After nearly two decades of discussion, the Charlotte Area Transit System has selected a route for the Silver Line – a proposed light-rail line running along and near Independence Boulevard from uptown to Matthews.
The Silver Line would likely cost at least $1 billion, and CATS doesn’t have a funding source to pay for it. It also doesn’t have a schedule for moving forward.
But the transit system is pushing ahead with a concrete plan so residents can picture what the future might hold – and be more willing to support a possible tax increase to build it.
Realistically, there’s no way to sell an additional transit tax just to pay for this — there’s nothing in it for residents in most of the county. So I expect we’ll eventually see more concrete proposals created for even more rail lines (Red Line to Huntersville, a rail line to the airport, having the streetcar funded by CATS with an expansion) and then bundled brought together as a package, with something for everyone — it’s just a lot easier to sell four bad projects than one bad project.
