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Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line

dubone

By dubone
in Charlotte

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GoldenEagle128
GoldenEagle128

Just some before and after photos of the view of uptown and the blue line from 11th street. Definitely a big difference!

kermit
kermit
tozmervo
tozmervo

Posted Images

CLT2014 Town

CLT2014

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Posted

Trees can do incredible damage, especially the giant oak trees. I'm not surprised it is going to take a while to fix. We are very lucky that Charlotte overall didn't have worse damage from some of these storms, but when an oak comes down, it can be very destructive. 

 

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

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Total freaking BS. Even Amtrak (Amtrak!) can replace multiple miles of Cat wire in a mater  of hours.

WTF:

1) were there trees that close to the line?

2) weren’t they prepared for this?

When the silo fell on the track back in 2008 they were back up and running in less than a day. That accident seriously damaged track as well as the cat IIRC. What made this incident worse?

image.png.0d766f5495b5f2e45ccc90dd248be695.png

 

Edited by kermit
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11 HouseBZ Hamlet

11 HouseBZ

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4 hours ago, kermit said:

Total freaking BS. Even Amtrak (Amtrak!) can replace multiple miles of Cat wire in a mater  of hours.

WTF:

1) were there trees that close to the line?

2) weren’t they prepared for this?

When the silo fell on the track back in 2008 they were back up and running in less than a day. That accident seriously damaged track as well as the cat IIRC. What made this incident worse?

image.png.0d766f5495b5f2e45ccc90dd248be695.png

 

Agreed because it was this/these trees that fell. Should of been a simple fix especially compared to the damage you mentioned. 

 

20181015_200227.thumb.png.661d8f7ea66b3803843f333172cd6b0a.png

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11 HouseBZ Hamlet

11 HouseBZ

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30 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

^

That wasn't the tree that fell. It was the taller tree peaking out of the top left of your photo. Below is an aerial of the tree cut up and crews replacing infrastructure. 

 

image.thumb.png.48ebff0525b1a2a53d6084615e236225.pngimageproxy.php?img=&key=cfdcdf7370b84370

Whoops, you're right, it was raining really hard at the time and the wind was pretty intense. Was busy redirecting people back so as not to drive over the cantenary line. 

Edited by 11 HouseBZ
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grodney Town

grodney

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They extended the bus bridge, so it's now Scaleybark to Sugar Creek, instead of New Bern to 36th.  This was to make things smoother, more efficient, and safer......according to communications.

In addition, they added some "express" buses to get to-and-from uptown and the bus bridge end-points.  For instance, I took an "express" from Scaleybark to CTC today, which was WAY better than having the bus stop at East/West, Bland, Carson, etc.

In related news, when I got to I-485 yesterday afternoon at 3pm-ish, the deck wasn't even half-full, with nobody in the overflow.  So maybe 1/3 the normal cars?  It was almost like a bank hoilday.  I guess a ton of normal park-and-riders are either driving uptown or working from home.

 

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CLT2014 Town

CLT2014

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Can CATS require trees be taken down on private property? The tree fell from the border of the private lot owned by MSC COLLEGE STREET II LLC (for the billboard) and WORLDCOM NETWORK SERVICES INC. (the warehouse). It doesn't look like it falls within the city owned slope. 

Edited by CLT2014
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videtur quam contuor Town

videtur quam contuor

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The video here:

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article53536440.html

likely shows the tree in question on the far side of the 277 overpass. The tree is visible at the beginning of the video. The story and video are about the building collapse caused (?) by the light rail construction.

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

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1) Now the Observer is saying it might be as much as "two week" (but we are really lucky because it is really a "three to four" week job). I really get the sense that CATS is BS'ing all of us -- they just got caught with their pants down (e.g. an insufficient parts yard and staffing for repairs).

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article220088465.html

2) The article did cite a CATS spokesperson who said that ridership is now 28,000 per day. That is certainly better than the 24,544 back in May, but its still significantly worse than the originally projected 33,500 first year numbers.

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

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Some data from the experimental conditions produced by the partial shutdown. Old Concord rd lot was about 50% full today (vs. about 85% on normal weekdays). Since it is unlikely anyone traveling South parked there today (the bus bridge leaves from Sugar Creek) this suggests that about half of the Old Concord passengers are traveling North, a much larger number than I would have guessed.

This is consistent with what I have seen since late August, lots of UNCC bound people  are parking at OC, UC and JW Clay and riding the train to campus.

I parked at Sugar Creek today, ground level was full, 2nd and 3rd levels were empty, but I don't have any normal day comparisons.

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Hushpuppy321 Burg

Hushpuppy321

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Wow - This whole Lightrail service issue has been a total eye opener for many people.  At first, I thought the disruption in service would be a net negative for CATS but I believe it'll be the opposite.  Many people have been (and will be for another week) struggling to get to work, school, etc. with service being down but I think people are now realizing just how Integral the Lightrail is.  Once it's back up and running by the end of next week I believe ridership will be restored and increase as the city densifies and matures.

Traffic everywhere is totally atrocious - So having a Park & Ride then Lightrail Option is a very good alternative, especially at the free Park & Ride stations.  

Note: My own family members are some of those who've been parking at the Old Concord Station because it's the last free parking area on the Northern Portion of the line.  Many commuters utilize the 485/South Blvd Park & Ride Deck.  On a normal day (with full Lightrail Service) that Entire Deck and surrounding Surface Parking is full by 8:30/9am.  It's like this every business day except Friday.  

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easzman Unincorporated Area

easzman

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1 hour ago, Hushpuppy321 said:

Wow - This whole Lightrail service issue has been a total eye opener for many people.  At first, I thought the disruption in service would be a net negative for CATS but I believe it'll be the opposite.  Many people have been (and will be for another week) struggling to get to work, school, etc. with service being down but I think people are now realizing just how Integral the Lightrail is.  Once it's back up and running by the end of next week I believe ridership will be restored and increase as the city densifies and matures.

Traffic everywhere is totally atrocious - So having a Park & Ride then Lightrail Option is a very good alternative, especially at the free Park & Ride stations.  

Note: My own family members are some of those who've been parking at the Old Concord Station because it's the last free parking area on the Northern Portion of the line.  Many commuters utilize the 485/South Blvd Park & Ride Deck.  On a normal day (with full Lightrail Service) that Entire Deck and surrounding Surface Parking is full by 8:30/9am.  It's like this every business day except Friday.  

It's sad the issue has taken so long to be resolved. I fear this will cause people to lose faith in the reliability and look to other options for commuting.

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