Articles About Transportation
Any day now, I figure the term “inner city” will go the way of “carbon paper” and “adding machine.” Already, it has a sort of disco, big-hair-and-shoulder-pads aura – a relic of a time when to many Americans the heart of the city was a place of poverty, crime and social dysfunction. Compare that image […]
WAXHAW – The question came from the back row of the small audience, during a presentation from planning consultants about the future for N.C. 16 as it bisects the fast-growing Union County town. “If we do all this, will we still be considered a small town?” Consultant Monica Holmes of Lawrence Group paused briefly before […]
Charlotte ranks near the bottom in a recent study of access to jobs via automobiles in the top 51 U.S. metro areas. Raleigh ranks even lower. The study, Access Across America, by David Levinson, the R.P. Braun/CTS Chair in Transportation Engineering at the University of Minnesota, ranks the Charlotte metro area No. 40, with the […]
Since Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx gave his State of the City speech Monday, most of the publicity has focused on his remarks about the proposed streetcar, about a proposal in the legislature to remove Charlotte/Douglas International Airport from city control, and his comments about the Charlotte Chamber. Those are important issues. But another issue may […]
While cities such as Memphis have gained national attention for proclaiming a bicycle-friendly goal, Charlotte has been quietly taking a number of steps to improve its own streets for cyclists. Its bicycle sharing program, B-cycle, the first in North Carolina, has gotten a lot of publicity, but several other small scale improvements have begun, designed […]
Some well-known intersections in the city hide the remnants of a now forgotten, but once major highway through the Carolinas. It was known as Potter Road and its name referred to the one-time pottery industry in western Lincoln County. Today, after neighbors pushed the city to save a piece of the old road’s route, an […]
The Baby Boomer generation redefined the lifestyle, consumption patterns, and values of each new life stage they entered. Wherever Boomers flocked, prices rose and businesses changed in response to meet their needs. Will the GenY/Echo Boom/Millennial generation do the same? A flurry of articles citing new reports about Echo Boomers’ transportation preferences say, “Yes.” But […]
The big picture may have gotten buried Tuesday as Charlotte City Council members chewed – and chewed and chewed – on different alternative revenue strategies that might enable the city to build the second leg of its proposed streetcar. Most of the discussion was about finding ways to pay for the streetcar project that weren’t […]
When the Democratic National Convention finished its activities in Charlotte, from most reports visitors found Charlotte an exemplary host city. We saw comments such as “retail oriented,” “pedestrian-friendly,” even “lively.” What a difference a couple of decades can make! Recall that in 1994, when Charlotte hosted the NCAA Final Four tournament, Tryon Street was so […]
Have opinions about how development should look along the hoped-for next leg of Charlotte’s light rail line? Thursday is the first of three public workshops scheduled to help planners as they draw up area plans for six* of the 11 station areas. All three meetings will be 6-8 p.m. at Sugar Creek Presbyterian Church, 101 […]
Who doesn’t prefer a park to asphalt or concrete? What would you rather see, a parking place, or a park? That’s the impulse at the heart of International PARK(ing) Day. The yearly event has artists and other citizens transforming parking spaces – temporarily – into more people-friendly places. The event began in 2005 when workers […]
Charlotte is joining the growing ranks of cities seeking to make streets safer by turning some bicycle lanes green. City officials hope adding green markings to existing bike lanes at certain heavily traveled intersections will more clearly, visibly and safely separate bicycles from other vehicles. The city has installed its first green lane markings on […]