This is how drivers can make their best case for Rock Hill-to-Charlotte mass transit
Elected and transportation officials in York County see a need for mass transit to Charlotte, but area drivers may have the biggest voice -- if, when and where it happens.
Residents and commuters throughout Fort Mill, Rock Hill, Tega Cay and other communities that merge onto I-77 are now being asked what options they’d prefer. A new survey launched Thursday as part of Beyond 77, polling residents along the 68-mile interstate from Rock Hill to Statesville, N.C.
Beyond 77 began January 2020 and to date has more than 19,000 completed surveys. The first two phases focused on how people travel and geographic areas of greatest need in the interstate corridor. The final public input phase that launched Thursday asks for preferred transportation options.
“The goal is to go beyond the interstate,” said Agustin Rodriguez, project manager with the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization.
The new survey covers options from light and commuter rail to buses, bikes, electric scooters, autonomous vehicles, drones and even flying cars. It’s designed to find short-term (within five years) solutions, and envision challenges 30 years out. The survey asks about land use decisions as they impact traffic. Participants can rank whether a regional sales tax or vehicle registration fees, or perhaps property taxes, could pay for new transit options.
“You don’t have to do this all at once,” said Gene Conti, former federal transportation assistant secretary. “You have to do this step by step.”
Conti, who participated in the announcement Thursday of the new survey, said growth like that facing the Charlotte region creates challenges. Cities across the country grapple with those transportation challenges, he said, but partnership between road planners, municipalities and the private sector can overcome them.
”It creates a lot of opportunity for the region to work together and think together, and move together,” Conti said.
Others also focused on transit issue
Less than a week prior to Thursday’s announcement, mayors from Rock Hill, Fort Mill and Tega Cay joined other elected and road officials as part of the Rock Hill-Fort Mill Area Transportation Study policy committee. That group discussed the need for a transit corridor headed from Rock Hill to Charlotte. A monorail along I-77 came up as one solution.
Any new transit option would take regional cooperation. There are other groups like Beyond 77 with that aim: the 12-county CONNECT Beyond group has identified U.S. 21 and other potential high capacity transit corridors into York County; and the Charlotte MOVES task force has recommended new bus routes and light rail extension further south into Pineville, N.C.
“We are in lockstep with all of them,” said Adam Howell, consultant team project manager with Beyond 77.
Beyond 77 will host virtual public meetings at noon on April 21 and May 13. A virtual open house is available through May 15. Details on all those events are online at beyond77.com/events. A final report with transportation recommendations will come from the group this fall.
Preferences arise
The earlier surveys already show some trends.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which halted much of the interstate traffic flow, respondents’ top concerns were congestion during commutes, aggressive or distracted drivers, and special event traffic. During COVID, respondents switched somewhat to aggressive or distracted drivers, speeding and roadside hazards.
Surveys found 68% of respondents list light rail as their preferred alternative to driving the interstate.
“Light rail would be the first option,” Rodriguez said. “We’ll be prioritizing everything. We want to be fair to all the (transportation) modes.”
Beyond 77 is broken into zones.
The south zone covers an area south of the state line, including Fort Mill and Rock Hill. The initial survey found three-quarters of people in that zone aren’t satisfied with their travel on the interstate. About 59% support light rail, bus or other transit options. Light rail is the most listed form of supported mass transit.
Taxes, tolls, a by-mileage use fee and vehicle registration fees emerged as the preferred funding methods. More than 1,000 responses in the south zone indicated they would most likely use light rail, about three times the next response. The second-place response was that participants wouldn’t use any form of transit.
About 5,000 responses came from the Fort Mill and Rock Hill areas in the second phase of surveys.
Most trips are to work
While Charlotte offers restaurants and recreation opportunities, for many in York County the drive along I-77 means heading to and from work.
South Carolina workforce department data shows up to 40% of York County workers have jobs outside the county. Overwhelmingly they go into Mecklenburg County.
South Carolina Department of Transportation data shows 2019 traffic counts for I-77 at Carowinds and the North Carolina line of 176,000 daily vehicle trips.
Commutes to Charlotte have been a trend for decades in Fort Mill, Tega Cay and Rock Hill.
The conversation about mass transit extension into South Carolina has grown the past couple years since the announcement that the Carolina Panthers will build their headquarters in Rock Hill. That site is likely to bring Charlotte fans south, so much so that a new I-77 interchange leading to the headquarters already is approved at mile marker 81.
Everyone from Rock Hill and York County officials to South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster weighed in on the possibility of transit connections in the months leading up to and since the Panthers announcement.
“This would be a great thing to have it in South Carolina,” McMaster said at a Lancaster County event in March 2019. “To have the office and the other facilities that may be attracted to accompany (the Panthers site) including a medical facility, maybe even a convention center, retail. Of course, there’s always the possibility of light rail.”
In summer 2019 York County set out on a small area study to identify potential mass transit routes through Fort Mill and Rock Hill. Mayors of both those communities repeatedly expressed support in recent years for mass transit extension south from the state line.
This story was originally published April 1, 2021 at 2:25 PM with the headline "This is how drivers can make their best case for Rock Hill-to-Charlotte mass transit."
