The building boom is resuming.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/10/10/4378397/light-rail-brings-apartment-boom.html#.UlgvqCrD_IV
Driving through South End these days is like touring one giant building site, with eight apartment and mixed-use complexes under construction and two more on the way. When the current projects are complete, they’ll add more than 1,700 apartment units to the corridor. Three others, including Fountains, have opened in the past year.
The Lynx light-rail line is the engine behind much of the construction. The recovery of the homebuilding industry is behind the timing.
...Fountains – with one-, two- and three-bedroom units renting from $950 to $1,900 – has filled 204 of its 208 units since opening at the end of May, said Proffitt Dixon managing partner Stuart Proffitt.
...The boom in residential development is expected to double the neighborhood’s population of about 3,200 by the end of 2015, Smith said. And the population growth is driving business growth: A 55,000-square-foot Publix supermarket is under construction on a 4-acre lot at 2300 South Blvd.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
I just got off the Lynx train about an hour ago. It was standing room only, and it is not the rush hour schedule, so they are only running every 15 minutes.
They begin service at 5:30 AM. They run every 7 1/2 minutes from 6 AM through 9:30 AM.
Then they run every 15 minutes through 4 PM. Then every 7 1/2 minutes through 7 PM.
Then every 20 minutes through 1 AM.
They use 3 piece Siemens S-70s. They run single trains most of the day and two unit trains on the 7 1/2 minute schedule. They would like to run 3 unit trains but the platforms are not long enough.
Yes, Phoebe Vet, the timing interval for meets on single-track does sound quite tight!
I don't think the San Diego Trolley ever had headways that close together on a single-track section.
One has to wonder what was the rational for such scheduling in Charlotte, and if it is warranted.
Interesting situation Charlotte has ...
K.P.
PS: Nice photo!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K.P.’s absolute “theorem” from early, early childhood that he has seen over and over and over again: Those that CAUSE a problem in the first place will act the most violently if questioned or exposed.
The Panthers, on the other hand, we try not to think about. They just signed yet another player that even the Dallas Cowboys didn't want any more. Sigh.
With trains running every 7 1/2 minutes in each direction during rush hour, opposite direction meets would be occurring about every three minutes for each train. That doesn't seem like a very good idea to me. It is not, however, my decision.
CATS is evaluating many options. The ones that seem most likely are eliminating some amenities on station platforms, and building it in shorter segments over a longer period of time as money becomes available. It is already seriously behind schedule. The one segment that is open is showing passenger numbers far above the original projections.
It appears that all the feline creatures in Charlotte have mysteriously stopped purring!
Seriously, when the economy turned sour, all the great planning and good intentions seems to have gone up in smoke, so that now the community is left hanging with an impossible situation.
I wonder if Charlotte could save money by building its system with only single-track? That is not as crazy as it first may sound.
Thirty years ago the San Diego Trolley success story initially built its system with portions on single-track and constantly had dispatcher controlled CTC "meets." In 1981, this poster actually experienced those meets first hand. As time progressed, the gaps were two-tracked.
Even today, on a much newer line, there is of necessity a portion on single-track ...
That MAY be a viable alternative for Charlotte to make an impossible situation possible!
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/12/06/1890559/the-lynx-blue-line-revisited.html
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