Lessons on SunRail (and Jax) come from Charlotte, N.C.

[thelakelander]

To plan correctly, it doesn't hurt to familiarize yourself with the experiences of those ahead of you.

Lessons on SunRail come from Charlotte, N.C.

City's train a success -- but pitfalls abound



By Dan Tracy
Orlando Sentinel
December 19, 2009

The train known as the Lynx Blue Line has been running in the uptown district here for two years, already having ferried 10 million passengers. That's 50 percent more than anticipated. Supporters say the rail system already has spurred $1.4 billion worth of actual or planned development within a half-mile of its almost 10-mile-long path. Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx calls the $462.7 million system critical to the city's growth and a "bold step.... You're building it for yourselves but also for future generations."

Rider Michael Jones, a 50-year-old cook, is more low-key with his praise but says, "It's good. I have no problem with it."

Could Charlotte's apparent success be repeated in Central Florida? Metro Orlando, after all, is about to embark on its own train system that could be operating by late 2012.

Charlotte falls short of an exact comparison because Orlando's engine and cars would be much larger, the cost would be more than twice as much at $1.2 billion and the length of the line is expected to be six times longer. But the goal remains the same: moving passengers along a fixed set of steel tracks.

And here is Charlotte's free advice for Central Florida: Get ready for a bumpy ride, at least initially.

Charlotte has endured cost overruns, schedule delays and, less than three weeks before the Blue Line opened, a vote to repeal the half-penny sales tax that underwrites 42 percent of the operation.

"You guys are crazy," was the reaction of many residents to the concept that would become the Blue Line, recalled Jennifer Roberts, chairman of the Mecklenburg County Commission. Charlotte is the county seat of Mecklenburg.

Polls initially showed that the repeal vote would be close. Tax proponents argued that the city's 300-bus fleet would be gutted and property taxes likely raised if the levy committed to transportation was taken away.

Supporters of the repeal argued that the city and county could not afford the train system or the ambitious expansion plans of the Charlotte Area Transit System, or CATS, which operates the Blue Line. They also said the gloom offered by supporters was vastly overstated.

"It [the repeal] was the last recourse," said Jeff A. Taylor, a frequent critic of the area's government and a contributing editor to the John Locke Foundation of Raleigh, N.C., which he describes as a think tank dedicated to the free market.

In the end, though, the tax was upheld by a 70 percent-to-30 percent margin, which surprised both sides.

As for the future, CATS hopes to expand the Blue Line an additional 11 miles to the northeast, on to the campus of the University of North Carolina- Charlotte; build a commuter train similar to the one planned for Orlando to a string of communities to the north; plus run a streetcar line to the east and west of uptown.

But the half-penny, thanks to the recession, is not generating nearly enough cash for those plans. In fact, after growing almost unabated from its inception in 1999, revenue dropped this year and probably will again next year, going from a high of $71 million to $61 million. An additional $1 million decrease is likely next year.

CATS officials have pushed back their expansion plans and acknowledge a tax increase could be needed to move forward. But that, they say, is not a discussion they intend to have anytime soon.

"I don't think it's appropriate right now for us to do more than what we are," Foxx said.

It is much easier, they concede, to talk about what they have done.

In the beginning, residents in the city of nearly 700,000 were skeptical about mass transit, said Roberts, who was born and raised in the area. Like Orlando and many Sun Belt cities, people were used to driving their cars and trucks. They might take a bus on occasion, but that was about it.

"For local folks, it took a real leap of faith," Roberts said.

The key was passing the half-penny tax in 1998. Astonished by an unprecedented spate of growth starting in the 1980s, Charlotte's leaders decided they could not keep up with new development simply by building and widening roads. They figured they needed an alternative. Their answer became light rail and more buses. The tax passed with 58 percent of the vote.

Then they pursued federal funding. Some of it, Central Florida officials contend, came to Charlotte from Orlando, which was seeking $228 million from the federal government to build a light-rail system from downtown to International Drive. The Orlando effort died in 1999, and the federal government eventually granted Charlotte almost $200 million for the Blue Line, which runs north and south.

Originally, the Blue Line was expected to cost about $220 million â€" but that number turned out to be less than half the final cost.

The initial estimate did not take inflation into account or the cost of adding four expensive bridges that took the train over busy roads, rather than crossing them at the surface level and causing traffic jams. That work added months to the construction phase.

The city also decided to spend $50 million on sidewalks, decorative fencing, lighting and landscaping along the route, which cuts through some industrial and commercial strips to the south before moving into the city core.

Developers since have added several large apartment complexes, as well as cleared out abandoned warehouses and old textile mills in anticipation of building shops, restaurants, office space and more apartments.

So far, officials say, $288 million worth of construction has been completed, with $522 million under way and $642 million planned. That work generates almost $19 million annually in property taxes to the city and county.

Tina Votaw, a CATS administrator who works with developers, said the Blue Line attracts new buildings but is not the sole reason for them.

"It's real-estate development," she said. "It has to happen on its own. It [the Blue Line] will create excitement and energy, but you still have to find the financing. The numbers have to work. You have to sell it."

Tim Dison, site-development manager for Crescent Resources of Charlotte, said his company built a $68 million, 360-unit complex next to one of the Blue Line's 15 stops because renters like using the system to get to work or entertainment uptown.

