History
Initial plans
In 1994, the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County jointly approved a "Centers and Corridors Vision", a comprehensive plan which focused future regional development along five major transport corridors. In support of this plan, a "2025 Integrated Transit/Land Use Plan" in 1998 reviewed transit options for five transportation corridors in the Charlotte metro area, including the Center City corridor. Voters approved a half-cent sales and use tax to support the plan in November 1998. In November 2002, the Charlotte city council adopted the "2025 Transit Plan", which selected a streetcar as the preferred transit option for the Center City corridor. As originally conceived, the plan envisioned a single streetcar line, the "Trade Street Streetcar", linking Presbyterian Hospital (eastern portion of the line) and Johnson C. Smith University (western portion), with three subsequent extensions: *A Central Avenue extension from the Presbyterian Hospital end of Elizabeth Avenue (a continuation of Trade Street) to the vicinity of Eastland Mall, running along Central Avenue for most of the route *A Beatties Ford Road extension from the vicinity of Johnson C. Smith University, continuing along Trade Street and Beatties Ford Road to near I-85. *A Downtown Streetcar Loop following a route "defined as some combination of 11th Street, 10th Street, 9th Street, 8th Street or 7th Street on the north side, McDowell Street or Davidson Street on the east side, Stonewall Street or Second Street on the south side, and Graham Street, Mint Street or Pine/Poplar Streets on the west side." In June 2006 initial costs for the completion of the Center City Corridor streetcar line were roughly estimated at $250 million. The line was then intended to replace the No. 7 and No. 9 CATS bus routes serving Beatties Ford Road and Central Avenue, respectively. With cost and ridership projection estimates made, the Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC) voted on the priority for its construction in November 2006. At its November meeting the MTC voted to prioritize the construction and completion of both the Blue Line Extension toConstruction and opening of Phase 1
In November 2012, the Charlotte city council awarded a $26.3 million contract for construction of the starter segment to a partnership between Balfour Beatty Rail and Blythe Development Company. The groundbreaking for the initial segment took place on December 12, 2012, in front of Presbyterian Hospital, with Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, Mayor Foxx and other officials in attendance. By May 2014, Phase 1 was 45 percent complete. While the starter line had originally been scheduled to open in March 2015, in January 2015 the opening date was moved to June due to construction errors on the part of the contractor, with a subsequent postponement to July 2015. On July 14, 2015, the Phase 1 section of the Gold Line began service. U.S. Secretary of Transportation and former Charlotte mayor Anthony Foxx, a primary backer of the project, delivered the keynote speech.Phase 2
Planning (2012–2014)
In early 2012, Mayor Anthony Foxx proposed building the next stage of the streetcar line, a , $119 million segment which would extend the line to Johnson C. Smith University. The proposal was turned down by a majority of the city council; on June 30, Foxx vetoed a revised city budget by the council which would have eliminated the second phase. On October 30, further discussion failed to reach any consensus on how best to pay for its construction. Options considered included: charging fares for the streetcar (the city had planned for the streetcar to be free), increasing the special property tax rate charged to property owners inside Interstate 277, soliciting donations from businesses and institutions along the line, such as Johnson & Wales University, or using a portion of new property taxes created from development along the line. Other options to raise funds, which would have required approval from the state, included: increasing the rental car tax, hotel/motel tax or prepared food and beverage tax, levying a special fee on parking spaces or lobbying for a higher vehicle registration fee. Many city council members stated they did not favor an increase in property taxes to build the segment. In an effort to end the continuing deadlock, on December 10 Foxx proposed two alternative budgets, the smaller of which would eliminate the streetcar extension; however, on December 17 the city council voted to postpone all budget decisions until early 2013. At a meeting in Raleigh on January 31, 2013,Design (2014–2017)
