Independence Corridor

[rickrodewd]

Going vertical at Meridian Place!

[Third Strike]

That project is really going to change that area. Hopefully we see more development like that along Monroe, like in Oakhurst. Along with the aforementioned areas, and Sardis, it seems like the Monroe Road corridor is just begging for mass transit to happen.

[RiverwoodCLT]

I hope so.  I live in the Crown Point Area and would love to see a street car coming down the road.

[Third Strike]

There will be a bond in 2016 and 2018 to fund new street connections for the Independence Corridor between Briar Creek and Idlewild Road. Their map of the proposed connections are kinda crude, but you get the idea:

 

http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/charlottefuture/CIP/Documents/LandAcquisitions_StreetConnections.pdf

 

The Coliseum Shopping Center and the new Walmart, will now have direct connections to Monroe Road and Wendover. There also appears to be a new connector road that will run from Idlewild, behind several of the business on the eastside of Independence.

[cltbwimob]

There will be a bond in 2016 and 2018 to fund new street connections for the Independence Corridor between Briar Creek and Idlewild Road. Their map of the proposed connections are kinda crude, but you get the idea:

 

http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/charlottefuture/CIP/Documents/LandAcquisitions_StreetConnections.pdf

 

The Coliseum Shopping Center and the new Walmart, will now have direct connections to Monroe Road and Wendover. There also appears to be a new connector road that will run from Idlewild, behind several of the business on the eastside of Independence.

I especially love that the railroad is listed as Seaboard Coastline-a name that has been defunct for over 30 years.

[dubone]

That is probably the legal name on the deed for the land ownership.  It is listed as that on the city GIS, which is certainly how it got on this map as such.

 

It's not like they change deeds on every landholding every time there is merger or rebranding.  There are plenty of references to Wachovia and First Union National Bank and NCNB in the deed and real estate lookup. 

 

 

 

 

As for the CIP improvements to the parallel side streets are going to go a long way to improving the Independence corridor.    We need to resign ourselves from a planning point of view that Independence will be more like a freeway than a city street, so the more the current and future developments orient themselves to the side streets, the easier it will be for people to navigate.   It is unpleasant to turn on and off of Independence directly for a business.  

 

I wish they had a more precise map posted. 

[archiham04]

 

I wish they had a more precise map posted. 

I guesstimated their locations on the CityDev map

[UrbanGossip]

There seems to be a flyover between Wendover and Sharon Amity.  It looks to me like that would be Richland Ave?  Which, by the way, the re-alignment of Richland across Monroe is under construction.  It will tie the two sides of Oakhurst together now.  It will also pave the way for the old Woonsocket Mill site to move forward.  I would expect that land to move soon now; it's been on the market and entitled for a while.

 

Edit : Pretty sure it would be Richland, tying into Woodland across independence.  Woodland becomes Commonwealth.  Would be a really good connection.  It's all pie in the sky though at this point.  I won't hold my breath.

Edited November 3, 2014 by UrbanGossip

[southslider]

Neither the connections map nor the development map show a flyover.

[UrbanGossip]

Oh yeah.  What the hell was I looking at?  For some reason I saw that but I see it ends at Indep.  Oh well.  Would have been nice.  But forget it...

[archiham04]

The article today in the O talked about the bus routes changing to include expanded HOT lanes.  Does this mean that BRT on Indy is officially dead.  Mass transit lost, auto driver won?  How does this possibly align with ANY growth plan?

[tozmervo]

I think BRT can still share space with cars under controlled circumstances - that is, if there are not enough cars to cause congestion. With variable toll pricing, the theory is that the price will go up as the lanes fill, so - again in theory - traffic should always move at a pace acceptable to BRT standards.

[SouthEndCLT811]

Maybe the city is leaning more towards transit on Monroe and tolls on Independence.  Keep Independence auto-centric and build mass transit on a more pedestrian friendly route via Monroe.

[DMann]

Maybe the city is leaning more towards transit on Monroe and tolls on Independence.  Keep Independence auto-centric and build mass transit on a more pedestrian friendly route via Monroe.

That would be great!

[Nolan]

I think BRT can still share space with cars under controlled circumstances - that is, if there are not enough cars to cause congestion. With variable toll pricing, the theory is that the price will go up as the lanes fill, so - again in theory - traffic should always move at a pace acceptable to BRT standards.

For BRT to work, it needs to have a consistent frequency, the busway on Independence will be converted to a reversible HOT facility that will only operate during rush hour. I don't see how that would work with BRT. 

