Charlotte Light Rail

1
Charlotte Light Rail

• Presented to
• Regional Rail Steering Committee
• October 25, 2007

2
Overview of Charlotte, NC

• Population
• City of Charlotte 615,000
• Metro area 1.5 million
• 2nd Largest Financial Center in U.S.
• Bank of America Headquarters
• Wachovia Headquarters
• 15 million visitors per year
• NASCAR, Nextel Cup
• NBA, NFL

Counties most commonly associated with the
Charlotte Metro area are in dark red, counties
often included are light red, and counties
sometimes included are in orange. The NC/SC state
line is shown in yellow.
3
Charlotte Transit System

• Services
• Bus
• Paratransit
• Downtown Rail Trolley
• Service area of 320 sq miles
• Annual operating budget of 78,145,125 million
  in 2006.

4
Charlotte 2030 Transit Plan

• 5-corridor fixed guideway system
• Initial line Blue Line set to open in November
  2007
• Capital cost of Blue Line is 463 million

5
Track

• 9.6 miles
• Double track
• Mostly ballasted

6
Traffic Interface

• All dedicated or reserved right-of-way
• Mostly at-grade
• 5 new bridges
• Uses existing grade separations in the downtown
  area
• Gated at-grade crossings

7
Stations

• 15 stations
• - 8 walk-up and bus access
• - 7 park-and-ride
• - 3,600 park-and-ride spaces
• - Ticket machines at all stations

8
Park-and-Ride Garage with Joint Use

• Park/play area for school on roof of 1,120 space
  park-and-ride garage at end of the line

9
Vehicles and O M Facility

• 16 Light Rail Vehicles purchased
• O M Facility
• 10 acres
• 92,000 s.f. building
• 40 vehicle capacity

10
Other Related Improvements

• 1.1 miles of new roadway
• 15.9 miles of sidewalk
• 6.7 miles of bike lanes
• 1 mile of new median

11
Public Art

• Public art at all 15 stations and along the route

12
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