staffer
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Posts posted by staffer
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I'd also like to see signs on the fences in the middle of the tracks indicating what direction the train is going. I've seen several groups of people that were disoriented as to which side of the tracks they should be on. For most of us this is not a problem, but for out of town visitors, it's easy for them to lose their sense of direction when trying to figure out which platform to stand on. A small sign on the fence next to the tracks indicating " <-----To 7th st/uptown" or "To 485 ----->". This is a necessity in subways when you have no idea which direction your facing after the walk down to the stairwells, but it could certainly help here too.
Of course, in 2013 when the NE Line is scheduled to open, an I-485 station will be in BOTH directions!
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Saturday Nov. 24th -64,000 (est.)
Sunday Nov. 25th - 42,000 (est.)
Monday Nov. 26th - 6,691 final official
Tuesday Nov. 27th - 7,450 preliminary
Ridership for the South Corridor light rail line was projected to average 9,100 daily passengers over the first 12 months of operation.
Six paragraph CATS press release now up with first two days stats, short excerpt below:
"The first two days of LYNX Blue Line ridership started strong with 6,691 commuters using the service on Monday and ridership of 8,029 for Tuesday.
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There is a rumor floating around that CATS is going to suggest the MTC commit to buying the trains for the NE line (or some subset of them now) because Siemens is floating a discount if they do. If that happens they are going to suggest the city go ahead and commit to funding (without federal involvement) the section between downtown and Sugar Creek using city funds. Maybe to the tune of $300M. This is the least expensive portion of the line to build since they won't need to buy new ROW. Some years later the portion from Sugar Creek to UNCC would be completed once they could secure Federal funding to pay for it.
on #1, The City has an option to buy 16 more trains. I think I read recently the option must be exercised by March 2008.
on #2, I believe the North Carolina Railroad only sold the city the ROW as far as under the I-277 bridge (maybe 100 yards past the 9th Street station) From there on out to Sugar Creek a sale/lease/track rights would still need to be negotiated. The possible move of much of the NS railyard to the Airport would free up a lot of space. The far right hand part of the rails is the NCRR charter ROW, some of the area closer to N Tryon may be owned just by NS, but it is the NCRR part that CATS needs anyway. The NCRR ROW northeast of the CSX crossover (CLT to Monroe line) behind Alpha Mills (around 12th St) is probably under longterm lease to NS.
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I may be mistaken, but in all the SU renderings, models, and future campus circulation maps I have seen, the LRT does not appear to connect to the student union. I doubt that it would be feasible to build the line through that stretch as it would have to weave between the new union parking deck, the student union, Cypress hall, Squires hall, and Witherspoon hall (by their former names as I already don't remember which ones changed this year.) Then it would have to curve all the way around the northern end of campus around the existing facilities just to get back to 29 again. That's just too much to risk with students walking around campus back to the dorms and the new Broker Health Center at all hours.
The future path of the line is still in question as much of the northwestern land on campus is wetlands. I would imagine that after the University City stop, it would cut south across 29, just to the southwest of CRI, make its way between the athletics fields and the crescent parking lot between CRI and the main campus, and then overpassing Toby Creek and the proposed campus greenway that follows its banks. The only logical location for the station on campus would be to put it at the most northern curve of Cameron Blvd. There are already relatively large lots available, there is a lot of campus housing right there, and there are also already campus shuttle routes to help support the line. This route would only cross about five pedestrian walkways on campus rather than the aforementioned location which would cross about twenty pedestrian paths and at least four campus streets. Each crossing would require extensive safety precautions as this is a college campus.
Overall, there are few routes that are even possible on campus. Of those routes most don't really make financial sense, allow for a practical route for timing sense, or allow for the safety of campus residents. I may not be a genius, but the path on the northern end of Cameron Blvd is the only place that seems logical to me and it is fairly consistent with CATS' prelim mock-ups.
I saw a map a few weeks back (not sure if at charmeck.org or uncc.edu) that showed the station proposed to be across from Squires Dorm. I will try to find it again.
UPDATE: From UNC-Charlotte newspaper 6/15/2006:
Franz also discussed the route of Charlotte's light rail, as it is likely that a stop will be coming close to campus. Franz noted that two possible stops for the light rail would be around Clay Blvd. near the hospital, and on the north side of Cameron Blvd. in the Squires Hall area. This stop would coincide with a pedestrian walkway to the upcoming Student Union.
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The sign also said that pets are allowed "for training purposes." Anyone know what that might be referring to? Perhaps police dogs or something?
training riders to get off at the correct stop?
actually, service/assistance dogs get trained by expert trainers in riding transit with their owners.
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As far as I know, congress has not appropriated any money to do this engineering work. The FTA does not have a discretionary fund where it can give transit systems money. It makes recommendations to congress and the funds are put into the budget. Dole and/or Burr could of course ask for an earmark to do the work. I am not aware they have committed the political capital to do so though it is a possibility in Dole's case since she has decided to run for election. Now if she can get it through a congress controlled by Democrats is another matter.
HR3074 FY 2008 Transportation Department Appropriations Bill conference report passed the House November 14, will be coming up in the Senate soon. It includes $2,000,000 (page 13604) as an appropriation to FTA for "Charlotte Rapid Transit, North Carolina". Dole told a group last week that total funding for the project in the bill was $3.6m, so more must be somewhere else in the bill.
(edited to improve links)
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Recent story from the Charlotte Observer on federal approval of engineering work on the Northeast Corridor speculates work will begin in January. Senate passed FY 2008 federal transportation bill has $2 million for engineering, I heard Liddy Dole at the South line ribbon cutting say there is $3.7 million in the conference report on the bill.
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CATS Lynx Northeast Line info
University City area plan (35 mb .pdfadopted by Planning Commission 10/22/2007, shows initial plans for sites of Rocky River through University City stations on NE line.
9th Street station is already there as a trolley stop with single track. From 9th St station to 16th St station, will follow NCRR ROW, going UNDER I-277 (277 is elevated) then must cross Charlotte to Monroe CSX freight line.
CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines
in Charlotte
Posted · Edited by staffer
2013 was the planned completion date (last three stations are, UNC-C, Mallard Creek Rd, and I-485 P&R). Opening to 36th Street mainly involves rail yard issues (first of which is crossing the CSX Charlotte/Monroe line which I believe carries a lot of freight) and potential construction of a NS Intermodal yard at the airport frees up a lot of space at the N Tryon railyard. There is another rail line that goes off toward Stanly County that has to be crossed as well, otherwise the LR can stay in the NCRR Corridor when trackage issues are resolved. I believe Charlotte has only bought the corridor as far as I-277 (the NCRR ROW runs UNDER 277, then past Alpha Mills where it meets the CSX line.)
The toughest and most expensive part of the NE line is past Sugar Creek when it moves over to N Tryon, and especially the Harris Blvd crossing (underground? elevated??)
Funding issues may be paramount, however, in deciding whether to phase the line