite understand where this station is. Tried to find it last time I was in town.

 

 

Edited February 20, 2017 by AP3

[Guest]

56 minutes ago, AP3 said:

 

 

Thats amazingly close to Asian Corners. Heres hoping that sees some new investment.

[Matthew.Brendan]

Yeah Asian Corners is just a huge swath of land.... walking distance from the Sugar Creek station

[UPNoDa]

^Whats with all that RUST on a brand spanking new light rail line?

[tozmervo]

29 minutes ago, UPNoDa said:

^Whats with all that RUST on a brand spanking new light rail line?

It's supposed to do that. Where they don't do finished paint (which has maintenance costs), it's designed to form a layer of rust that protects the rest of the steel.

[UPNoDa]

thanks toz.   I 100% trust you on your statement, so if that is indeed the case, why do the overpasses at Old Concord, and the 85 connector appear to painted lima bean green and not rusted like Craighead? Seems there would be some consistency.   

[tozmervo]

28 minutes ago, UPNoDa said:

thanks toz.   I 100% trust you on your statement, so if that is indeed the case, why do the overpasses at Old Concord, and the 85 connector appear to painted lima bean green and not rusted like Craighead? Seems there would be some consistency.   

For aesthetics they probably chose to give the more visible overpasses a more finished look. Those bridges also got the fancy leafy railings, the Craighead bridge just has basic tube guardrails.

[UPNoDa]

^ very well. You make a good point. I never thought of it from a visual perspective but I see what you mean. 

I do, however think that the Sugar Creek Station turned out exceptionally well and looks very streamlined with all of the industrial buildings around it. Heres hoping that our little hamlet gets a little larger and they start building some affordable single family homes or townhomes over on Atmore and Northmore streets.

[Desert Power]

13 hours ago, UPNoDa said:

^ very well. You make a good point. I never thought of it from a visual perspective but I see what you mean. 

I do, however think that the Sugar Creek Station turned out exceptionally well and looks very streamlined with all of the industrial buildings around it. Heres hoping that our little hamlet gets a little larger and they start building some affordable single family homes or townhomes over on Atmore and Northmore streets.

Here here...You can imagine that area and across from Sugar Creek as becoming pretty built up in a few years

[southslider]

The uncertainty of AC&W RR risks Sugar Creek TOD.

[HopHead]

Nice read on John Lewis' big bang idea for building out all the light rail lines at once across Charlotte ($6B worth). I don't know that it will actually pan out, still lots of details to be flushed out, but glad that someone is finally thinking big with our mass transit infrastructure. With the pace at which Charlotte is growing, we can't piece meal this thing for the next 3 decades.

https://www.charlotteagenda.com/81876/inside-john-lewiss-6-billion-vision-bring-light-rail-across-city/

[cjd5050]

5 hours ago, HopHead said:

Nice read on John Lewis' big bang idea for building out all the light rail lines at once across Charlotte ($6B worth). I don't know that it will actually pan out, still lots of details to be flushed out, but glad that someone is finally thinking big with our mass transit infrastructure. With the pace at which Charlotte is growing, we can't piece meal this thing for the next 3 decades.

https://www.charlotteagenda.com/81876/inside-john-lewiss-6-billion-vision-bring-light-rail-across-city/

Someone correct me if I am wrong but wouldn't doing bonds now, even if for the whole $6B be cheaper in the long run than doing 3 separate projects and one after the other?

I would love to see the math worked out and I think, if true, showing not only the cost savings for doing bonds now and showing revenue increases from TOD would be a pretty compelling argument to everyone.  No?

[KJHburg]

Story about the other planned lines but some news they are going to charge at 2 of the newest parking garages in the University area. Since this is the end I would ride I  cry foul due to they do not charge along South Blvd for parking anywhere or elsewhere on this line. http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2017/02/22/charlotte-transit-ceo-faces-council-questions-on.html?ana=RSS%26s%3Darticle_search&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter  I know it has to do with UNC Charlotte students but it is  unfair unless they start charging at all garages.  Plus MARTA and Metro in DC charge at all garages. 

Edited February 23, 2017 by KJHburg

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

I don't know if I read this somewhere or just thought of it in my head, but I thought if they had a valid (assuming round trip) ticket, then they could get out of the deck for free?  Like KJH mentioned, they are probably trying to address UNCC commuters from parking in the decks for free to avoid buying a parking pass from the school.  I do think if someone buys a round trip ticket, they shouldn't be charged again to get out of the deck (anywhere along the line).  What they could do if they're insistent on charging, is do it hourly for those who are coming just visiting and not using the rail.  But if you use the rail, your valid ticket should act like a validated parking ticket to get out.

 

[UPNoDa]

It doesn't mention the parking decks fee structure but here is the latest from lightrail.uncc.edu

"The University is working to finalize access pass plans.  The current draft would give students unlimited access to the entire LYNX light rail through the use of the next edition of UNC Charlotte I.D. cards (scheduled to be distributed Spring Semester, 2017). Access technology will be embedded into the new I.D. cards. Students would pay around $25 per semester for unlimited use of the light rail and CATS city routes (with the exception of the express routes) in Charlotte" The draft plan would also include an option for faculty and staff members to pay around $50 per year for unlimited access to light rail & city buses (with the exception of the express routes), possibly through payroll deduction.

 

I guess they never factored in how many off campus students will be using the parking decks.

[SgtCampsalot]

Damn, this policy would've been nice 8 years ago when I got a citation for thinking my valid UNCC ID was sufficient for the $1 "student" Lynx ticket. The naivety of youth. 

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

CATS doesn't want that deck filling up with UNCC commuters just going to campus and taking up spaces for people who are actually trying to commute from the University area to Uptown or further.  That goes for football Saturdays as well.  I personally like free places to park, but understand why they may charge for that particular deck by the university.  Those rates for the students is a steal btw $25 a semester...man would use the rail everyday as a student.  Someone mentioned that it would be unfair to charge at one place and not the others...but each park n ride is not the same.  ex. if there were a park n ride located at the 7th street station, you better believe CATS would charge to park there (non rail user), to prevent ppl from just parking there to go uptown or to games etc.  Same concept for the University deck imo.

[KJHburg]

Well my point is that if the Blue Line Extension is to help commuters getting to uptown or South End to their jobs then this is a deterrent and they will probably continue driving in. I like the idea if enter the garage at University city Blvd then head south to uptown and then come back my ticket should be used to allow for free parking. Then if I used the same garage and rode to campus and returned I should be charged.   People will just keep driving intown.   They need to consider some alternative. We all know how cheap college students are as most of us were one at one time or another but they need to think of the commuters whom this line was built for. If I were a student who lived in town or south of the city park free at the Pineville South Blvd lot and ride in! We post graduates will factor in the parking charge to see if it is worth our time to use the line at all. 

Plus there is an office park by McCullough drive station and LYNX charging for parking at the 2 garages north and south of this station might be illegal parkers in this office park since their lots are surface. This plan needs to be thought out more and have more concern for just the college students. 

Edited February 23, 2017 by KJHburg