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Local leaders from Charlotte to Atlanta agreed Wednesday to lobby for high-speed rail between the two cities and replacement of the Interstate 85 bridge over the Yadkin River as part of joint planning on a “megaregion” scale.
Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin co-hosted the two days of meetings by government, planning and business leaders. They represented part of the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion, a fast-growing, urban corridor along Interstate 85/20 from Raleigh to Birmingham, Ala.
Because it shares water supplies, highways and energy sources, the Charlotte-to-Atlanta slice of the megaregion shares more similarities than differences, experts say.
“We're linked that way. Why can't we start planning that way?” said participant Catherine Ross, director of the Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development at Georgia Tech. Her new book, “Megaregions: Planning for Global Competitiveness,” came out two weeks ago.
“We have to get beyond this idea that our competition is 90 miles away,” Ross said.
The Charlotte meetings focused on energy, transportation and water uses. Water got the most talk time, participants said, because the Carolinas and Georgia are embroiled in lawsuits over water access.
Universities like Georgia Tech could supply the data and expertise needed to transcend state and local boundaries, Gastonia Mayor Jennie Stultz said.
The group plans to meet again in October, probably in the Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., area, to begin mapping a 25-year plan for the region.
“You can wait until the pain arrives and do it then – or you can get ahead of it and do it now,” McCrory said.
The Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion is among eight identified across the United States. Half the nation's population growth and two-thirds of its economic growth are expected to occur within those multi-state regions by 2050.
