New Metro(Subway) Plan for Charlotte

[monsoon]

So why don't they finance a subway system in Charlotte by letting a private company(ies) do it? The plan would be to let them have any minerals they find including all gold which currently is $1000+/oz. At this price even marginal gold deposits are valuable and there are instances now of people revisiting old gold finds. Surely those 19th century Charlotte gold miners left behind some deposits and wasted gold in their open pit processes.

They could put Lynx underground inside the loop and build a cross train down trade street to Presbyterian and over to JC Smith. The two lines could join together right in an big underground station underground. The city could promise to provide operational costs for the train (from the transit tax) and the contractor could keep the seat receipts for some number of years. Let the company dig a tunnel or cut and cover anywhere they feel like it as long as they finish it out for transit.

Giving companies mineral rights to dig and develop tunnels is not unprecedented. Charlotte is sitting on top of gold deposits. Why not take advantage of it? People said they wanted thinking out of the box. So here is a plan that does that.

[InitialD]

I like the idea. I'll always wished Charlotte had a MARTA type system - above ground mostly except through the urban core. Somebody once told me the ground in Charlotte couldn't support subway tunnels, but I doubt that is true. I doubt you could find a private company willing to spend the money. Transit, like other public services such as police and fire fighters, should be about providing a service to the citizens more than making a profit, in my opinion.

[atlrvr]

I've stated many time that there should be no grade crossings on any LYNX line, so of course I agree, but I'm not sure if allowing mineral collection is the way to finance it....what if they were to discover a vein that went perpendicular to the routing of the subway tunnel plan. The incentive to the diggers would be to follow the vein, which could compromise the strength of the actual tunnel.

Anyway, between John Belk and Trade St, there is grade separations (except 2nd), perhaps eliminating 2nd St crossing would be a first step.

After Trade, the LRT line should descend below grade until at least beyond the freight rail line just north of Uptown.

The Southeast Line should be completeley buried beneath the 5th St. (train descend below ground once leaving the Independence Blvd right-of-way) and continues below ground with stations at McDowell, Davidson, the existing South Line (transfer station with block long connector), and Church St. Then, with a deep bore line, swing the line slightly South under the Presby Church and connect to the new Amtrak/Commuter Rail station, continuing southwest to the existing rail ROW that cuts through 3rd Ward and eventually under Morehead St, emerging above ground in the median of Wilkenson, where it goes all the way to the airport/485.

That's my vision anyway.

If we are going to build a system, lets build it correctly to start with....though I will point out that Boston's system was either all at grade or elevated, and eventually (over 4 decades) was buried in small chunks through the densest part of the city.

[New Name]

Subways only seem necessary in dense cities, where there surface land is at a premium. This is certainly not the case for Charlotte, at least not now. The same argument about why we need people to live in high-rise condos (when there is enough ground level real estate to build out for the next 25 years) seems to apply to the subway idea. It would be cool, but definitely counter intuitive.

[BUILDIT]

id have to wonder if there is enough gold to make it worthwhile first off, and to think about the enormous hassles that come with digging in an already built city, it would be a tough sell. who knows whats underneath the bofa corporate center?

[monsoon]

... but I'm not sure if allowing mineral collection is the way to finance it....what if they were to discover a vein that went perpendicular to the routing of the subway tunnel plan. The incentive to the diggers would be to follow the vein, which could compromise the strength of the actual tunnel......

[InitialD]

I wonder if or why they didn't do this with all the material excavated from the 7 levels below Wachovia/Duke Energy? Didn't they just use it as fill dirt for the new runway at CLT?

[Andyc545]

who knows whats underneath the bofa corporate center?

[wheatie]

These days most gold mining is not focused on locating veins of gold. Instead they crush quantities of rocks known to contain gold ore and then remove minute amounts of gold through various processes. This is why a lot of these old gold areas are being revisited. They didn't have the technology to do it back in the gold rush days, and the price of gold now makes it work out from an economic standpoint. Digging tunnels and trenches (for cut and cover) would produce a vast quantity of rock for this purpose.