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Once among America's smartest regional transit schemes, Charlotte's commuter rail system could become the country's most convoluted. Now planned as disconnected segments, it would be woefully underused.
We must reevaluate the current plan in favor of a fully integrated transit system intended to allow people to move around the region freely, without their cars.
Two decades ago in studies for the city of Rock Hill, my firm recognized Charlotte has formed along five radial corridors and is ringed by cities about 20 miles out. Besides Rock Hill, these are Monroe, Concord-Kannapolis, Mooresville and Gastonia.
From national studies, we learned transit systems are most successful and can play a major role in shaping growth when they parallel major highways. With roads, they produce highly accessible corridors that attract big developments and large numbers of riders. Cities thrive on development along such corridors.
We worked with Mayor Richard Vinroot and succeeding leaders to devise a mass transit system patterned on Charlotte's hub-and-spoke layout. The plan imagined fixed-rail service along each corridor, with a central station facilitating transfers.
The hugely successful light rail between center city and Pineville is the first installment. Paralleling I-77 and South Boulevard, it has spawned development worth $1.9 billion. Land values between center city and Woodlawn Road, roughly half the route, jumped between six and 10 times between 1997 and 2007.
Though the south line offers hope for a regional system, current plans have made mincemeat of the initial vision. What went wrong?
Today's plan doesn't feature a single, central station. There will be two stations, on opposite sides of uptown - on East Trade and West Trade streets, eight blocks apart. Direct transfers will be impossible. Can you imagine walking eight blocks in rain for a connection?
Our existing line is planned to extend to the northeast through the UNC Charlotte campus. We also contemplate commuter rail north to Davidson. But these lines will not connect.
The north line will reach a dead end at the contemplated multi-modal transportation hub near West Trade and Graham streets. The Pineville-UNC Charlotte line will arrive at the Transportation Center on East Trade Street across from Time Warner Arena.
Proposed streetcar service through center city is wrongly touted as the solution to the two-station madness. How crazy is that? People will not climb aboard a streetcar and ride to another terminal. The streetcar may be viable, but not as a connector.
Neither the east line toward Monroe nor the west line toward the airport has been determined to be rail.
"Transit experts" say there is not enough airport ridership to qualify for federal rail funds. But they see each line as a separate segment, not part of a synergistic whole.
Their guidelines don't recognize our region's unique form and the opportunity it presents. Charlotte's first line from center city to Pineville works exceptionally well because it ignores federal guidelines in favor of development patterns.
The experts don't seem to understand what it would mean if people could board a rail system in any of five corridors, switch routes at the Transportation Center and end up at the airport - or Davidson or UNC Charlotte or Pineville. That would dramatically enhance ridership.
Our predicament exposes a major problem. American transportation planning is reactive rather than aiming for future improvement.
As now planned, our system will resemble Boston's, where a north transit station and a south terminal remain separate. It has deterred development and is regarded as a horrible mistake.
There's still time to avoid our impending train wreck. Needed are two elements: Fixed rail for each of the five corridors and a single center city terminus where all lines cross.
Obviously that involves adding and moving tracks, a huge expense. But we shouldn't spend another penny until we straighten out our plan.
Fortunately, we're coming to accept as a nation that we must get serious about infrastructure repairs and enhancements. People like to invest in good ideas. Charlotte could position itself for a healthy chunk of prospective federal infrastructure monies to help fashion the system we initially envisioned.
Somebody needs to tackle a major transit fix right now.
