Gold Line service, construction woes taint views of Charlotte’s proposal to extend streetcar
Manuel “Manolo” Betancur says he’s conflicted about Charlotte’s streetcar extending down Central Avenue where he operates his business.
On one hand, the owner of Manolo’s Bakery hopes it will bring him new clients who are excited to support his minority-owned business. Betancur emigrated from Colombia and specializes in Latin American pastries.
On the other hand, he fears the transit extension will spur gentrification. Betancur still wants to be able to afford his space at the intersection of Central Avenue and Norland Road.
“It won’t help me when my landlord wants to bring my rent up,” Betancur told The Charlotte Observer.
The city of Charlotte this week approved nearly $4.3 million toward planning and design of an extension of the CityLYNX Gold Line, which could extend the existing streetcar line that goes down Trade Street through uptown.
The extension could add service from Hawthorne Lane to the old Eastland Mall along Central Avenue to the east side of uptown and from French Street to Rosa Parks Center along Beatties Ford Road to the northwest side of uptown.
If approved, the final project would stretch 10 miles through uptown Charlotte — connecting the city’s east and west sides. The extension proposes adding 20 stops to provide connectivity in neighborhoods such as Wesley Heights and Plaza Midwood.
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Four miles of the line are already in service, from French Street on Beatties Ford Road to Summit Avenue on Hawthorne Lane.
Talk about an extension years ago is part of the reason Scott Wishart moved his store, Lunchbox Records, so it wouldn’t be in the streetcar’s path. Where the streetcar line extends from Hawthorne onto Central Avenue just misses Wishart’s record shop.
Wishart said he saw years of construction create giant trenches on the roads in front of businesses in the Elizabeth Neighborhood for the first phases of the project. He’d rather see the streetcar money fund additional buses for the city’s fleet.
“I’m all for mass transit but I think this is the wrong way to go about it,” Wishart said. “They’re gonna crush a lot of people in the process.”
Carla Shine on Wednesday sat behind the counter at Lulia Market neighborhood store on Beatties Ford Road, selling cold waters and sodas to Lincoln Heights and Washington Heights residents seeking refuge from the heat.
The streetcar would be great for this part of Beatties Ford Road, Shine said. But she expects planning and construction to take years and be disruptive. So, she’s not too excited about it yet.
“I think it’s something folks would ride,” Shine said. “The buses, they run pretty regularly over here.”
Same level of service?
Councilman Larken Egleston said during Monday’s council meeting he was “ecstatic” when he first heard about the extension — one of the proposed stops is only a few hundred yards from his home.
But as he saw the first phases of the streetcar complete and service issues persist, he became more skeptical.
“If the same level of service comes to phase 3 as it did to phase 1 and 2, I would not use it regularly,” Egleston said.
In June alone, the Gold Line has run on a delay eight times, according to Charlotte Area Transportation System’s Twitter account. On May 26, the Gold Line operated with a bus between French Street and the Charlotte Transportation Center due to vehicles blocking its tracks.
Mayor Pro Tem Julie Eiselt shared concerns about service disruptions, including people illegally parking on the streetcar line. Eiselt was acting in place of Mayor Vi Lyles who was on vacation.
“We need to find ways to pick up speed along the corridor ... so that this corridor operates more like the Blue Line light rail rather than the operating characteristics where we’re operating within traffic,” CATS executive director John M. Lewis said in response to Eiselt.
Councilman Tariq Bokhari said it’s up to council to adjust and fix the “hand they were dealt with” with the streetcar design before voting “no.” Bokhari vowed to vote “no” on major CATS initiatives going forward until “structural problems with leadership” are fixed.
‘”We have an impressive track record of doing things in this community that don’t make sense and this really just fits right there in that spot,” Bokhari said.
In addition to this week’s vote, the City Council is expected to vote later on contract amendments with AECOM Technical Services of North Carolina, the firm it selected, to complete design of Gold Line phase 3.
Plaza Midwood resident Leanne Smith said she would probably ride a streetcar if it ran through Central Avenue, but she doesn’t think the neighborhood would enjoy the construction in addition to pre-existing traffic.
Roy Blakeney Jr. said a streetcar with connectivity across the city is something he would use regularly. He’s lived off Beatties Ford Road for decades and claims to know anyone and everyone that lives nearby.
“We need something like that here,” Blakeney said.
This story was originally published June 16, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
