The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) would like to add an ambitious, expensive project to its capital investment plans, but funding the project is more daunting than the last time the system expanded.
"Charlotte City Council is expected to decide Monday whether to take the first step toward the region’s largest infrastructure project, a 26-mile light rail line running from Matthews to Belmont in Gaston County," reports Bruce Henderson.
"The council’s approval of a $50 million contract to start preliminary work on the Silver Line would merely dip a toe in deep water," adds Henderson. The project, when complete, is estimated to reach a cost of $6 billion to $8 billion, with a completion date of 2030.
According to Henderson, the current state of federal politics makes funding for public transit a much more challenging proposition, further complicating the prospects for the project.
"[Charlotte Area Transit System Chief Executive Ron] Tober expects CATS will get federal and state grants to cover 40% to 50% of the Silver Line’s costs," according to Henderson. "But CATS also has new options to raise local financing, he added, including some that didn’t exist two decades ago," like a new half-cent sales tax, tax increment financing, regional partnerships, and public-private partnerships.
FULL STORY: A ‘daunting’ billion-dollar puzzle. New Charlotte light rail funding faces debate.
Charlotte Transit Agency Calls for New Sales Tax To Improve Service
The agency's CEO says the system needs more funding to make service improvements and make the shift to an electrified fleet.
Scrutiny for Charlotte Silver Line Light Rail Plan
Cost and economic development considerations supersede mobility considerations in the planning for Charlotte's planned light rail line.
Sound Transit's Lynwood Link Gets the Federal Funding it Was Waiting For
A great sigh of relief from transit planners in the Pacific Northwest (and probably the rest of the country as well).
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
Guerilla urbanists are building DIY bus stop benches in Chicago
A before-and-after of one of the bus stops with a new bench. The new benches are not officially sanctioned or permitted, but the residents who placed them hope they will be the start of a network of DIY benches across the city.
Mamdani overhauls NYC's Vision Zero plan with 100 new policy goals
The overhaul aims to reduce traffic deaths and make streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers through lower speed limits, new safety infrastructure and more.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association