"Now that light rail is here, we have an advantage over all the other [apartment] properties," said Dison, who refers to the Blue Line as "our $500 million amenity that we allow other people to use."

Among those who regularly ride that amenity is Tara Chaplin, a 39-year-old mail clerk who lives northwest of the city. The train has shortened her commute by at least 45 minutes a day because it runs much more frequently than the buses she had to rely solely upon before.

"I really, really enjoy it," she said of the Blue Line. "It's very convenient."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/os-rail-charlotte-20091219,0,5887920.story

[vicupstate]

Gastonia is pursuing funding for a commuter line from their city to central Charlotte as well.

[CS Foltz]

Obvious to me...........if you build it, they will come! Gotta fund it though and give it a fighting chance to stand on its own which it could if its done right!

[vicupstate]

As part of the High-Speed rail funding that was announced last week, Charlotte received $100mm to fund several rail upgrades out of a total of $545 to be used statewide.

City wins fast-train funds
$100 million stimulus grant will reshape rail corridor uptown, spur freight, officials announce Friday.
By Mark Johnson
Mjohnson@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Saturday, Feb. 06, 2010

RALEIGH

Federal railroad officials plan to spend more than $100 million to create a railroad superhighway through Charlotte. The money will build a bridge and redesign tracks uptown, clearing the way for both high-speed passenger rail and a future CATS commuter rail line. Plus, it will uncork the path for freight trains.

"It's a win, win, win," said Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, "not only for Charlotte but the entire state."

The grant comes from stimulus money approved by Congress to start building a national high-speed passenger rail network.

The projects are part of a broader effort to expand to accommodate faster and more frequent trains between Charlotte and Raleigh.

They include buying real estate for a future high-speed rail maintenance shop on the south side of Bank of America Stadium.

State officials are unsure when construction will begin.

The funding is part of a half-billion-dollar high-speed rail grant to North Carolina announced last week that also includes money to add a second line of track between Charlotte and Greensboro, speeding up both passenger and freight service.

"These are leading-edge projects that are planning for the future," said Patrick Simmons, director of the state's rail division.

The overall pot of $545 million will pay to straighten curved tracks, add double tracks and build bridges to separate train and automobile traffic at points across the state. By 2015, officials plan to raise top train speeds from the current 79 mph to 90 mph. The federal money will also pay to upgrade stations and expand the state's fleet of locomotives and rail cars, including an additional daily train between Raleigh and Charlotte.

Simmons identified the uptown Charlotte project on Friday. State officials had refrained from highlighting the specific projects to be funded, as they are still clarifying details of the grant with officials in Washington.

The $100 million-plus will pay to untie a knot of intersecting tracks underneath the Brookshire Freeway, next to the ADM mill at 10th and Smith streets. Norfolk Southern's north-south lines intersect with CSX's east-west tracks, creating the railroad version of a congested four-way stop. Trains have to wait for each other before going through, burning up fuel and time.

The federal money will pay to lower the east-west tracks across town, including at that big intersection, so those trains travel through a trench. The plans also call for building a bridge over the trench for the north-south tracks at the current four-way-stop. That will keep trains moving constantly in both directions, but it also:

Modernizes north-south tracks so they can carry high speed trains.

Allows space on the proposed bridge for a future CATS light-rail line.

Clears up train traffic so freight trains can easily reach a planned transportation center next to the airport where freight will be transferred between trains and trucks.

Foxx described the changes funded by the federal grant as laying a foundation for a transportation system that will allow business and the region as a whole to expand.

"The synergies between this high-speed rail investment and the intermodal project out at our airport are positioning our city and our state very well for economic growth," he said, "which is exactly what we need right now."

Ronnie Bryant, president of the Charlotte Regional Partnership economic development group, said the train expansion helps both environmentally, by providing alternatives to driving, and economically, by improving the flow of people and goods through the area.

"This is a definite shot in the arm for us," Bryant said. "From a regional perspective it helps us continue to develop our public transportation arteries."

The state has bought some pieces of land and now will have the money to finish acquisitions for a "gateway" station to be built between the stadium and Brookshire Freeway. It would serve as a hub for CATS and Greyhound buses, light rail, uptown trolley and future high-speed trains.

The state also can finish land purchases for a maintenance shop for the high-speed locomotives across the railroad track from Charlotte Pipe and Foundry, south of the stadium and west of Mint Street.

Simmons described the projects as "a great first step forward."

[tufsu1]

Obvious to me...........if you build it, they will come! Gotta fund it though and give it a fighting chance to stand on its own which it could if its done right!

did you notice that this was done by a sales tax increase...would you favor that here in Jax?

[urbanlibertarian]

^^Maybe when the BJP bonds get paid off.

[JeffreyS]

Obvious to me...........if you build it, they will come! Gotta fund it though and give it a fighting chance to stand on its own which it could if its done right!

did you notice that this was done by a sales tax increase...would you favor that here in Jax?

Hell Yes!!

and might I add
Steetcar NOW!

[simms3]

Atlanta sales taxes are 9% permanently.  If I came to Jax and they were "only" 8% but paid for rail or other improvements, then no I would not mind!  Keep in mind in FL we do not pay state income taxes and almost all other taxes we pay are already lower than what other places pay, including other metros in FL.  You can see a difference in the results just looking at the aesthetics of our city.