South Light Rail Transit

[dubone]

Yeah, after thinking about it a few days, "Lynx" has grown on me. Once the rest of the branding is done, it will be even better.

You can't go wrong with words with Xs.

[dubone]

http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte.../27/focus5.html

There isn't much new, but it describes what kinds of finishes were 'value engineered' out of the stations. Check this out, though: galvanized steel instead of stainless steel! Um, I sure the took aesthetics into account at least a little.

On the positive side, city council is now adding the pedestrian bridge over 277 along the tracks as part of the South Corridor Improvement Project. Nancy Carter was good to challenge what else was going to be cut to fit that million bucks. Sadly, they are cutting some roadway improvements around Archdale station.

[atlrvr]

Great.....they give me back my pedestrian bridge and take away from the station area I'm investing in.....oh well, I'll be quite happy with my bridge.

[dubone]

Just for fun, I'll repeat why I would have preferred the Archdale area improvements over this pedestrian bridge. When it was first proposed, it would have been the only pedestrian crossing of 277 from Church Street to McDowell Street (7 blocks).

Now, the 277/South/Brevard/Caldwell interchange will be rebuilt with significant pedestrian infrastructure as part of the Nascar Hall of Fame. Even if we lose the NHOF, the redesign is basically a profitable venture, so would likely be done anyway.

That means that on both the east and west of this bridge, there will be a pedestrian crossing of 277. For almost every walking route, South Blvd Bridge and Church Street Bridge will be more efficient. That is because the convention center cannot be passed through on the track alignment. So after you cross the million dollar bridge, you must then go down some stairs, and then take Stonewall to Church or Brevard. They could have spent next to nothing widening the sidewalks on Church Street bridge.

I'm for the pedestrian bridge in general, but I don't agree that it should take priority over correcting Old Pineville's doglegging near Archdale.

[reverbandwhiskey]

That Pedestrian bridge is a vital link for cyclists commuting into uptown. I am glad it was saved!

Actually I don't see where the 277 bridge was saved. Does anyone have a link to that story?

[orulz]

I'm for the pedestrian bridge in general, but I don't agree that it should take priority over correcting Old Pineville's doglegging near Archdale.

So do you mean that they nixed the connection of Old Pineville Road to England Street through the shoping center parking lot, in favor of the pedestrian bridge? That would be a pretty tough call to make.

[atlrvr]

That connection would be at Arrowood though, so I'm not sure that is what was cut out around the Archdale station.

As far as College, vs. LRT brigde, vs, Caldwell/South.

College is a death trap since you have cars entering the one-way connector from Tryon at a high rate of speed, and making a turn around corner, a pedestrian cannot often see a motorist coming until they are less than 5 seconds away....this problem will increase as those blocks at Morehead and College are redeveloped. Also, the sidewalks along College are only 5' sidewalks....making it difficult to pass people, and making whoever is closer to the street very uncomortable.

It would be impossible to widen College with available funds, since SCIP doesn't recognize College as a need.

Caldwell/South doesn't make sense because there is no pedestrian connection to Morehead, so anyone located along Morehead would have to walk south down Caldwell, west on Lexington, to even get to the connection, which is a block in the wrong direction. Also, South Blvd, no matter how it is redesigned is going to be a high-traffic volume street, with interstate interchanges to deal with, low-speed or not.

Lastly, the LRT bridge is a continuation of an estabilished pedestrian/bike trail that already extends several miles along the corridor. It has minimal street crossings, and is the logical choice for anyone NOT in a car to travel north/south. Why would this person need to climb stairs or the long ramp at Summt Grandview, and either cross a very dangerous intersection (College) or backtrack and then use a high volume street (South) to get across I-277.

Once across, the Westin has elevators and stairs to access street level with nice wide sidewalks, and much more manageable intersections.

[MZT]

Win some, lose some. Archdale will be my closest station. What road improvements were eliminated? [i suppse it's not that big a deal, I have to cross South Blvd already to use CATS.] I think the posters above may be right -- the bigger cost savings are coming from dropping road alignments near the Arrowood station.

[orulz]

Win some, lose some. Archdale will be my closest station. What road improvements were eliminated? [i suppse it's not that big a deal, I have to cross South Blvd already to use CATS.] I think the posters above may be right -- the bigger cost savings are coming from dropping road alignments near the Arrowood station.

So it's true that this realignment has been dropped? I was just asking, and I don't think anyone's given a clear answer about that yet. This seems like a very important piece of the SCIP, and it would be a shame to lose it.

[dubone]

The connector of OP Rd to England St is almost certainly cut based on a conversation I had with a city engineer a number of months ago. That connector is expensive and lower on the list. With all the budget issues i'm sure it is cut. That is why I used it as an example for the trade off. But since it is at Arrowwood it might be an error that it really was the actual fiscal trade off.

[dubone]

It is all academic at this point because you guys got your bridge. It is unlike me to be arguing against spending money on infrastructure in the CBD. But I an convinced that when all is said and done more bikers and walkers will choose College or Tryon. I do when I walk between Dilworth and Tryon. Reverb, do you ever take the current rail bridge by bike? I can't imagine people carrying their bike down to flights of stairs just to avoid an intersection with cars.

