[PRCo] Re: Charlotte Light Rail Opening

Tue Mar 13 11:13:28 EDT 2007

There is a good chance that you and I will be planted before that  
east-west trolley line is opened.

Having a very close friend in North Carolina will give me the  
opportunity to monitor this one on an annual basis.   But it's no  
secret that I'm skeptical.    On the other hand, it's also no secret  
that I've observed that we now have a blanket of suburbs that  
stretches from central Maine almost to the North Carolina border and  
backward from the Atlantic Ocean up to as much as 200 miles,  
punctuated here an there by an occasional city large enough for  
public transit (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore  
(questionable),  Norfolk (questionable) Washington and it certainly  
won't be long before I include Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte in that  
band of suburbs.

When I was editing Headlights magazine, half of the U. S. population  
was north of the Mason-Dixon line and east of Chicago.

Honestly, guys, today, I need to study all the counties down the east  
coast.   There's huge slug of people there spread out in suburbia.     
We start with almost one in ten of the nation within an hour of  
midtown Manhattan.   It was one in ten back in 1970 ... 26 million  
people in those days.

On Mar 13, 2007, at 9:16 AM, John Swindler wrote:

>
>
> ????  Tunnel under the I-485 orbital, Fred ?????
>
> Guess you didn't visit the I-485/South Blvd station site.
>
> (:>)
>
> John (never been to Charlotte)
>
>
>
> p.s.  center city Charlotte is home to both Wachovia and ?? Bank of
> America.??  There was article in  -  think it was Post Gazette  -   
> several
> months comparing growth in Pittsburgh vs. Charlotte.  Or rather  
> lack of
> growth in Pittsburgh vs. growth in Charlotte.
>
> Next phase for light rail in Charlotte will be extension northwards  
> to Univ.
> NC at Charlotte.  Isn't there a research center nearby?  This would be
> similar to proposed "spine line" in Pittsburgh in that would  
> connect the
> downtown area with major college north of the city.  Originally  
> proposed as
> busway, but will now be light rail.
>
> Also proposal for a "Portland" type streetcar on east-west axis.   
> Would
> connect college and stadium west side of town with hospital area on  
> east
> side of town.
>
> Charlotte's 9.6 mile South light rail line will be about the same  
> cost as
> PAT's north shore connector.  Somewhere around $450 million.  A  
> question for
> everyone on this list:  ask yourself which is a more prudent use of  
> the
> taxpayer dollars??
>
> And I agree, Fred.  This one might be a 'sleeper' that does well.  The
> projection is around 18,000 daily riders in a few years, or a  
> thousand more
> then PAT's route 42S.   PAT light rail was 25,000 daily riders  
> total in
> March 2006 on four routes.
>
>
>
>
>
>> From: Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>
>> Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> To: Pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org, Peter Folger  
>> <transitman at gwi.net>
>> Subject: [PRCo] Charlotte Light Rail Opening
>> Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2007 19:44:28 -0400
>>
>> I paid a brief visit to Charlotte NC on the last or next to last day
>> of February 2007.  CATS had 14 of their 16 Siemens cars on the
>> property and expected the remaining two in the next week.   They were
>> using them while I was there to train motormen (or motor-persons).
>> Target date for opening the entire line has been advanced to November
>> 26, 2007 with the northern end to me more imminent because it can be
>> opened sooner.   This is clearly a stunning example of being ready
>> well ahead of schedule.    The heritage trolleys will begin running
>> on weekends as soon as the light rail service begins on weekdays.
>> Stops will not necessarily be the same.
>>
>> The city of Pineville NC, which declined to be included at outset of
>> the project because they did not want people from South Carolina
>> parking in their community to catch the trains, now wants to be
>> included.  Like the Ruxton section of Baltimore County that fought to
>> be excluded from Baltimore's Central Light Rail Line and changed
>> their minds after it opened, now is a little too late.   Extending to
>> Pineville now means finding supplemental funds to tunnel under the
>> circumferential highway I-485 (beltway or if your British, the  
>> orbital).
>>
>> I have some personal reservations about the Charlotte system because
>> the city has only 600+ thousand people in a metropolitan area with
>> slightly more than a million people ... roughly the same as
>> Memphis.   The population is very dispersed over the landscape in
>> single family homes and traffic isn't all that bad.    The link below
>> has some nice pictures of the downtown Charlotte skyline.   As I
>> think it over, it may, however have a better chance than Memphis and
>> San Jose.
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.city-data.com/city/Charlotte-North-Carolina.html
>>
>
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