The transportation budget would cancel two toll road and bridge projects and block state funding for rail transit in Charlotte as part of an effort to reserve extra money for road maintenance and bridge repair.
Fiscal researchers said the Senate plan would provide enough money to replace 36 percent of North Carolina’s substandard bridges over the next two years.
“We wanted to target more dollars to maintaining the system we have - as opposed to building new roads, new bridges, new parts of the system,” Phil Berger said.
The Senate would kill state funds for two rail transit projects in Charlotte. That could set a precedent for Triangle officials who are counting on the state to cover 25 percent of construction costs for planned light rail and commuter train projects that could cost a total of $3.5 billion over the next 15 years.
“This would hurt Charlotte in the very near term and, if it were to stand, would hurt us in the Triangle, clearly,” said David King, general manager of Triangle Transit.
But Sen. Richard Stevens of Cary, one of the chief budget writers, warned against reading too much into the current plan. He said he would not rule out prospects for Triangle rail transit funding in future years.
Given the choice between building train tracks and replacing worn-out bridges, I’m definitely choosing the latter. The mass infrastructure built in the 50’s and 60’s, and even in the 70’, is deteriorating fast. If we don’t allocate the monies to replace these structures now, it’s going to cost even more in the future and there is a chance that the bridges could get to the point of having to be closed even before replacement due to this deterioration if simply repairing the existing bridges does not make them safe to drive on.
I do agree with that view, over the past decades infrastructure maintenance has been vastly overlooked.
I wonder what this funding decision would do to the federal money ear marked for the light rail?[/quote]
agreed as well and very likley gone[/quote]
When Gov Christie nixed the ARC Tunnel Project adding another tunnel from NJ to NYC, NJ was supposed to give 100s of millions of dollars back to the Federal Government, but he resisted. Now I think he gave it to some Canadian company that did the Mall of America in order to try to finish the white elephant formerly known as Xanadu.
If the State is broke then the State is broke. The Light Rail is a nice thing to have, but no one is going to die if we don’t build it. Folks die when roads aren’t maintained and bridges collapse.
I think some of you guys are missing the point here as it relates to Charlotte. I couldn’t care any less if the light rail is built, but the point is if it was being built in Raleigh/Durham, Chapel Hill, New Bern or Rocky Mount it would be done (ala, the beltway around Fayetteville) and the other countless wastes of many in the eastern part of the state at the detriment to the Charlotte area. All of this is of course in addition to the screw job our university gets compared to those great institutions in the Triangle. :
I think some of you guys are missing the point here as it relates to Charlotte. I couldn’t care any less if the light rail is built, but the point is if it was being built in Raleigh/Durham, Chapel Hill, New Bern or Rocky Mount it would be done (ala, the beltway around Fayetteville) and the other countless wastes of many in the eastern part of the state at the detriment to the Charlotte area. All of this is of course in addition to the screw job our university gets compared to those great institutions in the Triangle. ::)[/quote]
Very true. I wonder how many roads and bridges will be repaired in the Charlotte area with that money as compared to other parts of the state. There is legit reasoning but it is still yet another example of the State screwing over the Charlotte area.
I think some of you guys are missing the point here as it relates to Charlotte. I couldn’t care any less if the light rail is built, but the point is if it was being built in Raleigh/Durham, Chapel Hill, New Bern or Rocky Mount it would be done (ala, the beltway around Fayetteville) and the other countless wastes of many in the eastern part of the state at the detriment to the Charlotte area. All of this is of course in addition to the screw job our university gets compared to those great institutions in the Triangle. ::)[/quote]
Your point certainly has some validity, but this particular thread was about the choo choo. The choo choo is of low priority to most taxpayers and especially compared to repairing roadways. The article I linked mentions the Raleigh light rail being axed before it even gets to the heavy planning stage because the Charlotte plans are being postponed.
I think it depends on where they eventually allocate the money to. If it’s to repair roadways in the eastern part of the state then it will be a blatantly obvious slap in the face.
Why are they building a bypass around FayetteNam anyways? I drove through there last week and it was a dead zone on a Thursday and a Sunday… what do they need a loop for?
[quote=“CharSFNiners, post:89, topic:24357”]I think it depends on where they eventually allocate the money to. If it’s to repair roadways in the eastern part of the state then it will be a blatantly obvious slap in the face.
