CLTranspo

It’s true, NC is very unique in that almost all roads are state maintained, however it would have been proactive on these Union county towns’ part to require new developments to include upgrades like turn lanes etc. to the roads they access.

Exactly. My firm is keeping the same number of employees or has hired more, but our office space across the country is getting halved including Charlotte, Raleigh, Atlanta, etc

Guess we’ll have to raise wages ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thank you for saying this! To have a fully informed opinion on single family zoning, and how it does - demonstrably - continue to relate to race in our country and in our city, I totally recommend reading this book (The Color of Law).

You can see the Portman tower starting to be visible

FWIW I did bike or take the light rail to work before covid, and I don’t even work uptown. However it’s kind of chicken and egg to me...you’re right this region is almost impossible to commute or live in carless. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t want/advocate for better!

Really bothers me that we’re getting this size of parking infrastructure at what is probably THE most prime transit accessible spot outside of uptown. East/west is the busiest light rail stop outside of uptown and the blue line termini. If this is the type of development we’re getting directly fronting our transit and rail trail assets, how can we ever hope to evolve away from car dependency in this region?

I wouldn't read too much into crime this year for long-term trends. Crime across the country has gone up drastically in 2020, a major part of that being unemployment and quarantine due to Covid-19.

I will say that the express bus route from downtown Denver to Boulder is very popular and well-run. Very frequent service with coach bus type buses, initiates from the Union Station facility (large underground waiting area for boarding/unboarding buses that also links the aboveground commuter rail, Amtrak, and several light rail termini). Then dedicated flyover ramps for the buses put them on HOV/HOT lanes on I-25 and then US 36 (only the very last part of the route into Boulder is not on HOT lanes) with some high quality TOD stops in areas like Broomfield - some of the best ones have ped bridges across the freeway and park and ride garages surrounded by TOD development. So overall, it's not *quite* full BRT but I do think it's very high quality service with the frequency and stop connectivity. I would be happy if Charlotte managed to operate something similar along the I-77 HOT lanes into Uptown/Gateway.

Nice idea! The main issue I’m thinking of is whether the radius turning around that warehouse at 90 degrees would be too tight (unless of course they tore it down), and whether they’d have to remove a lot of parking on the north side of optimist hall merge onto the blue line. However, since this spur would only be for out of service trains, the curve could be possibly be managed since very slow speeds wouldn’t be an issue as far as impacting service times.

Let me just say I have colleagues who have left CAMPO prior and I understand

Definitely same moving from Denver/Chicago

The article addresses a lot more than affordable housing, which I found interesting. Issues such as weather/climate, segregation, car dependency, income growth, and endowments of public and philanthropic funds

Not totally sure if this is the right place for this, but interesting article summarizing the future issues for Charlotte and sunbelt cities in general compared to traditional northeastern and midwestern cities. We have good growth and some good assets but many challenges ahead. https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/2020/08/06/charlotte-sun-belt-cities-urban-growth-housing-costs-income-inequality

I mean can’t we have a private medical college and a large public university in the same city? I don’t think it’s a slap in the face to uncc especially after atrium has tried and failed to partner with them before to create a med school.

I would also love to see the investment used toward lengthening the platforms on the original blue line to accommodate longer trains, which would almost definitely increase ridership (and revenue)

Just say you’re white and keep it moving

Would much rather have high rises adjacent to uptown than have even more sprawl outside of 485

NCDOT is already thinking this way, their “strategic transportation corridor” for US 74 (all the way from I-26 to Wilmington) considers the portion of the corridor that goes through the Charlotte metro as best routed along 85 in Gaston County to 485 to the Monroe Bypass. So I wouldn’t be surprised to eventually see Wilkinson and Independence signed as 74 Bus or 74 Alt.

I think @Tyree Ricardo was referring to Nashville as Charlotte’s competitor. They are proposing to increase property taxes by over 30% to balance their budget.

Sorry, this is for Brookshire Blvd, from the I-85 interchange near Uptown, to the state line in Northeast Mecklenburg. You mean county line. NC 16 exits Mecklenburg County to enter Gaston County.