17 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

WSOC-TV, Channel 9 in Charlotte, NC,  3/20/17:

 

 

Huntersville leaders reject study for light rail

 

 

Huntersville leaders are opposed to spending more than $2 million to study alternative lines for light rail to Lake Norman.

 

Commissioners voted unanimously on a resolution in opposition to the request.

​More

[KevinKorell]

Charlotte, NC Observer, 10/9/17:

 

 

 

Fed up with I-77? CATS sets meetings on plan to reconsider light rail to Lake Norman

 

 

 

Fed up with Interstate 77? Here’s your chance to speak in support of a plan to revive light rail from Charlotte to Mooresville.

 

Beginning this month, Charlotte Area Transit System has scheduled six public meetings in Charlotte and the Lake Norman area about its plans to take “a fresh look” at the Red Line light rail proposal.

 

Details

[KevinKorell]

Editorial in Charlotte, NC Observer, 10/15/17:
 

 

Lake Norman’s phantom train teases believers

Forged in the imagination and powered by pixie dust, the Red Line glides reliably, as it has for two decades, on ribbons of steel from uptown Charlotte to the suburban hamlets of Lake Norman.

 

​

Editorial
 

[KevinKorell]

WCNC-TV, Channel 36 in Charlotte, NC, 2/12/19:

 

 

CATS: Bus system, not light rail or train, to connect Charlotte and Mooresville

 

 

On Tuesday, Charlotte Area Transit System officials announced they are shifting focus away from a proposed commuter train connecting Mooresville and Charlotte, and instead want to implement a bus transit system with stops along I-77. 

 

 

Update

[KevinKorell]

The threads for CATS in the Charlotte area have been reorganized.    Previous to today, there were items related to three future projects lumped into one thread.   They include:
 
LYNX Red Line (first proposed as Commuter Rail, then demoted to Light Rail, then demoted to Bus Rapid Transit, and then further demoted to a bus that happens to travel on a crowded freeway) which would run north from Uptown Charlotte to the Lake Norman area (including various terminus points in Huntersville, Mt. Mourne, and Mooresville)
LYNX Silver Line light rail (running southeast to west through Uptown Charlotte), and incorporating plans for a train to the plane to serve the International Airport.    Various articles mention a western endpoint of Belmont or Gastonia, and a southeastern endpoint of Matthews or Stallings.
Extension of existing LYNX Blue Line south from I-485/South Blvd. to Carolina Place Mall, Pineville, and/or Ballantyne.
 
Links to newly created threads above.

[KevinKorell]

WSOC-TV, Channel 9 in Charlotte, NC, 2/8/21:

 

 

   City hopes for fresh start for Red Line; Norfolk Southern says nothing has changed  

 

 

 

The city’s ambitious goal for a Transformational Mobility Network includes plans to run the light rail past the airport, down to Ballantyne and out to Matthews. But in a presentation to the Charlotte City Council Monday night, the city revealed the preference is for the Red Line to move along first. The Red Line is a long-proposed commuter rail from uptown to Iredell County.

 

Update

[KevinKorell]

Charlotte, NC Observer, 2/15/21:

 

 

    Increase the transit tax for Red Line to north Mecklenburg? Not so fast, skeptics say.  

 

 

If Charlotte is going to build a passenger train connecting uptown to towns like Mooresville, Davidson and Cornelius, it’s going to need the backing of people like Woody Washam.

 

Article

[CNJRoss]

RT&S, 3/16/21

 

Red Line is ‘never going to happen’ in N.C. so officials are against sales tax increase

 

 

The plan to expand transit in the city of Charlotte, N.C., and the surrounding areas may never make it off the drawing board.

 

Officials in the town of Huntersville voted unanimously for a resolution that rejects a Charlotte Moves task force recommendation for a one-cent sales tax increase to fund transit. The Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce also is against the idea.

 

Continue here.

[KevinKorell]

But remember, before the latest renewed interest in commuter rail on that corridor, planners had already given up on rail and were leaning towards some type of busway or at least enhanced bus service along I-77. (See Post #4 above, from just 2 years ago.)  Now that rail appears to be highly unlikely again, I would assume that focus will go back to a bus solution rather than abandoning any ideas of improved transit.

[KevinKorell]

WSOC-TV, Channel 9 in Charlotte, NC, 10/3/22:

 

 

 Charlotte leaders may spend $5 million on new plan for commuter line from Uptown to Mooresville    

 

 

Charlotte transportation leaders want to spend $5 million in taxpayer money to plot out a commuter rail line from Uptown to Mooresville.

 

Read