Sen. Elizabeth Dole thinks North Carolina got shafted by the Bush administration’s latest budget, specifically some Down East projects including a Wilmington harbor do-over. But the senator’s judgment on what is a good project has been spotty, to say the least.
Do not forget that Dole threw $16.5 million at the grand CATS multimodal station, which will soon take up the block of Graham St. between Trade and Fourth. That station, in turn, will anchor the CATS commuter rail arm planned to stretch all the way to Mooresville. The Uptown station will also tie commuter rail with Amtrak and Greyhound, making for a true Simcity outpost. Why Congress refuses to let the shambling horror of Amtrak die a natural death, or at least shrink back to a sustainable Northeast corridor footprint is another question entirely, but, hey, Charlotte will soon be hardwired into the 19th century.
The huge investment in the multimodal station and commuter rail will also mean that certainly CATS, and perhaps all transportation planners in the region, will have a vested interest in getting people out of their cars on I-77 and into trains. This means they are unlikely to support truly innovative congestion mitigation efforts like high-occupancy toll lanes which could make the under-used I-77 HOV lanes actually useful.
Both Atlanta and Richmond are moving ahead with HOT studies. Maybe Charlotte will get with the program as soon as the first hydrogen-powered hovercars hit the glidepaths in 2050. Behind the curve and proud of it. Thanks Liddy!