Why are they building a bypass around FayetteNam anyways? I drove through there last week and it was a dead zone on a Thursday and a Sunday… what do they need a loop for?[/quote]
I’m not certain of that. If you were only in the Charlotte area during college, you probably have no idea how widespread the Charlotte (aka, “great state of Mecklenburg”) screw-job goes back.
It’s not like Raleigh area has gold paved roads here. Heck, the drivers themselves will be paying for the latest road in Cary/Apex/HollySprings with tolls (NC-540). I do agree with the perception that some rural areas seem to get more than their share in regards to population.
"We wanted to target more dollars to maintaining the system we have - as opposed to building new roads, new bridges, new parts of the system," said Senate Leader Phil Berger, a Rockingham County Republican.
I agree with this part.
A new rail line, he said, is "like putting a new roof on a house infested with termites. What good does it do you?"
This is just a terrible analogy. Really inaccurate. And why do I get the feeling this guy secretly means we Charlotteans are termites? lol
But GOP Sen. Richard Stevens of Cary, co-chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, warned against reading too much into the current budget. He said he would not rule out prospects for Triangle and other rail transit funding in future years.
But this is where I call shenanigans. We do need to repair bridges before building a new light rail, but they better not be talking about doing the Triangle's plan after putting the kibosh on ours.
[quote=“MeanJoeGreen, post:95, topic:24357”]Only $970 million to go…[/quote]I guess instead we could build a second billion dollar toll road to Monroe that has no chance of paying for itself either. Or we could build another toll road to Lake Norman that is only expected to recoup 1/3 of its cost (excluding ongoing maintenance) within 30 years.
I don’t have a problem with us doing it, just how long we waited. All of this should have been done in the 80s - at the very least land should have been purchased if the ridership would not have been enough yet. The city, much like the university is paying the price for lack of vision.
We just have to make sure usage doesn’t boil down to homeless transport like it has in Atlanta. If the only people that ride it are the poor with no cars then it hasn’t solved a problem because you have spent a shit ton of money and the roads are still packed with cars. In that instance building a road is a better idea and let the no car people ride buses. Based on the ridership of the south rail though I like it. The main concern I have is safety of the line since the U area is already struggling with violence and safety.
I don’t have a problem with us doing it, just how long we waited. All of this should have been done in the 80s - at the very least land should have been purchased if the ridership would not have been enough yet. The city, much like the university is paying the price for lack of vision.
We just have to make sure usage doesn’t boil down to homeless transport like it has in Atlanta. If the only people that ride it are the poor with no cars then it hasn’t solved a problem because you have spent a s*** ton of money and the roads are still packed with cars. In that instance building a road is a better idea and let the no car people ride buses. Based on the ridership of the south rail though I like it. The main concern I have is safety of the line since the U area is already struggling with violence and safety.[/quote]
MARTA has that issue due to the number of municipalities that did not want to be part of the system. The Charlotte system doesn’t have that issue, up until the borders of Mecklenburg County.
I am all for vision, but during the 80s there were no visions of urban living and public transportation. Cities were a mess. At the same time the federal government funded suburban office speculation, further decentralizing urban areas. Unfortunately, our current political system doesn’t allow for that type of forward thinking.
I don’t have a problem with us doing it, just how long we waited. All of this should have been done in the 80s - at the very least land should have been purchased if the ridership would not have been enough yet. The city, much like the university is paying the price for lack of vision.
We just have to make sure usage doesn’t boil down to homeless transport like it has in Atlanta. If the only people that ride it are the poor with no cars then it hasn’t solved a problem because you have spent a s*** ton of money and the roads are still packed with cars. In that instance building a road is a better idea and let the no car people ride buses. Based on the ridership of the south rail though I like it. The main concern I have is safety of the line since the U area is already struggling with violence and safety.[/quote]
MARTA has that issue due to the number of municipalities that did not want to be part of the system. The Charlotte system doesn’t have that issue, up until the borders of Mecklenburg County.
I am all for vision, but during the 80s there were no visions of urban living and public transportation. Cities were a mess. At the same time the federal government funded suburban office speculation, further decentralizing urban areas. Unfortunately, our current political system doesn’t allow for that type of forward thinking.[/quote]
Actually I clearly remember in the late 80s a proposal was set before the Charlotte City Council about purchasing land rights for future mass transit. The words from the city council member was something like “We aren’t big enough to worry about this stuff.” I remember sitting in the school library reading the O and even as a HS sophomore knew that was not a good way of thinking. If DC had waited until the 80s to start planning the METRO it would have taken even longer and costed more.
As for the MARTA they have a ton of issues - image being #1.
