Davidson Mayor John Woods is on a campaign to make sure transportation planners in Charlotte don’t forget about the North Corridor Commuter Rail Project. The issue came up at Wednesday night’s monthly meeting of the Metropolitan Transit Commission in Charlotte, when Mayor Woods asked Charlotte officials why the north line hasn’t been mentioned in key reports.

The MTC is chaired by County Commission Chair Jennifer Roberts and includes elected and appointed officials from Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the six Mecklenburg County towns. It advises Charlotte transportation officials on transit planning and policy.

Charlotte Area Transit System Chief Executive Keith Parker was discussing CATS’ fiscal 2008 Management Report Wednesday night. (Download a copy of the report below.) The report listed as one of the year’s highlights (alongside the much heralded opening of the Blue Line light rail service to south Charlotte) the start of engineering on the Blue Line line northeast extension to the University area.

But something was missing, Mayor Woods said Thursday.

“I said excuse me Keith, but there’s no mention here of the preliminary engineering work that’s being done on the North Corridor. And it seems to me that the highlight for CATS is that we are simultaneously conducting two engineering studies on separate corridors, because both are of such importance,” Mayor Woods recalled.

He said CATS officials told him, “We must’ve left that out.”

Also at the meeting, members discussed CATS’ lobbying for transit funding in Washington. In a report, MTC members were told about money that CATS is seeking for both the Northeast Corridor light rail line and a proposed Charlotte street car line.  Again, the North Corridor was not addressed. That prompted another interruption from Mayor Woods.

“I said, excuse me, but there’s no mention of the North Corridor. Is anyone lobbying for the North Corridor? Again (there was) slience,” Mayor Woods said.

Interest in mass transit is high at the moment as more commuters turn to public transportation, including trains and buses, amid high gasoline prices. CATS said last week that daily weekday ridership on the region’s trains and buses is 40 percent more than a year ago, and at a 60-year high.

Increased ridership also has been reported on both express buses to north Meck and on the Davidson Village rider.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg officials have funded the engineering studies for both the northeast and north transit lines. But planners are still figuring out how they’ll pay for construction – at least $261 million for the north line and at least $750 million for the northeast corridor. The northeast line likely can qualify for at least some federal funding. The north line does not qualify because ridership projections fall short of federal requirements, though those projections pre-date the current climate and boom in mass transit ridership.

In north Mecklenburg and south Iredell counties, towns are grappling both with how to pay for the commuter rail line and with how they might jointly advocate for all the  region’s transit needs. Last week, the Huntersville Town Board opted out of a proposed interlocal agreement that would have formed a regional transportation organization to help plan and lobby for transit funds. With Huntersville out, mayors of Huntersville, Davidson, Cornelius and Mooresville are continuing to look for ways they can collaborate on road and transit issues. (See our Aug. 27, 2008, news item, “Huntersville board nixes regional transport agreement.”)

Mayor Woods said again Thursday that the towns have a tough fight ahead, especially in lobbying for funding for the commuter rail line.

“It’s a little bit of a David-Goliath thing going on … I’m going to play a role here, carefully championing the North Corridor and gathering some assistance from our colleagues and neighbors,” he said.

He said area mayors will meet again Friday to continue discussing road and transit issues

Meanwhile, CATS is planning a public meeting at Davidson Town Hall on Sept. 11 to deliver an update on planning for the North Corridor Commuter Rail Project.

DOCUMENTS

CATS FY2008 Annual Management Report, (4.9MB PDF, requires Adobe Reader software). CLICK HERE>