TRANSPORTATION
Meet one of Plaza Midwood’s bicycling dynamos
When you hear “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night … ” you probably think of the U.S. Postal Service. But if you found yourself around Plaza Midwood on one of this past winter’s cold and snowy Tuesday nights, you may well associate that phrase with something else: hardy bicyclists pedaling despite […]
High court rail-trails decision won’t affect N.C.
A recent Supreme Court decision has some trail advocates worried about the fate of the national rails-to-trails program, but the ruling is unlikely to affect North Carolina. The case, Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States, has to do with who retains the property rights to abandoned railroad right of ways. The national Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and […]
To stimulate airport area, invest in west Charlotte transit
Several recent newspaper articles have described the city’s plans to subsidize a new edge city west of Charlotte Douglas International Airport by spending about $45 million to widen and extend streets in the Dixie Berryhill area. City leaders want to build on the airport’s expansion and the new Norfolk Southern freight center at the airport […]
Foxx: Bikes, pedestrians are priority, too
U.S. Secretary of Transportation and former Charlotte mayor Anthony Foxx gave urbanists and bike enthusiasts hope this week with his remarks at the Transportation Research Board, Streetsblog D.C. writer Tanya Snyder reports. Foxx, referencing increasing pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and deaths on Charlotte streets during his time as mayor, said he would “look out for […]
NCDOT letter poses dilemma for low-tax Union County towns
A North Carolina Department of Transportation letter has planners and officials in several Union County towns scrambling to figure out how they’ll maintain new subdivision streets in what has long been one of the fastest growing counties in the state. The September letter from Division 10 engineer Louis Mitchell said NCDOT would no longer accept […]
Neighborhood design expert speaks at UNC Charlotte
An expert in planning neighborhoods for walkability will speak Thursday at the UNC Charlotte uptown campus. Julie Campoli, author of Made for Walking: Neighborhood Density and Urban Form, gives a presentation at a 5:30 p.m. event that will also see the launch a new regional group focused on transportation choices, the Transportation Choices Alliance. The […]
What’s in a name? Defining ‘urban’ in the South
It’s a quirky fact about all three of the most recent directors of the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute: We all came, not from large urban centers, but from small, rural communities. Jim Clay, director from 1979 to 1984, was from Crum, W.Va. Bill McCoy (director 1985-2001) hailed from Ekron, Ky. And me? My friends are […]
City to work with owners of station-area properties
With encouragement from City Manager Ron Carlee, Charlotte’s planning department is taking more initiative in contacting property owners along the route of the city’s new light rail line and encouraging them to help the city achieve its vision for the corridor, Planning Director Debra Campbell told the city-county planning commission Monday. Campbell spoke during a […]
City to work with owners of station-area properties
With encouragement from City Manager Ron Carlee, Charlotte’s planning department is taking more initiative in contacting property owners along the route of the city’s new light rail line and encouraging them to help the city achieve its vision for the corridor, Planning Director Debra Campbell told the city-county planning commission Monday. Campbell spoke during a […]
Charlotte trails nation in walkability rankings
Want to guess the large U.S. city rated worst for walkability by Walk Score®, the national rating system? That would be the Queen City. Here’s a link to its 2014 report. The top-rated city was New York, followed by San Francisco, Boston, Washington and Miami. Essentially, Walk Score measure how many amenities are within easy […]