[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

Just end the line in Downtown Matthews, so it can be a single track with less impact to Downtown Matthews streets and buildings.  The sportsplex is barely TOD and has high utility relocation costs. CPCC Levine has extra cost to go over 485. The nearby planned yard off Monroe Rd at the Matthews border with Charlotte could quickly add trains, if worried about single track capacity in Downtwon Matthews.

[Charlotte Gateway Station and Railroad Improvements]

2 hours ago, jthomas said:

IF (and clearly that's a big if) anyone cared about the intercity rail portion of this project, you could build a sidewalk and dropoff lane in the space available now, knock out the panels circled in red, and start running trains uptown in a matter of weeks. Heck, you wouldn't even have to close the current station if it was important to have station facilities somewhere - trains could stop at both stations. Just give people the ability to get on/off the train uptown if they want!

Move this concept one block northeast or across Trade Street along Wilkes Place and you have the actual temporary station seriously considered by Amtrak.

[Traffic Congestion and Highway Construction]

16 hours ago, Nathan2 said:

CATS already has separate designs and plans for direct access to park and rides from the express lanes. Not sure if these plans have been published publicly yet. 

The BRT study along 77 North completed years ago (see CATS website under Red Line) incorporates the very changes the NCDOT projects are doing and will soon be doing to respective exits 23 and 25. However, those projects are not building any of those BRT designs, which is a huge missed opportunity by Lake Norman decision-makers.  Area residents already hate that they were tricked into a private concession for toll lanes, and yet here is an opportunity for more public use and throughput on 77.

[Traffic Congestion and Highway Construction]

6 hours ago, tozmervo said:

Not for nothing, this doesn't include any dedicated express exits or options for direct BRT access to Northcross park and ride (which appears prominently just outside the north bridge roundabout.) It seems like that north bridge could be modified with express lane ramps and provide pretty direct access for BRT. 

Huntersville successfully pushed NCDOT to include two additional bridges either side of Exit 25, while largely ignoring any access to Northcross Park and Ride.   Having NCDOT build just a bit more for functional BRT is easily way more practical and realistic than getting NSRR to sell or share their corridor for Red Line. But such a pragmatic approach would require Town officials, several of them just newly elected, to actually have real conversations with NCDOT, rather than aspirational talk with NSRR.

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

8 hours ago, kayman said:

 I-77 North BRT full rollout is on the books, but implementation is being held up due to the lack funding (tied to the transit sales tax referendum)

Except BRT doesn't require one big project, but can be built up with smaller projects, especially now that the Express Lanes are already built. The real missed opportunities are Exit 23 currently under construction and Exit 25 soon also in construction. Pull-off, in-line BRT stations are in the cost range of the planned Hambright Park and Ride, which is already funded without any sales tax increase.

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

Always thought Graham St could use a road-diet for sidewalks, but double-tracking Red Line sure would be a nice bonus.

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

14 hours ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

Work and commuting patterns have shifted substantially since the Red Line was first envisioned, especially post-Covid. The North Mecklenburg Express bus, which carried 17,000 passengers on the north-to-south route in April 2011, carried just an estimated 5,100 passengers in April 2023, a decline of 70%. Is there still sufficient demand for transit between Charlotte and north Mecklenburg?

This is sloppy reporting, as the 77X was split up following the opening of the Cornelius Park and Ride. The combination of all four Express routes traveling I-77 north of Uptown shows much more steady ridership collectively.

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

Deleted

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

Convincing North Mecklenburg that Red Line isn't light rail is as challenging as convincing Americans that a third-pound burger has more meat than a quarter-pounder.

[Charlotte Gateway Station and Railroad Improvements]

Future NC Rail corridors range from already committed S-Line to highly unlikely O-Line.

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

On 7/2/2023 at 3:30 PM, CltFlyer said:

94% of all funding goes to highways, but the best they could muster for I-77 was adding toll lanes built by a sketchy overseas company while also eliminating HOV lanes too????

The express lanes are open to HOV 3+ for free (NC Quick Pass transponder set to HOV), plus motorcycles and CATS Buses

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

On 6/30/2023 at 10:18 AM, Matthew.Brendan said:

noun: grift;

1. a petty or small-scale swindle.

