southslider

If an MLB-team did agree to move here, why couldn't an expanded Knights stadium still work? In addition to convincing the Knights team to move out, it seems the only other major obstacle would be a stadium design capable of expansion west over Graham Street.

I don't know of a better location in Charlotte to create a new "edge city" and not worry too much about traffic impact. Billy Graham, Tyvola (west of I-77), and I-485 (again, west of I-77) all seem to be moving much better than anything in the University or Ballantyne areas. While very auto accessible, transit does seem weak currently. Still, while City Park is not directly on any radial transit corridor, the area is easily serviced by feeder connections to the Blue Line, and who knows, maybe someday such density could help support an Airport-South Park crosstown rapid transit line mostly following Tyvola-Fairview.

I still don't understand why office needs huge floor plates. Most office buildings in Charlotte, especially the newer ones, don't begin to occupy their full block. Is this location above Epicentre really that different? And if larger floor plates would truly be needed, what about the air rights over LYNX, and maybe even the CTC in combination with Epicentre? I just don't see why America's best office market couldn't support a spec office building at its transportation nexus.

Given the stronger market, maybe it's time to think office tower instead of condos above Epicenter. Sure would make more sense to have dense employment right beside our region's transit hub.

For comparison, St. Louis always runs 2-car trains, since the tunnels on the oldest section of the line limited the system to 200' platforms. Yet with 40-some miles of LRT, and 2 overlapping lines, they now have 5-minute peak frequency where the lines overlap (10 minutes on branches), but could do 3.5-minute headways (7 minutes on branches), if not for cuts in state subsidies for operations. Similar to Charlotte, St. Louis has a fully gate-controlled, exclusive-ROW-running system operating at top speeds (no street-running segments like most other LRT systems). If St. Louis can handle 80,000 daily riders with 5-minute headways, I think Charlotte has a ways to go before added frequency would be so prohibitive that 3-car trains would absolutely be necessary.

^On the other hand, two-car trains guarantee better frequency. Personally, I'd rather wait a shorter amount of time for a crowded train than a longer time for a guaranteed seat.

Another building can't have similar forms as the Arlington? Or only this building gets to be different for all of South End? Surely, when Grandview was constructed, it ended up changing Arlington's, albeit to a lesser extent. Besides, if Trump is ever built, none of these sites along LYNX in South end will have much view left.

But other corridor developments have placed their greatest massing along the LRT and its adjoining multi-use paths, not South Boulevard its sidewalks. And ironically, the best example of this is the Arlington. In a city without mountain or waterfront views, city views are certainly a prized asset. But it in rapidly growing city, buyers should beware of change. When I personally bought a house with a great view, I asked myself if it was still a good buy if it ever lost the view, knowing Charlotte.

Maybe it was done to encourage use of I-485 for those coming up I-77. Eventually, Little Rock Road from I-85 is supposed to become a greater entrance, but who knows when.

As I understand it, the apartments between Briar Creek and 7th/Monroe will be razed completely, then graded up in elevation with fill before redevelopment, while the apartments the other side of the creek in the Chantilly neighborhood will mostly convert to greenway following their demolition.

^What substantial traffic? Maybe Merry Oaks residents themselves returning home via Briar Creek. The new street extension wouldn't even have a connection to Arnold Drive, the only true collector road in Merry Oaks. I'm tired of the all-too-common NIMBY complaint about cut-through traffic when it's those same residents who would be using the street. May God bless the cul-de-sac, be it American as apple pie.

Well, Mayor Pat certainly isn't promoting Charlotte as an attractive place for gays to relocate.

What does it even save CATS to run single-car trains? It's still one operator, so electric bills? With the vote over, they shouldn't worry about trains looking empty. Plus, I think dwell times lengthen when patrons don't know where to stand to quickly board the random single-car train.

I wonder if it will ultimately just come down to getting over to Tryon, not the economic development opportunities or even the cost of running more along Tryon or the rail corridor. In other words, which route actually costs less to get between the railroad and Tryon, where there is no public or railroad right-of-way?

Sure, there is some height already in U-City, but with the seas of parking and tower-in-the-park design, it's not too walkable from Tryon. There is little doubt that the stations can be any closer to the front doors of the key destinations. So then, the mission should be adding pedestrian-scaled infill or retrofitting existing layouts. Otherwise, transit-choice commuters won't make walk-based trips, and "Harris/Tryon (Ken Hoffman)" and "University City (JM Keynes)" won't be park-and-ride stations.

What's the point of LEED, when everyone drives to your building?

Who can say that the Tryon section has a higher cost per mile than that along the railroad until the demands of a much more active freight corridor than South Corridor are known? The RR corporations might ask for significant vertical or horizontal separation between their tracks and LRT, adding costs per mile for retained fill (vertical sep) and/or property acquisition (horizontal sep). In such situation, thank goodness CATS didn't pick a route more closely following Old Concord Road.

Does anyone else find it ironic that a streetcar suburb would fight transit-oriented development?

^FRA guidance for horizontal separation is 25 feet from track center to track center. However, individual railroads can and often do ask for more.

I think the vast majority driveways along North Tryon will become right-turn only with the NE extension of LYNX. Indeed, many driveways in the Univesity City area are already like that today.