Light rail to Ballantyne? 3 stations proposed for Blue Line extension to redevelopment site
Three potential light rail stations would be part of a proposed extension of the Blue Line light rail corridor to Ballantyne, which is poised for a 12-year makeover.
The massive redevelopment project, which will add new homes, office and retail space, a public amphitheater and street improvements, is expected to cost taxpayers $42.5 million for infrastructure improvements. Private investment is expected to total $1.5 billion.
Transportation plans for the area include new toll lanes on Interstate 485, the potential widening of U.S. 521, two new east-west roads and street improvements that will include 6 miles of bike lanes, Charlotte’s economic development director, Tracy Dodson, told City Council on Monday.
Also included is preservation of a 120-foot right-of-way, including three stations, for potential extension of the Blue Line. The line now ends at I-485.
The Charlotte Area Transit System recommended in a study last June that CATS extend the Blue Line 5.5 miles to the major employment centers of Ballantyne Corporate Park and Pineville’s Carolina Place Mall.
The Metropolitan Transit Commission, CATS’ policy board, approved the recommendations last September. Funding for the extension hasn’t been identified.
Ballantyne, developed in 1994, employs 17,000 people in its 535-acre corporate park. Redevelopment by Northwood Investors, the park’s owner, would add more than 7,000 new jobs.
Among them are expected to be 940 retail and hospitality workers, many of whom would be expected to need transit to reach their jobs. Getting those new hires to work is part of a larger conversation about mobility in the city and increasing transit accessibility, Dodson said.
At-large council member Braxton Winston said the Blue Line extension merits further council conversation and a timeline. “With all the development coming, we need a plan to connect transit with it,” he said at Monday’s meeting.
Former Mayor Harvey Gantt will chair a new mobility task force that will hold its first meeting Thursday. The panel is charged with advising the city on a new plan to update vehicle, pedestrian, bicycle, transit and safety plans, and sets mobility goals for the city and region.
City Council approved a $50 million contract in November to begin work on the 26-mile Silver Line light rail project, which would connect Matthews with the Gaston County town of Belmont. The Silver Line is the largest of a suite of transit projects CATS wants to build by 2030, at an estimated cost of $6 billion to $8 billion.
This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 2:21 PM.