CATS honcho Ron Tober has given us the latest figure for Charlotte’s grand train-building, mass transit plan: $8 billion.
The new, inflation-adjusted (thanks, Ron!) number for the UNCC light rail line is $740 million. That is up from the previous number of $650 million. Tober insists that federal money might help pay that tab, but do not bank on it.
The cost of the I-77 commuter rail project now stands at $260 million. Together the two projects make for the nice tidy number of $1 billion — just as we told you they would.
It is now abundantly clear that the only way to put a halt to the train building is to repeal the half-cent transit tax. The $50 million it throws off each year for mass transit is the evil seed of CATS’ train-building frenzy.
Next up, the mayors of the Northern towns lean on their developer buddies to try to find a way to help fund the I-77 line, which CATS does not think willl get much federal help. That and no doubt explore some sort of debt-financing option using CATS’ dedicated revenue from the car rental tax hike.
