Charlotte Mobility Plan Centers Improved Multimodal Options and Economic Mobility

Charlotte, North Carolina’s city council has approved a Strategic Mobility Plan that seeks to improve public transit options, reduce driving, eliminate traffic deaths, and increase economic mobility for public transit users. According to an article in Smart Cities Dive by Austyn Gaffney, “That effort follows a 2014 study out of Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley that ranked Charlotte last out of the nation’s 50 largest commuting zones for intergenerational, or economically upward, mobility.”

“[At-large city council member Braxton Winston] said the next step for community input would be identifying and prioritizing individual projects that address the plan’s goals.” Meanwhile, the city needs support at the state level to levy a new tax to support the plan, which does not yet have dedicated funding sources.

Alvaro Villagran, director of federal programs for the Shared-Use Mobility Center, “said the Charlotte program follows a general trend of cities moving away from a highway-oriented or street management perspective on transportation to an integration of shared mobility options like public transit, electric vehicles, cycling and pedestrian use.” The plan includes a goal of shifting to a 50-50 mode share, where half of trips or fewer are taken by single-occupancy vehicle. According to Villagran, “Instead of just disincentivizing cars, he said, communities need to make alternative modes of mobility realistic options for residents.”