See also Steve Harrison's "reporting"

[Charlotte Gateway Station and Railroad Improvements]

4 hours ago, jjwilli said:

No one lives that close to the Rail Yard north of the city and yet people still want to turn it into a park. Why should we make the same mistake and  build something similar on the south side of Uptown? And on a property that could be part of future TOD with the silver like one day coming through. Seems short sighted.

25th St Station next to the much larger actual railyard north of town has hardly been hurting for TOD. And if the complaint is how that limits TOD to one side, then what Wilmore surely needs is TOD squeezing it from BOTH Blue Line and Silver Line.  Besides, a future station could always build a pedestrian bridge, like Sugar Creek Station, another area hardly hurting for TOD.

And really, any station next to this much smaller "railyard" isn't even funded, and just a concept along the second phase of an also unfunded first phase of Silver Line. The passenger rail maintenance facility is actually programmed, and very much needed to support the very nearby relocated passenger rail station, which is ironically moving from being next to that truly big railyard just north of Uptown.

[Charlotte Gateway Station and Railroad Improvements]

4 hours ago, jjwilli said:

Not sure how NCDOT would do this in a cost effective enough way for them to fund it with 277 and the off ramp in the way.

Carson would no longer connect to 277 and be extended to Clarkson and/or continue to Freedom. Such changes are all part of the 77 South project that includes reconfiguring the 77/Belk interchange. 

[Charlotte Gateway Station and Railroad Improvements]

Carson Blvd will be extended to Clarkson St to mitigate any closing of Summit Ave.

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

No longer think of a regional authority as necessary to increase funding and expand the system, but rather, an authority is now necessary to simply regain trust and completely redo the system.

Silver Line is about as hopeless as Red Line now, but there remains hope that a new Authority can actually implement more cost-effective solutions for a wider area of needs.

[Traffic Congestion and Highway Construction]

On 5/28/2023 at 9:20 AM, cowboy_wilhelm said:

Remember that Monroe is tolled and uses a different funding mechanism.

The extra cost of building a fully controlled-access facility on completely new right-of-way makes for a good turnpike candidate, especially if wanting to build such high-cost corridor all at once.

[Traffic Congestion and Highway Construction]

^Building a bypass around a bypass should be a lower priority.

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

Top 5 most expensive LRT corridors and still no direct access to Blue Line, Gold Line, or the Airport.

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

As closely spaced as the 11th Street and First Ward stations are, it still boggles the mind that there will be no way to transfer easily to Gold Line around Hawthorne or Sunnyside, given how far the Central Avenue and Pecan Avenue stations are spaced.

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

^And as tweeted by local media, when the command center is down to one staff, Gold Line closes before Blue Line.

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

Press conference also revealed FTA offered to complete a full review. However, FTA's last triennial review (done every three years) was actually just last year. You know, 2022, the same year of the derailment and well after missed bridge inspections.  Talk about public trust.

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

CSX could be commuter rail, much like the NCRR corridor. Red Line just makes more sense now as LRT, given several factors. The connection in Uptown will now have to be along Statesville and Graham to reach Uptown. Camp North End shows the promise of more stations in Charlotte.  Davidson and Cornelius were always close together for CR spacing, and even Huntersville can have more stations. And with the recent Ohio derailment, NSRR will be hungry for cash and more willing to sell.

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

^Why not both?  Regional expansion should focus on commuter rail and rapid bus, while the urban core can focus on light rail and bus priority.  Mecklenburg Towns, and the North Towns collectively, could opt either to add more tax for a combined strategy or transfer their existing half-cent for only regional investments.  Beyond Mecklenburg would only have the new tax option, thereby limiting the expectation of projects and range of the LYNX system.

Re-purposed the existing half-cent could cover a reimagined core plan in order of political priorities-- Bus Priority projects, Red Line purchase, Silver Line from Blue Line to Matthews Township Parkway, Red Line LRT (more near-term 77 BRT via regional tax), New Line to Airport, and Blue Line to Ballantyne (more near-term 485 BRT via regional tax).

[CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines]

CATS adds vacant COO to all their interims for CEO, CFO, CAO, and CIO.