Michael NDL

At the risk of coming across as being overly critical, and that's not my intention, typically as projects are built out, marketing gets to work and posts photos of infrastructure as it's rolled out. Decades ago it was a time consuming endeavor, with costs attached to it; nowadays it takes very little time, little to no resources, and no money. I just find their approach a little surprising. *** I confess my disappointment, because this is a once in a lifetime opportunity: the land is sandwiched in between the River - and water features such as the Catawba are unique and valuable - and a busy Airport, plus it's reasonably close to Downtown. Yet, thus far it would appear that this development will be sprawling, with no "permanent" mass transportation - an added insult because this project is a clean sheet design, in a City that spent, (possibly wasted ?), millions on the LYNX Gold Line. And people seeking information are treated to crickets.

The last reply to this thread was on the sixth of July, and we're closing in on November. I Facebooked their official page, and my query was left unacknowledged. Things are moving s-l-o-w-l-y; even so, it would be wise for marketing/sales to update people on a frequent basis, even if they are but small updates.

Thank you for your reply. So I assuming that if I were to drive over there, they'd have some roadways in place by now, or no?

Will there be a sizeable number of luxury properties as well?

Thank you both, for your replies

In Jan of 2021, The River District website said that "construction begins;" we're now in Jan 2022. Have there been no new developments worth reporting? Even the expansion of roads, new roads...information regarding this project is scant.

I'll give you that - in that an express bus might adequately serve the River District. But what I would really love to see: a light rail spur traversing the River District, which terminates at the outlets. I would imagine that college students from UNC, and people around South End and Uptown, whose developments are becoming less and less auto dependant, would use the rail to shop at the outlets; students would use light rail to commute to their jobs at the outlets. *** If I seem overzealous over the development of rail, it's only because my former home of suburban NYC was a complete and utter mess: the roads couldn't keep up, to the extent where residents literally wouldn't go anywhere; planning trips outside of our immediate area became near prohibitive. There was simply no enjoyment taking a recreational daytrip, when a huge part of the daytrip was spent sitting in hours of traffic, therefore, many recreational activities were left undone. And because so much time was wasted by sitting in hours of traffic, the environment was one whereupon residents felt as though they didn't have enough hours in the day, thus the pace became very harried, and people were nasty - which affected the cohesion of the community. Ultimately, what would be great is if CLT's rail system connected to major shopping attractions; the River District will have water access, and it would be great for residents to be able to seamlessly connect to the water, to Uptown, and to major shopping via rail. Conversely, if the River District follows a suburban sprawl model, we will have created another Atlanta. It would be a blunder of epic proportions for the City, and River District planners, to not incorporate a fictitious rail trail throughout the yet unbuilt River District.

Let's say you're right: the density isn't there. But what would it cost them to arrange the development around a fictitious rail trail? Conversely, what if the River District adds population over the years...everyone will clamor about how they "really missed the ball" by not designing into the fabric of this development, a rail trail. As for phase 3 of the Gold Line, I agree: it shouldn't be extended; the thing is a waste, and the phase 3 extension provides too much overlap with the southeast leg of the Silver Line.

Agreed, a spur line would be a much better alternative than having to transfer between trains. But my original point was that right now, they can set this up at next to no cost - it literally would cost them next to nothing - to develop the River District around a fictitious "rail trail." I disagree. The first problem with the Silver Line, is that there are too many scheduled stops, which lengthen the ride; express service would speed things along. Secondly, the other thing that would urge ridership are the parking issues associated with Uptown.

I respectfully disagree; they could easily run a line from the Airport down to the River District; the cost would be very minimal - as the land is not yet developed right now. Riders would hop on at the River District, and transfer onto the Silver Line at the Airport. The key here is simply to incorporate small easeways of land right now, as it's undeveloped; this would allow them the opportunity to run a future line in the future, at a minimal cost. Surely a light rail leg into the River District would be used far greater than Phase 3 of the Gold Line. I used to live in NY, and transfers between trains into Manhattan was done all of the time. But I am afraid none of this will happen. What will likely happen, is that the River District will get built out; the area will get quite congested; City leaders will say something to the effect of: "the roads can't keep up;" "we didn't anticipate the popularity of the River District;" "we need light rail to the River District, but the costs are prohibitive." From there, there will be a massive move to reconfigure the infrastructure within the River District, as is happening in Ballantyne right now.

This leaves me wondering; it would be a debacle of epic proportions if the City doesn't mandate that the plan revolves around future lightrail. The City built out the Gold Line, which many see as being wasteful, and many people are clamoring for lightrail around Ballantyne, as the roads there can't keep up. They talk about it being "human scale," instead of following the traditional automobile focused model, and this is good, but immediately preceding this statement, he talks about bike and greenway trails. Both are encouraging developments, but not to the neglect of lightrail - at the very least they should be allocating space for future lightrail, such that a future line could be installed effortlessly.