On January 27, 2014, the Charlotte city council voted 8–3 to spend up to $12 million on engineering work for the extension. Carlee said the city would have to spend some of the $63 million it had allocated for the extension in May to demonstrate to the FTA that the project was viable. On February 26, the FTA issued its approval for CATS to begin project development for the extension and to apply for the Federal Small Starts grant in September 2014. On September 8, 2014, the Charlotte city council voted 7-4 to build the second phase and proceed with applying for the federal grant. As part of the extension project, the Hawthorne Lane bridge over Independence Boulevard would be replaced to handle the weight of the streetcars. On June 22, 2015, the Charlotte city council voted 7–4 to approve $7.7 million for further Phase 2 design work. The initial request for construction bids returned two bids in July 2016 that came in over budget, leading CATS to request a second round of bidding the following month. In November 2016,Construction (2017–2021)
Construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony on January 14, 2017, with completion required by August 31, 2020, under the terms of the federal funding used. Starting on June 3, 2019; CATS replaced streetcar service along the line with a shuttle bus in order to facilitate construction of Phase 2 and increase the heights of the existing stations by a few inches to accommodate the new Siemens streetcars. Streetcar service was initially slated to resume in 2020, but was pushed back to 2021 to accommodate the 2020 Republican National Convention. Supply shortages, a contractor ordering the wrong girders for the Hawthorne Lane bridge, theFuture construction (Phase 3)
The third and final phase of the CityLynx Gold Line, comprising extensions between Hawthorne Lane and Eastland CTC, and from French Street to Rosa Parks CTC, has been planned, but lacks funding. This segment was originally scheduled for completion by 2023 at a cost of $231 million. In early April 2021, the city of Charlotte issued requests for qualifications for prospective firms to build the final phase of the Gold Line, which by then had been 30% designed. Firms were given until April 30 to apply, with final selections to be made by June 4 at the latest. As of 2021, no cost estimates have been developed for the third phase, nor have local, state or federal funds been allocated for construction. According to John Lewis, CATS CEO, the final phase of the Gold Line will cost significantly more than the previous two phases, as the segment from Sunnyside Avenue near Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center to the former Eastland Mall property near North Sharon Amity Road requires faster travel times, necessitating construction of a separate track in that area instead of having the streetcar share the road with traffic. This would make the streetcar function more like a light rail line in that stretch of rail. The remaining of track extending west from French Street near Johnson C. Smith, and running along Beatties Ford Road to the Rosa Parks Place Community Transit Center, will include new bridges over Brookshire Boulevard and I-85. The route is estimated to be completed in 2033.Operation
Fares
The Gold Line was intended to have been fare-free until January 2022, when standard CATS fares would have been introduced. Due to ongoing COVID-19 pandemic-related workforce shortages, however, CATS officials decided to indefinitely postpone revenue service until enough rail operators were available to ensure sufficiently reliable service.Hours
The CityLynx Gold Line operates seven days a week from 5 a.m. to 2 a.m.List of stops
Ridership
In 2015, during its first month of operation, weekday ridership on the first phase of the CityLynx Gold Line exceeded initial projections, averaging 1,507 trips against an official projection of 1,100 trips. In its first year, Phase 1 averaged 1,600 weekday trips, slightly falling to an average of 1,480 weekday trips by July 2017. Ridership declined by 41.9 percent over the following year, with the line only averaging 803 weekday trips in July 2018. As of April 2019, the last month for which figures were available before service was temporarily suspended, weekday ridership averaged 687 trips. At the opening of the second phase in 2021, CATS CEO John Lewis said the daily ridership goal for the newly expanded line would be 4,100 daily trips. He expected this target would be achieved by roughly 2023 due to COVID-19-induced declines in public transit ridership. In its first full month of operation, the expanded Gold Line averaged 1,230 weekday trips. One year after it had reopened, the line averaged 1,895 weekday trips. Per the original plan, in 2006 CATS estimated the Gold Line would have an average daily ridership of between 14,200 and 16,700 passengers when fully completed.Criticism
The CityLynx Gold Line project has been criticized for its high cost and limited projected benefits for the areas it is intended to serve, though the net benefits from future development as a result of the streetcar line are difficult to assess. Recent cost-benefit analyses have shown that at a cost of $1.58 per passenger mile (predicted for 2019), it would cost twice as much to operate as either city bus (77 cents/passenger mile, in 2012) or light rail services (68 cents/passenger mile, in 2012), while traveling over a shorter distance. Since its opening, the Gold Line streetcar has been criticized for its street running design, instead of having a dedicated right of way; this has been cited as contributing to frequent service delays.See also
*References
External links