The city of Charlotte recently has been using the buzzwords “roads first” when describing its $13.5 billion transportation plan.
In trying to win support from Republican lawmakers in Raleigh, the city has been de-emphasizing expensive transit projects — like the $8 billion Silver Line light rail — and talking up new road capacity and improved interchanges. City leaders still want to build the rail lines, but a rhetorical pivot to roads could be more pleasing to legislators, whose support is needed for a transit tax.
The city says its efforts to assess Charlotte’s road needs is still in its early stages, and it has publicly released no details on what “roads first” would be – other than to say generally that it is “data-driven” and offers a “playbook of projects” across several “strategic investment areas.”
To get some insight, Transit Time made a public records request for the complete list of projects that are under consideration as part of the plan. The city released those to us this week.
The March 2023 list is called “Identified Mobility Opportunities.” It’s an 85-page document detailing hundreds of possible projects grouped into four categories: roads, transit, pedestrian and micromobility (bike lanes/greenways). You can look at it here.
Some of the projects on the list are already well-known, like the Silver Line, the Red Line and various road construction identified by the N.C. Department of Transportation. Most of the others – and there are hundreds – are a wish list of places to build new sidewalks, add bike networks or greenways and widen roads.
For a closer look, let’s set aside for now the big-ticket rail projects from the list, which will likely cost at least $10 billion. They include: The Silver Line from Matthews to the airport; the Red Line from uptown to Lake Norman; the Gold Line streetcar extension; and the Blue Line light rail extension to Ballantyne.
Here are the other projects, grouped by category:
- Intersection improvements: 86
- New streets: 90 miles, 130 projects
- New street lighting: 162 miles
- Road widening/complete streets: 244 miles
- Pedestrian signal upgrades: 506
- New pedestrian crossings: 69
- New sidewalks: 286 miles
- New bike network: 144 miles
- New greenways: 178 miles
- New transit “mobility hubs” or “microtransit areas”: 88
(A mobility hub is an enhanced bus stop that would have bike racks and places for people to wait for ride-share companies. Microtransit is a new publicly funded ride-share program the Charlotte Area Transit System is considering.)
Even setting aside rail projects, like the Silver Line, the list tilts in favor of non-vehicle projects, with the emphasis on sidewalks, greenways, bike lanes and pedestrian crossings.
As we will discuss later, that's in part because there just aren't many traditional roads left to build.
Sidewalks and pedestrian crossings = easy to do
Many pedestrian crossings and sidewalks on the list would be relatively easy to build and popular.
Here is an example of a place where new sidewalks could be built, on Atando Avenue, in between North Graham and North Tryon streets:
And here is an intersection that could get a new pedestrian crossing on South Tryon and Longdale Drive near West Arrowood Road:
The project list has a disclaimer: “Some of these opportunities are well defined, such as pedestrian crossings, and could quickly become active projects should funding become available. Other opportunities are less-defined, such as high congestion intersections, and would require additional work to define potential project scopes. Regardless of the level of definition, no feasibility work has been completed to determine exact cost estimates.”
The last sentence — “no feasibility work has been completed” — is important for two reasons.
The first is that it’s been roughly five years since the city began talking about its mobility plan. And although the plan wasn’t initially marketed as “roads first,” roads have always been a part of it. With a referendum possible next year, why hasn’t Charlotte made more progress in doing feasibility work and explaining to voters what they might get?
Pie in the sky?
The second is that a close look at some of the proposed “roads first” projects show they could be unrealistic and are unlikely to ever be built.
For instance, in south Charlotte, the city lists Fairview Road, Pineville-Matthews Road, Sharon Road, Carmel Road and Tyvola Road as candidates for “road widening and complete streets.”
Complete streets are built or re-engineered to give dedicated space to cyclists and possibly buses. They are also designed to make it easier and safer for pedestrians.
Widening those roads for more cars would require buying some of the most expensive land in the city; tearing down trees; encroaching on the property of million-dollar homes; or even knocking down businesses.
If the city made them “complete streets” without widening them, that would mean taking away space from vehicles — which would be politically difficult if not impossible in one of the most congested parts of Charlotte.
The city says widening Fairview near SouthPark Mall is a “mobility opportunity” for a “road widening and complete street.”
Former City Council member Kenny Smith, who considers himself a roads first person, said the idea of widening Fairview by the mall is “pie in the sky” because of the amount of disruption it would cause.
Smith said the biggest problem on Fairview Road is between Charlotte Country Day School and Providence Road, when it takes several cycles to get through the traffic light at Providence.
But he concedes there’s probably no realistic way to widen it.
Here’s a look at the multi-million dollar real estate hugging Fairview Road in that area:
There are others: Another “mobility opportunity” is to widen Charlottetown Avenue from Kings Drive to Independence Boulevard.
That runs right through Central Piedmont Community College. There is no way to widen Charlottetown without demolishing buildings, although it’s possible the city might take away space from cars in favor of bikes.
Here’s what that corridor looks like:
The city’s “roads first” idea may work on the edge of the city, where two-lane roads are the primary way people get around and there are plenty of candidates for widening.
But inside Interstate 485, there just isn’t a lot of road expansion that’s possible.
The city appears to be in a conundrum: It feels like it has to put forth a “roads first” plan — even though there are few roads that can be widened and few new roads that are needed.
Another idea
There is one way to have a true “roads first” plan that also includes building mass transit.
A year ago, Transit Time floated the idea of using money from a penny sales tax increase to build new express toll lanes on Interstate 77 in south Charlotte, as well as Independence Boulevard in southeast Charlotte.
The city would be repaid in two ways.
The first is that Charlotte would receive a portion of the toll revenue generated from the projects. That money could be invested in sidewalks, greenways, bike lanes, etc.
The second is that the N.C. Department of Transportation would repay the city, as money became available over the next decade.
That money would be used to build mass transit.
The benefit of that idea is that the two express lane projects would likely be expedited by a decade or so. It would be “roads first.” The city would still have enough money to build the Red Line immediately — and could begin work on the Silver Line in a decade or so after the DOT repays it.
The city’s list of projects has plenty of worthwhile initiatives. But with much of Charlotte already built out, the city might have a tough time marketing it as “roads-first” without addressing some of the biggest and busiest roads around.
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