By LINCOLN DAVIDSON
DavidsonNews.net

Transportation and public safety were the primary concerns at a community chat that Davidson commissioners held at Davidson College Tuesday evening. Davidson College students, faculty, and staff as well as members of the community were present to ask questions of town leaders. Read the full story

By CHUCK McSHANE
DavidsonNews.net

HUNTERSVILLE – Two meetings here Wednesday took on the topic of I-77 and the future of transportation in the Lake Norman area.

The Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization (MUMPO) held a public workshop on the proposed I-77 High-Occupancy Toll lane project, which would add privately-managed high occupancy toll lanes on either side of the interstate from Brookshire Freeway in Charlotte to Exit 36 in Mooresville.

About 20 people showed up at Central Piedmont Community College’s Merancas Campus to get a look at aerial maps of the proposed project and ask questions about how they might be affected.

MUMPO is seeking to add the planned public-private partnership to drafts two key documents – its 2012-2018 Transportation Improvement Plan and its 2035 Long-Range Transportation Plan. Wednesday’s meeting is part of a public hearing process on this step, which MUMPO representatives will vote on at their May 22 meeting.

Bill Coxe, a transportation planner in Huntersville, presented some details about the project. He noted that average travel times at peak hours tend to be below the speed limit. With increased growth, those times would only get worse in the coming years, Coxe said.

“We’ve reached the end of (I-77′s) useful life as a four-lane highway,” Coxe said.

While MUMPO had originally called for a widening project using general purpose and non-toll high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, Coxe said that traditional state funding was not as readily available. That’s when MUMPO proposed the HOT lanes idea.

He said that of the 306 transportation projects on MUMPO’s agenda, only 30 of them could be completed using traditional state funding. This project is likely to cost more than $500 million, Coxe said. The state will contribute no more than $170 million.

Adding the project to the Transportation Improvement Program and Long-Range Transportation Plan is important, Coxe said, because contractors are unlikely to agree to take on the project without its inclusion in those plans.

If MUMPO approves the project, North Carolina Department of Transportation staff will select a bidder for the project in October. Construction is planned to begin in January 2015, and the lanes are scheduled to be open in 2017.

Some members of the public were concerned about design specifics and financing of the project, particularly on how cars would enter and exit the lanes.

The winning bidder will be responsible for such design details, but will be required to have at least four entry and exit points along the route. Coxe said the winning company will likely include more than that.

The company will be responsible for design, construction and maintenance on the HOT lanes. The company will also conduct minor maintenance and upkeep on the general purpose lanes. The state will provide a stiped for upkeep on the general purpose lanes.

MUMPO is seeking public comments now through April 22. To submit yours, visit the MUMPO survey website at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z2WRVLM

TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION LOOKS AT NEEDS

Meanwhile, at Huntersville Town Hall, the Lake Norman Transportation Commission held its monthly meeting. High on the agenda was a recent survey on Lake Norman-area priorities. The survey of 39 people who had attend a recent transportation summit found that most people prioritized adding a north-south route from I-485 north. Second on the priority list was an east-west connection from I-77 to I-485.

Commission members agreed to revisit the corridor plan for N.C. 73.

Chairman Bill Thunberg updated the group on the long-stalled Red Line commuter rail project. He said the Metropolitan Transit Commission’s Red Line Task Force is continuing talks with Norfolk Southern, which owns the tracks the proposed project would use.

Mr. Thunberg said the best case scenario is that the commission can convince Norfolk Southern to consider forming a public-private partnership for the proposed project.

RELATED LINKS

See more about the I-77 project on MUMPO.org

Lake Norman Transportation Commission, www.lakenormantrans.org

See previous stories about I-77 on DavidsonNews.net.

Previous articles about the Red Line project

Officials from the N.C. Department of Transportation, Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) and the Red Line Task Force are seeking a meeting, possibly in mid-June, with Norfolk Southern Corp. to discuss the rail company’s misgivings about the proposed Red Line Regional Rail Project north of Charlotte. Read the full story

Bill Thunberg

By BILL THUNBERG
Lake Norman Transportation Commission

Recent discussion of the Red Line Regional Rail Project has been intense – and so has the dissemination of misinformation about the project. This discussion is the result of the Red Line Task Force’s referral of a draft business and finance plan for review by the communities along the line.

Public discussion of the project has included a considerable amount of very thoughtful input and intense questioning, as was intended. Unfortunately, this regional conversation has been seen by those opposed to transit and the transit tax as a surrogate target for the failed effort to repeal the transit tax. Transit is a part of the transportation plan for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region, and rail is a part of the transit and transportation systems designed to serve this region. Read the full story

The Metropolitan Transit Commission’s Red Line Task Force is scheduled to meet Wednesday afternoon in Charlotte, where members will get updates on the proposed rail project and on revisions to the draft business and finance plan, and discuss plans for new station in Charlotte and a relocated station in the Mount Mourne area, south of Mooresville. Read the full story

Lake Norman Transportation Commission director Bill Thunberg speaks at the Chamber's Focus Friday event. Also pictured (from left): Bob McIntosh, Bill Russell, MattGallagher. (David Boraks / DavidsonNews.net)

By CHRISTINA RITCHIE ROGERS
DavidsonNews.net

While many property owners say they’re in favor of a commuter rail line north of Charlotte, it’s hard to find one in favor of the current proposed Red Line Regional Rail financing plan. Matt Gallagher, who works for developer Gandy Communities, said the special assessments on commercial property owners proposed under the draft financing plan is “a big burden to carry.” He spoke Friday at a Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce Focus Friday event in Cornelius, joined by speakers Bill Thunburg, the Lake Norman Transportation Commission Director and a member of the Red Line Task Force, and Bob McIntosh, of McIntosh Law Firm in Davidson.

Developers have been meeting regularly to discuss the draft financing plan, which asks commercial property owners along the rail to pay an additional “special assessment” tax of as much as 75 cents per $100 of assessed value that will go towards funding construction of the rail line from Charlotte to Mooresville. Read the full story

The map shows exactly which properties would be in Special Assessment Districts. Click to view.

Updated 11:43 a.m.
By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

One of the big unanswered questions about the Red Line Regional Rail Project has been which commercial properties would be included in “special assessment districts” that would be asked to help pay for the line. This week, project consultants finally unveiled a parcel-by-parcel map that clears up the picture, at RedLineRegionalRail.org/map/.

It’s a detailed map that uses a “yes-no-maybe” color scheme to show property owners if they will be asked to vote whether to voluntarily create the special districts. Those owners would pay an annual assessment of 75 cents per $100 of property value to help build the line, on the theory that they would benefit from the line’s presence. Read the full story

The Lake Norman Chamber will host a Focus Friday discussion this Friday morning, March 23, on the Red Line Regional Rail Project. Bill Thunberg, executive director of the Lake Norman Transportation Commission, and two property owners along the line – Bob McIntosh and Matt Gallagher – will be the featured speakers. Read the full story