[atlrvr]

Speaking of cuts from the LRT line, did the artwork at 7th street called the Watchtower get the axe? It was a pretty cool abstract metal tree with directional arrows/branches and bench seating around the trunk. It was my favorite piece of art. I know that my wife is livid that we are getting MORE spools of thread at Trade St.

[reverbandwhiskey]

"Reverb, do you ever take the current rail bridge by bike? I can't imagine people carrying their bike down to flights of stairs just to avoid an intersection with cars."

Yes I do! I do not know about any stairs. Once you cross over the bridge there is a sloped walkway to the south of the Westin building. That is what cyclists use to get into uptown.

Although, when on a mountain bike, I will often just ride through the Convention Center tunnel.

[dubone]

I'm going to walk over tonight. I never have seen that ramp between the deck and 277 and believed the only way to stonewall was the staircase and elevator at the northeast corner of the Westin. Maybe i'll change my tune.

[monsoon]

Due to the high amount of developer interest around the Scalybark and Archdale stations, developers have proposed that CATS considering adding another station in this vicinity of the rail line. I don't see where they could get the money at this point to do this unless they hold off on one of the other stations. Maybe one of the downtown stations could be eliminated to accomidate this request.

At the moment the other station that is seeing TOD activity is around the New Bern station. The problem with this area however is that high prices have already thrown some cold water on this area.

[dubone]

Where would anyone even need another station? Most of the available land between Scaleybark Station and New Bern Station is CATS' Vehicle Maintenance Facility. There isn't much land for TOD outside of what would be sufficiently covered by the planned stations.

[skylinedrive]

At the moment the other station that is seeing TOD activity is around the New Bern station. The problem with this area however is that high prices have already thrown some cold water on this area.

Are you saying that the HHH and Citiline developments that are going to bring 800 residential units adjacent to the New Bern station have been cancelled?

[skylinedrive]

Anyone that is interested in reading the full minutes that monsoon has cut and pasted from can read them here:

http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/CATS/M...TC+Meetings.htm

The minutes are updated one month after that actual meeting when they are approved by the MTC. If you would like to get information that is not already one month old you can attend the MTC meetings on the 4th Wednesday of each month in Room 267 of the Government Center.

[monsoon]

Anyone that is interested in reading the full minutes that monsoon has cut and pasted from can read them here:

http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/CATS/M...TC+Meetings.htm

The minutes are updated one month after that actual meeting when they are approved by the MTC. If you would like to get information that is not already one month old you can attend the MTC meetings on the 4th Wednesday of each month in Room 267 of the Government Center.

Well thanks for re-posting the link that is already in the header of this topic. However I did not get that from those meeting minutes. Next time you might want to check with me first. I will be glad to discuss it as much as you like.

[dubone]

Oh, ok. Now that makes a little bit more sense. The MTC minutes as saying that the developers are proposing this new station, so I interpret they would are proposing to privately fund the station. Everyone knows that there isn't any more public money, so developers would be unlikely to even attempt to ask for a new publicly funded station.

One spot that I have always been surprised didn't get a station is the section between Remount and Tremont. The minutes don't really address what area the station is proposed, but it seems like there could be a lot of money to be made in that area, but the current Tremont Station and planned New Bern Station won't likely spur that area as much. It is in South End, so the train will already be going slowly, and an extra stop won't likely be a large impact on the schedule.

I love that they are seeing great interest in the Scaleybark TOD RFP.

[monsoon]

Are you saying that the HHH and Citiline developments that are going to bring 800 residential units adjacent to the New Bern station have been cancelled?

No, I don't see how you got that from the comment I made.

[monsoon]

Where would anyone even need another station? Most of the available land between Scaleybark Station and New Bern Station is CATS' Vehicle Maintenance Facility. There isn't much land for TOD outside of what would be sufficiently covered by the planned stations.

The new station would be located between Scaleybark and Archdale. The land there is much less expensive and there is more of it there for significant new development. The problem is there are not enough stations to take advantage of this land. I have driven this route several times myself there is a lot of land waiting to be re-developed into something more useful, but they are not within walking distance of a station but are close to the line itself.

[MZT]

I'd like to see the stations left as is. The trains will already get noticably slower in south end and uptown with the current plans.

[monsoon]

Yeah, that is a compromise they had to make since the trains are not running in their own ROW at that point. Maybe future trains in CLT won't have as much of a problem. There is an upcoming public meeting/workshop in Derita in March on the subject of transit system grade crossings. It's focused on the North line since it is still under design.

[dubone]

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcn...s.7a1e7013.html

I think it is so funy that businesses are complaining about the inconvenience of construction. Once the Scaleybark improvements are done in a couple months I'm certain that business will be much higher than they were before. They will now actually be on the main South Blvd roadway then. Also, by being on a LRT station, I'm sure there will be even more money to be made then. This community is so funny how it reports every possible angle of a negative story on transit.