Posted February 15, 200916 yr Charlotte has a nice beginners light rail line that runs north/south through Uptown and through the popular South End. There are lots of TOD in the South End area with apartments, condos, and retail going in like hotcakes within 1-3 blocks of the light rail line. A streetcar line is currently under construction that will run east/west through Uptown and into the Gateway District (west) and hospital area (east). Even though this is just under construction you can see the development already occuring along the line in anticipation. Enjoy. 1. Streetcar line construction...normally streetcar construction isn't this invasive, but this is part of an overall streetscaping project where they decided to gut the street and start from scratch. 2. 3. You can see the parallel tracks being formed here 4. 5. Further west along the same street where the tracks are already in place. 6. 7. 8. Welcome to Uptown where we began our light rail bar hop at an Irish Pub. 9. Northern stop on the light rail line 10. This Reid's Grocery sits right on the stop and actually has outdoor seating where people eat, drink and relax by the light rail stop. 11. Nice lookin' wayfinding. I like the incorporation of the crown that is used all over the City of Charlotte (aka the Queen City). 12. 13. 14. Waiting to get on... 15. ...and getting on/off 16. On the train now 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. Sorry for the crappy quality of the next few. I took them through the window looking at the new TOD along the line in the South End. 22. 23. 24. 25. Time to get off and head to our next bar... 26. 27. Looking north back towards Uptown 28. Another new residential project with the train running by... 29. 30. Here's the next stop for drinks on our bar crawl. The weather was great so we hung around outside. 31. More South End development including an urban Lowes. 32. 33. 34. 35. Waiting to catch the train back north towards Uptown 36. 37. Here she comes... 38. 39. Uptown again 40. Convention center redevelopment site now known as Epicentre. 41. 42. Upscale bowling alley similar to Lucky Strikes 43. 44. Can't decide which one I like better, this one... 45. ...or this one 46. Hmmmm 47. Another grocery store in Uptown 48. Nice lookin' street level 49. Here's another one of the stops on the bar crawl. It was all downhill from here. 50. Fourth Ward area 51. 52. 53. So long from the CLT
February 15, 200916 yr great set. #45 is better. its sad to see this in a way. really shows how far a place like cincinnati or columbus is with regard to mass transit. even charlotte is doing it. bah!
February 15, 200916 yr Great shots Randy...Who's that idiot in the blue shirt and Reds cap who is in some of your pics? Looks to be following you around or something. Just to clarify..the Metroplois is the new Best Buy/Target just outside of Uptown. The Epicentre is the new development where the Strike City/Whiskey River/Howl are. #45 is classic
February 15, 200916 yr Just to clarify..the Metroplois is the new Best Buy/Target just outside of Uptown. The Epicentre is the new development where the Strike City/Whiskey River/Howl are. Cool...I fixed it.
February 15, 200916 yr wow -- it's all so fresh! i haven't been thru there in a long while, certainly not since light rail was around. very cool. i gotta hand it to them, they are certainly a poster child for doing tod correctly and densely. nice looking trains too. could you tell us where those station stops are? being we tend to rag on charlotte i had to laugh at the bland st station -- that wouldn't be the stop for that new urbanist development would it? :laugh:
February 15, 200916 yr Good shots, and the light rail seems to have good ridership. Quite an attractive area, overall. Edit: I vote for #45
February 15, 200916 yr I said it in another thread, and I'll say it again: if we don't watch out, Charlotte will pass us by in terms of having functional urban neighborhoods. They are doing a lot along their light rail lines. And while it isn't all picture perfect urbanism, they are moving in the right direction, while TOD in Cleveland languishes, and hasn't even started in the rest of the state.
February 16, 200916 yr Fantastic shots. It is great to see Charlotte embrace urban living so quickly. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
February 16, 200916 yr Excellent work! I hope Detroit's light rail will be as succesfull when it opens in 2012.
February 16, 200916 yr Randy, great photographs! The Charlotte Lynx is a great example of what Cincinnati needs and what can become a reality if we keep pushing for the streetcar! These are some of the best photos I've seen from you. 37 is nice and the reflections in 38 are great!
February 16, 200916 yr Great set. Really demonstrates how rail gives a city some flavor...and how far behind we are. [rant]This actually wouldn't be so bad if we went with a "Plan B" and made up for it, but we won't. The city still puts cars first and has not agressively installed a bike boulevard system or a widespread network of traffic calmed streets nor has it installed many free parking spots for scooters and motorcycles apart from Downtown to encourage alternatives to cars in several neighborhoods. The streetcar plan fell through so the city just threw up their hands and hasn't bothered to offer a serious alternative even though there are many as I have just mentioned.[/rant] Might just have to visit Charlotte to see what we could look like in a decade or two.
February 16, 200916 yr Thanks for the compliments. Here are a couple of my observations/thoughts about Charlotte's transit system. [*]The current light rail runs to slow and isn't wide-reaching enough to truly operate as a commuter service for many people. Through Uptown it almost operates more like a streetcar than light rail. [*]The streetcar line will cross the light rail line and provide a local circulator system between most of the attractions in center city Charlotte. Once this is done speeds should be increased on the light rail system to offer better time savings and real commuter benefits. The tourists will then migrate here instead of hanging around on the light rail line. [*]Once the light rail line is expanded it will really be great as the congestion gains will really be seen, but this initial starter system has done its job by introducing the area to light rail and getting a system started. They are currently working on a northern extension to the light rail line that will help tremendously.
February 16, 200916 yr My Dad lives in Dilworth not far from the light rail. It is a very attractive system. Nice cars. Quiet and smooth. Above post is correct that it is not wide reaching enough. I think it is just one line from the South to downtown. One note about the development is that it is beginning to stall due to the crisis... even in mid-construction. Charlotte is far from immune given its dependence on banking. There was a lot of speculative building going on.
February 16, 200916 yr ^You're right, that's one thing I meant to mention, but forgot to. The system is extremely quiet...I was actually surprised at how quietly the trains run. Dilworth is a great area too btw, http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,15683.0.html
February 24, 200916 yr I've seen lots of photo threads dedicated to the Blue Line, and ride by these developments on a regular basis, but this is probably the best photo shoot dedicated to the line that I've seen yet. Kudos Uncle Rando!
February 26, 200916 yr I'll also note the one BIG difference between Charlotte and Cincinnati is how Uptown (Downtown) is perceived. People in Charlotte are very proud of Uptown..probably too proud, because while nice, it ain't that great, but the attitude towards Uptown is overly positive. Homes are often advertised by their distance to Uptown and as such there is real demand for Uptown and Uptown near living, which although probably on pause for a while, help contribute to development Uptown and nearby. Rarely is crime mentioned as an issue. Charlotte is also lucky to have some very very high income areas immediately to the south of Uptown which support restaurants, and business location and relocation to the core. It seems that conventional wisdom, while becoming more positive, still shows significant fear of downtown Cincinnati which is sad and mostly unfounded...but perception is reality I guess.
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