[tozmervo]

Uhg, yeah. I missed the obvious "reversible" part. They would definitely need to maintain 2-way direction all day to implement BRT service.

[dubone]

BRT on Independence is dead already.    

 

 

This BRT is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. This is a late BRT. It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. If you hadn't nailed it to the perch, it would be pushing up the daisies. It's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-BRT.

 

 

 

Just as now, certain bus routes will leverage the highway, especially express routes from Matthews and Union County, and they will benefit from the more reliable travel times of the HOT lanes.    The consultants report from a few years ago, caused most of the transportation leadership to stop designing Independence with transit-only lanes.   

Maybe the city is leaning more towards transit on Monroe and tolls on Independence.  Keep Independence auto-centric and build mass transit on a more pedestrian friendly route via Monroe.

Guys, this happened years ago.

 

This is already true, only CATS never updates its website. 

[SouthEndCLT811]

BRT on Independence is dead already.    

 

 

This BRT is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to meet its maker. This is a late BRT. It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. If you hadn't nailed it to the perch, it would be pushing up the daisies. It's rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-BRT.

 

 

 

Just as now, certain bus routes will leverage the highway, especially express routes from Matthews and Union County, and they will benefit from the more reliable travel times of the HOT lanes.    The consultants report from a few years ago, caused most of the transportation leadership to stop designing Independence with transit-only lanes.   

Guys, this happened years ago.

 

This is already true, only CATS never updates its website. 

 

Thanks I thought they adopted the Monroe idea but didn't want to say with certainty.  I hadn't been following this development as closely as others.  Good to know!

[dubone]

Yeah, they kind of did.  But streetcar then became a hot controversial topic, and attention shifted to the immediate needs of funding uptown portion of streetcar (if we can't get one within uptown, then we sure can't get one in east Charlotte).    

 

And so there was no momentum for an alternate plan in the Southeast corridor.

 

But just because CATS still has the Silver line on all its starfish-looking future maps, and all the 2005-6 documents about their designs doesn't mean it is not abandoned.   It will never happen because now a major pre-requisite of transit-only lanes are gone.  

[Third Strike]

I still think using the ROW next to the CSX railroad for a light rail would be a good idea. I don't mind the streetcar idea down Monroe, but I would prefer this corridor having a line with its own dedicated ROW. The line could even spur off from the Blue Line near Alpha Mill, and run parallel with the CSX until it gets to Sardis road, from there it could run next to Independence Pointe Parkway until it terminates at the CPCC Levine Campus (like the original plan). This could also lead to a future split near Sardis Road that would continue following the CSX until it ends in downtown Matthews.

[southslider]

Tolls allow for shared lanes, when combined with off-line stations and bus ramps.

[dubone]

The rail corridors are by far the best as long as the station areas would be developable despite the freight corridor.   In the case of the southeast corridor, that is already true (Belmont, Midwood, Chantilly, Elizabeth, Grier Heights, Cotswald, Echo Hills, Oakhurst...) all have solid opportunities for growth with a light rail line on CSX.  

 

 

Streetcar means we don't want to create a corridor at all.  BRT means we want to stay on bumpy bouncy trouncy stinky tsch-tsch-tsch diesel buses because we are cheap and don't want to invest in permanent urban infrastructure.    So if we do it right, we either invest in the rail corridor or widen a street to dedicate a transit corridor.    

 

If we invest in the CSX corridor, we would be improving that corridor by way of sound barriers, grade separations, etc.  Which is a net benefit.

[dubone]

Tolls allow for shared lanes, when combined with off-line stations and bus ramps.

I think you're saying the HOT lanes would allow the buses to use the fast lanes, but then could still get out for a few stations along the way that are not in the median of an expressway?        I'm fine with enhanced bus routes leveraging US74, but the stations in the median are not going to result in Independence being a magic TOD corridor.  

[dubone]

https://connect.ncdot.gov/projects/planning/STIResults/H140272.pdf

 

Looks like the initial HOT lane conversion is only going to cost the state $7m ($14m total)

 

I hate that the reversible lanes are gates rather than something like the movable wall barriers that would also have the option for a 1 lane per direction option.   

[archiham04]

I agree that Independence will never be a TOD corridor.  I do think that TOD corridors could spur from a dedicated BRT conduit to downtown.  Imagine a TOD in either direction off an Indy spur.  The BRT would basically be a straight shot into downtown once it hit Indy.