Just stop it.
This is getting absurd. Scamming Uncle Sam for $25m. to build 2000 feet of light rail track towards UNCC is stupid. It is no way to build a railroad, not at almost 30 percent higher cost than the price tag for the existing rail line.
It is baffling why the flat, level extension across mostly already city-owned land would cost $62m. per mile compared to the $48m. per mile cost of the nine-mile segment up South Blvd. from 485. Fixed costs of any such project get you part of the way, but not 30 percent. And again, prices for completing 485 came in lower than expected — which makes sense in the middle of a deep recession.
Yet every time CATS gets ready to turn dirt, costs explode. All the more reason to take a step back and re-jigger our transit plan to fit reality. If we drop all the willy-nilly magic bean silliness and decide to extend the line to NoDa and declare victory we could save taxpayers tens of millions.
Let’s see if that happens.
