This one focuses on light rail:
(NC Transportation Secretary Gene)Conti rarely misses an opportunity to promote mass transit.
He noted during his keynote speech that legislation passed last year allows the Triad and Triangle to levy a half-cent sales tax to finance light-rail projects similar to the system opened in Charlotte a couple years back. Conti later told reporters that ridership for Charlotte’s light-rail system is above anticipated levels, adding, “I think the evidence is there that people will use it if you build it in places with high density.”
Seems to me the transportation secretary has it backwards — Charlotte built its light rail line and hoped high-density development would follow.
Wendell Cox has an excellent study of light rail and so-called ‘smart growth’ development in Charlotte.
