Can’t wait for Blue Line Extension? Watch as it grows
Construction for the 9.3-mile Blue Line Extension light rail project began in January 2014 and is expected to be completed in time for service to begin in 2017. The $1.16 billion project is funded with federal, state and local money.
On June 11, photographer Nancy Pierce documented the huge construction project as it sweeps northeast from uptown to the UNC Charlotte campus. Click through the photo gallery to see the work in progress.
The extension will double the length of the existing Lynx Blue Line, which opened in 2007. The new segment will connect uptown Charlotte at Seventh Street to the 27,000-student UNC Charlotte campus, passing through the popular NoDa neighborhood at North Davidson and 36th streets. When the line is complete a rider could travel from UNC Charlotte to the line’s southern terminus at I-485 just outside Pineville.
One component of the project is the Art-in-Transit program, created through the Federal Transit Administration to encourage a pleasant travel experience. The highly visible concrete walls along the project’s bridges will use cast concrete panels designed by Denver artist Carolyn Braaksma, with images inspired by native N.C. plants. Braaksma is one of 14 artists whose work will be visible along the Blue Line Extension.
Workers pour walls for the foundation at the Blue Line Extension’s Ninth Street Station uptown. Photo by Nancy Pierce.Pedestrian on temporary pedestrian path along North Tryon Street near University Pointe Boulevard. Photo: Nancy Pierce 6-11-15 With sidewalks uprooted, a pedestrian endures 95-degree heat, bright sun and dust on the temporary pedestrian path along North Tryon Street near University Pointe Boulevard. Photo: Nancy PierceBrevard Street, viewed from Matheson. Blue Line Extension workers install a box culvert to protect workers from cave-ins. Photo: Nancy Pierce 6-11-15 Looking down at Brevard Street from the Matheson Avenue bridge. Workers on the Blue Line Extension install a box culvert, a temporary structure to protect workers from cave-ins. Photo: Nancy PierceCrane operator near Toby Creek at UNCC light rail construction. Photo: Nancy Pierce 6-11-15 At noon on a 95-degree day, a crane operator near Toby Creek on the UNC Charlotte campus takes a lunch break in the small spot of shade cast by the rig. Photo: Nancy PierceThis is the Eastway Drive bridge being built over the Norfolk Southern and Blue Line Extension tracks. The work closed Eastway Drive, a major thoroughfare, in May 2014. It was to have reopened in December 2014 but now it won’t open until September. In this June photo, workers install wooden forms to cap the piers before setting down the bridge deck. Photo: Nancy Pierce On Cullman Avenue, between Little Sugar Creek and light rail, rebar set in place for a retaining wall. Photo: Nancy Pierce 6-11-15 Rebar has been set in place for a cast-in-place retaining wall, which will be part of the art wall, “Trap plant, sundew and leaves,” from artist Carolyn Braaksma. This scene is along Cullman Avenue in NoDa, between Little Sugar Creek and the rail line. Photo: Nancy PierceA retaining wall rises up to the bridge over the CSX freight rail tracks. View is looking east from 12th Street, June 11, 2015. Photo: Nancy Piercehe view from Seventh Street Station parking deck, looking north to Ninth Street. UNC Charlotte Center City is at upper right, with construction on First Ward Park next to it. Photo: Nancy PierceThe uptown Charlotte skyline, seen from the Blue Line Extension bridge over the CSX freight line at East 16th Street. The crane lifts in wooden forms, to form concrete for the bridge overhang. Photo: Nancy PierceA view of the Charlotte skyline from the construction site at East 11th Street. The rig is drilling a hole to set piles for panel wall construction. Photo: Nancy PierceCrews work on a parking lane, curb, gutter and sidewalk in front of Fashion Warehouse, North Tryon Street at Tom Hunter Road. Owner George Saini, who hangs clothes outside “New York style,” says he is happy the construction will provide more parking and a more walkable approach to his store. Photo: Nancy PierceThe longest bridge of the whole 9.3-mile Blue Line Extension will be this one over Toby Creek on the UNC Charlotte campus. The BLE will terminate in a station near the Student Union. Photo: Nancy PierceFor months, construction barrels have decorated North Tryon Street, where the Blue Line Extension will run in the median. These are near Orr Road. Photo: Nancy PierceArt by Carolyn Braaksma, “Trap plant, sundew and leaves,” will decorate 4 miles of the 9.3-mile Blue Line Extension project, part of the 1-percent-for-art program. Braaksma’s work, one of 16 artist projects, is being installed in places where the light rail track must rise for a bridge, as here on North Tryon Street at the I-85 service road. Photo: Nancy Pierce
