Metro Areas and Transit: Charlotte and More

August 8, 2008
Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC

Metro Areas and Transit: Charlotte and More:
America’s major metro regions may be on the verge of transit independence. They tap federal aid when they can but increasingly find money for system expansion right at home. They’re learning to get cities and suburbs on the same page as they prepare for he post-petroleum era.While Atlanta and Detroit seem stalemated, look what’s happening elsewhere:
Houston has decided to move ahead with building an integrated five-corridor light rail system. Denver continues to construct its ambitious 119 mile 4.7 billion FasTracks system of light rail that voters decided, 58 percent to 42 percent in 2004. Charlotte is celebrating 13,000 passengers-a-day patronage, 4000 ahead of projections on the first corridor of its Lynx rail system launched last November. The Seattle region’s Sound Transit Board has just voted unanimously to put a 15 year mass transit package, including bus, commuter rail and a 53 mile regional light rail system on this November’s ballot.This December, Phoenix opens a 20 mile light rail link from its downtown to neighboring Tempe and Mesa…and so it goes across the US…check Dallas, Salt Lake City, Sacramento, Washington, Portland, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Norfolk and more. In amazing numbers, rail transit systems are either experiencing record ridership or expanding or both.And right now there is a serious impediment: fuel bills, budget shortfalls, and about a fifth have been obliged to cut back service…and another, fast-rising construction costs for new lines.But the future path of metro rail systems in America is unquestionably upward, triggered by congestion, spiraling gas prices and citizen demand.

Lynnsy Logue The Real Estate Lady and Condo CanDo in Charlotte, NC