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South Light Rail Transit

monsoon

By monsoon
in Charlotte

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Hotlanta Hamlet

Hotlanta

Posted
Posted

wow, that's fast! I know when I visit Charlotte, I will definetley ride the light rail train. The thing Charlotte needs to work on is if they get the Nascar HOF, then they have to come up with a way to entice tourists to ride it also.

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SmellyCat Burg

SmellyCat

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In time, as these people move to Charlotte....and they are moving from small (900-2000 sq ft) Manhattan apartments

If you think that's small for Manhattan, I moved from a 270 sq ft. one bedroom apartment on the upper east side which I somehow lived in for 6 years. I swear it (no one believes me when I tell them).

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Lady Celeste Burg

Lady Celeste

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If you think that's small for Manhattan, I moved from a 270 sq ft. one bedroom apartment on the upper east side which I somehow lived in for 6 years. I swear it (no one believes me when I tell them).

Ummmmmm, that's not even a closet. How did you survive? I am familiar with the upper eastside though. Some may not like the area because it's more quiet than your typical Manhattan neighborhood but I like it and it's close to Central Park and fine shopping.....

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SmellyCat Burg

SmellyCat

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Ummmmmm, that's not even a closet. How did you survive? I am familiar with the upper eastside though. Some may not like the area because it's more quiet than your typical Manhattan neighborhood but I like it and it's close to Central Park and fine shopping.....

Pretty simple. You learn to live vertically and efficiently. And the good thing is that it does prevent you from buying a lot of unnecessary crap. However, it can be a drag when you have to rearrange the furniture in your apartment in order to make room for a pair of socks you just bought. :P

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dubone Megalopolis

dubone

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CATS is planning to have a test vehicle delivered this summer (2006) in order to begin testing. This would say that significant portions of the track will be ready by then.

The test track will be between Scaleybark and New Bern and possibly north to Tremont.

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dubone Megalopolis

dubone

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I really love the Scaleybark plans. I think that CATS and the city solved a number of problems in the area by runnng southbound South Blvd on the west side of the tracks. Not only can they fix some of the screwy intersections, especially Clanton, but they also solve some major safety issues. The lanes through that section are very narrow, and they often have standing water when it rains. It will also help the success of the fully leased shopping center, hopefully preventing it from being as troubled as much of the other retail in the area.

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Sabaidee Hamlet

Sabaidee

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^^^One of the things that also helped solve South Blvd's problems is that NCDOT has given its control of South Blvd to the City. So South Blvd from Woodlawn to Stonewall is all City-owned. Now the City can freely redesign those intersections without NCDOT. Unfortunely due to rising cost of construction, CATS might have to eliminate redoing the LRT bridge over I-277, meaning it won't have sidewalks or that signature look in the renderings.

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MZT Burg

MZT

Posted
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CATS is still trying to find a way to preserve the pedestrian crossing over 277... Moving money around in the budget, between the infrastructure program and the rail side. And maybe the city can come up with some more, from the sale of the old Coliseum site.

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monsoon Gigalopolis

monsoon

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Some Updates:

  • Completion Date for the line is now August 2007 due to a slight delay needed to reduce costs of the station finishing contract. This is the final contract to be awarded for the LRT construction. I'm not exactly sure what this date means as the scheduled completion was earlier stated to be December 31, 2007. The schedule could be dependent upon changes to the Convention Center needed for light rail the the City, not CATS, is taking car of. CATS will be contributing about $9M to that project. Seems to me the Trolley was delayed due to similar external projects handled by the City.

  • Difficulties with the unresponsiveness of Norfolk Southern is causing problems with schedule recovery. (completion was to be 2008) No surprise here. The freight railroads are more of a problem in these processes than a help.

  • As mentioned elsewhere the Trolley service will stop on Feb 6, 2006 so that construction can begin on the South End/Downtown portions of the light rail project. One wonders if they will actually be able to bring it back online once the LRT is operating. My guess is the end result is going to surprise some people.

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MZT Burg

MZT

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Although I dread bringing up that wiring and voltage discussion again, I wonder if the construction plans are flexible enough they can run the trolleys a little farther down the line if there was interest. Maybe as far as Scaleybark, since it is a signature station.

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dubone Megalopolis

dubone

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Yes, the trolley will use LRT's wires and tracks so theoretically it could run all the way to 485. The problem will be coordination, and interest.

I think I would much prefer CATS to run the trolley to NoDa. If they do it right, they could reuse the infrastructure as part of the eventual LRT extension to NoDa, and maybe even get credit for the spending to count towards the local portion of the future extension. But it will then connect Historic SouthEnd, Uptown, and Historic North Charlotte/NoDa. Tourists could then use it to view the galleries, old mills, and shopping in both districts.

Also, I don't believe I have ever seen 12/31/07 as the end date. For a long time, it was supposed to be 12/31/06, and then that crept out to Spring 07 during budget cuts when we got funding. The summer 07 date they now say came up last month when the uptown station contractor gave a much lower bid with a longer timeline.

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monsoon Gigalopolis

monsoon

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Also, I don't believe I have ever seen 12/31/07 as the end date. For a long time, it was supposed to be 12/31/06, and then that crept out to Spring 07 during budget cuts when we got funding. The summer 07 date they now say came up last month when the uptown station contractor gave a much lower bid with a longer timeline.

The 12/31/07 date is the stated date from David Leard, Project Manager for the S. LRT. He re-interated that date at the MTC in November. You can read it here.

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Mobuchu Burg

Mobuchu

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They are starting to put up some of the large girders. None of these were up yesterday I dont think.

Also, I spoke with a gentleman on the site, he said the big girders going over tyvola will not be put up until the week of the 30th.

Looking from north of tyvola.

01-13-06001.jpg

Renderings at the LRT public meeting showed parking lots underneath a couple of the sections closest to tyvola.

01-13-06002.jpg

01-13-06004.jpg

From behind Eckards

01-13-06007.jpg

01-13-06009.jpg

01-13-06013.jpg

01-13-06016.jpg

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